# EDGAR Filing Document

**Accession Number:** 0001524513
**File Stem:** 0001193125-23-046820
**Filing Date:** 2023-2
**Character Count:** 6845479
**Document Hash:** be581d5675b36613e103e5ad5c8fa6b1
**Contains OCR:** False
**Source Format:** 

## Filing Content

## Filing Summary
**0001193125-23-046820.hdr.sgml**: 20230223

**ACCESSION NUMBER**: 0001193125-23-046820

**CONFORMED SUBMISSION TYPE**: 485BPOS

**PUBLIC DOCUMENT COUNT**: 78

**FILED AS OF DATE**: 20230223

**DATE AS OF CHANGE**: 20230223

**EFFECTIVENESS DATE**: 20230301

**FILER**: 

**COMPANY DATA:**
- **COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:** iShares U.S. ETF Trust
- **CENTRAL INDEX KEY:** 0001524513
- **IRS NUMBER:** 000000000
- **STATE OF INCORPORATION:** DE
- **FISCAL YEAR END:** 1231

**FILING VALUES:**
- **FORM TYPE:** 485BPOS
- **SEC ACT:** 1940 Act
- **SEC FILE NUMBER:** 811-22649
- **FILM NUMBER:** 23661158

**BUSINESS ADDRESS:**
- **STREET 1:** 400 HOWARD STREET
- **CITY:** SAN FRANCISCO
- **STATE:** CA
- **ZIP:** 94105
- **BUSINESS PHONE:** (415) 670-2000

**MAIL ADDRESS:**
- **STREET 1:** 400 HOWARD STREET
- **CITY:** SAN FRANCISCO
- **STATE:** CA
- **ZIP:** 94105
**FILER**: 

**COMPANY DATA:**
- **COMPANY CONFORMED NAME:** iShares U.S. ETF Trust
- **CENTRAL INDEX KEY:** 0001524513
- **IRS NUMBER:** 000000000
- **STATE OF INCORPORATION:** DE
- **FISCAL YEAR END:** 1231

**FILING VALUES:**
- **FORM TYPE:** 485BPOS
- **SEC ACT:** 1933 Act
- **SEC FILE NUMBER:** 333-179904
- **FILM NUMBER:** 23661157

**BUSINESS ADDRESS:**
- **STREET 1:** 400 HOWARD STREET
- **CITY:** SAN FRANCISCO
- **STATE:** CA
- **ZIP:** 94105
- **BUSINESS PHONE:** (415) 670-2000

**MAIL ADDRESS:**
- **STREET 1:** 400 HOWARD STREET
- **CITY:** SAN FRANCISCO
- **STATE:** CA
- **ZIP:** 94105

## Series and Classes Contracts Data

### BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF (Series ID: S000037042)

| Class ID   | Class Name                        | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000113876 | BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | NEAR            |

### BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF (Series ID: S000040474)

| Class ID   | Class Name                          | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000125661 | BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | ICSH            |

### iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF (Series ID: S000042862)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                      | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000132817 | iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | LQDH            |

### iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF (Series ID: S000042863)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                       | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000132818 | iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | HYGH            |

### iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF (Series ID: S000044145)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                                | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000137261 | iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | IGBH            |

### iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF (Series ID: S000044971)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                       | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000139416 | iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | COMT            |

### BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF (Series ID: S000047352)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                  | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000148680 | BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | MEAR            |

### iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF (Series ID: S000058011)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                  | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000189608 | iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | LQDI            |

### iShares Gold Strategy ETF (Series ID: S000061161)

| Class ID   | Class Name                | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000198135 | iShares Gold Strategy ETF | IAUF            |

### iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF (Series ID: S000061337)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                           | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000198581 | iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF | CMDY            |

### iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF (Series ID: S000064843)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                 | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000209927 | iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | CCRV            |

### iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF (Series ID: S000076588)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                   | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000236573 | iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | HYGI            |

### iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (Series ID: S000076589)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                       | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000236574 | iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | AGIH            |

### iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (Series ID: S000076590)

| Class ID   | Class Name                                           | Ticker Symbol   |
|:---|:---|:---|
| C000236575 | iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | AGRH            |

?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ? Form 485BPOS

------

#### As filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on February 23, 2023

#### File Nos. 333-179904 and 811-22649

### UNITED STATES

### SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

#### Washington, D.C. 20549

### FORM N-1A

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| REGISTRATION STATEMENT |  |
| **UNDER** |  |
| **THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933** | ☒ |
| **Post-Effective Amendment No. 647** | ☒ |
| and/or |  |
| REGISTRATION STATEMENT |  |
| **UNDER** |  |
| **THE INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940** | ☒ |
| **Amendment No. 647** | ☒ |

---

#### (Check appropriate box or boxes)

## iShares U.S. ETF Trust

#### (Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)

#### c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors

#### 400 Howard Street

#### San Francisco, CA 94105

#### (Address of Principal Executive Office)(Zip Code)

#### Registrant's Telephone Number, including Area Code: (415) 670-2000

#### The Corporation Trust Company

#### 1209 Orange Street

#### Wilmington, DE 19801

#### (Name and Address of Agent for Service)

#### With Copies to:

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **MARGERY K. NEALE, ESQ.<br>BENJAMIN J. HASKIN, ESQ.<br>ANNE C. CHOE, ESQ.**<br> **WILLKIE FARR &**<br> **GALLAGHER LLP**<br> **787 SEVENTH AVENUE**<br> **NEW YORK, NY 10019-6099** | **MARISA ROLLAND, ESQ.**<br> **BLACKROCK FUND**<br> **ADVISORS**<br> **400 HOWARD STREET**<br> **SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105** |

---

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):

☐ Immediately upon filing pursuant to paragraph (b)

☒ On March 1, 2023 pursuant to paragraph (b)

☐ 60 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)

☐ On (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(1)

☐ 75 days after filing pursuant to paragraph (a)(2)

☐ On (date) pursuant to paragraph (a)(2)

If appropriate, check the following box:

☐ The post-effective amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment

------

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946img7adac4a61.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

---

#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF \| NEAR \| CBOE BZX

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

------

**Table of Contents**

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_91478243-ca89-40d1-bb48-c29e0fe93b1b_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_18)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_22)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [Management](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_22)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_25)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| [Distribution](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_33)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_34)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_d2758c46-78ba-4e14-b31a-50a47b4337ca_35)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |

---

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

i

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BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup> SHORT MATURITY

BOND ETF

Ticker: NEAR Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX

#### Investment Objective
The BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to maximize current income.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 28, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution <br>and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | **Acquired Fund <br>Fees<br>and Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** | **Fee Waiver<sup>1</sup>** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses<br>After<br>Fee Waiver** |
| 0.25% |  | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.25% | (0.00)% | 0.25% |

---

------

<sup>1</sup> The amount rounded to 0.00%.

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $26 | $80 | $141 | $318 |

---

**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 44% of the average value of its portfolio.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade fixed-income securities. The Fund primarily invests in investment-grade fixed-income securities that are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch Ratings, Inc. ("Fitch"), or Baa3 or higher by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's"), or, if unrated, determined by the Fund's management team to be of equivalent quality. The Fund primarily invests in fixed- and floating-rate securities of varying

maturities, such as corporate and government bonds, agency securities, instruments of non-U.S. issuers, privately issued securities, asset-backed securities ("ABS") and mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"), structured securities, municipal bonds, repurchase agreements, money market instruments and investment companies. The Fund invests in securities issued by financial institutions such as banks, broker-dealers and insurance companies. The Fund may enter into to-be-announced transactions ("TBA transactions") on a regular basis with respect to the percentage of the portfolio (if any) that consists of mortgage-backed pass-through securities. BFA or its affiliates may advise the money market funds and investment companies in which the Fund may invest.

Under normal circumstances, the effective duration of the Fund's portfolio is expected to be one year or less, as calculated by the Fund's management team. Effective duration is a measure of the Fund's price sensitivity to changes in yields or interest rates; however, investors should be aware that effective duration is not an exact measurement and may not reliably predict a particular security's price sensitivity to changes in yield or interest rates.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund

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will also seek to maintain a weighted average maturity that is less than three years. Weighted average maturity is a U.S. dollar-weighted average of the remaining term to maturity of the underlying securities in the Fund's portfolio. The calculation of the Fund's weighted average maturity is based on the constituent securities' final maturity date or, for amortizing securities such as asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, their weighted average life (*i.e*., the average length of time that each dollar of unpaid principal on the security remains outstanding).

The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF") that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The Fund may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index.

The Fund is not a money market fund and does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share. Please see the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") for further information.

The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Unlike many ETFs, the Fund is not an

index-based ETF. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset-Backed and Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. ABS and MBS (residential and commercial) represent interests in "pools" of mortgages or other assets, including consumer loans or receivables held in trust. ABS and MBS are subject to credit, interest rate, call, extension, valuation and liquidity risk. These securities, in most cases, are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and are subject to the risk of default on the underlying asset or mortgage, particularly during periods of economic downturn. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain ABS and MBS.***

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of the Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund***

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shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

***Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund may effect part or all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a result, the Fund may have to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at wider bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of***

industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, and other service providers (including the benchmark provider), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.***

***Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in the***

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Fund's income and potentially in the value of the Fund's investments.

***Financials Sector Risk. Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.***

***Floating Rate Securities Risk. Securities with floating or variable interest rates can be less sensitive to interest rate changes than securities with fixed interest rates, but may decline in value if their coupon rates do not reset as high, or as quickly, as comparable market interest rates, and generally carry lower yields than fixed securities of the same maturity. Although floating rate securities are less sensitive to interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, they are subject to credit risk and default risk, which could impair their value.***

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is***

any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when interest rates fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as the bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other***

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significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden***

and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some***

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circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. The Fund is subject to management risk, which is the risk that the investment process, techniques and risk analyses applied by BFA will not produce the desired results, and that securities selected by BFA may underperform the market or any relevant benchmark. In addition, legislative, regulatory, or tax developments may affect the investment techniques available to BFA in connection with managing the Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective.***

***Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of***

high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. Unlike some ETFs that track specific indexes, the Fund does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. Index-based ETFs have generally traded at prices that closely correspond to NAV. However, ETFs that do not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index have a limited trading history and, therefore, there can be no assurance as to whether, and/or the extent to which, the Fund's shares will trade at premiums or discounts to NAV. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**.

***Municipal Securities Risk. Municipal securities can be significantly affected by political or economic changes, including changes made in the law after issuance of the securities, as well as uncertainties in the municipal market related to taxation, legislative changes or the rights of municipal security holders, including in connection with an issuer insolvency. Municipal securities backed by current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or specific assets can be negatively affected by the inability to collect revenues from such projects or assets. Certain municipal securities are issued by entities with limited taxing authority such as school districts, or are dependent on revenue from a particular sector or industry, such as the utilities sector, infrastructure sector, or transportation industry.***

***Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the***

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possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.

***Not a Money Market Fund. The Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, the Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. The Fund does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

***Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.***

***Repurchase Agreement Risk. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (i.e., the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed upon time and price. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price. If the seller defaults on its obligation under the agreement, the Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising its rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security and the***

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market value of the security declines, the Fund may lose money.

***Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. The Fund's investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country's or region's security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund's investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes to the economic conditions of certain key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt burdens and the price or availability of certain commodities.***

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.***

#### Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower
of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund.

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.***

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#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 and 5 years and since inception compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946near.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 3.59% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -3.06% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Five Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 9/25/2013)** |  |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.36% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.46% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.30% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;-0.36% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.71% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.69% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.21% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.80% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.73% |
| **Bloomberg Short-Term Government/Corporate Index<sup>2</sup> (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.69% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.35% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.97% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> The Bloomberg Short-Term Government/Corporate Index is an unmanaged index that measures the performance of government and corporate securities with less than one year remaining to maturity.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. Akiva Dickstein, Scott MacLellan and James Mauro (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. MacLellan and Mr. Dickstein have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2020. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

The Fund is an actively managed ETF and, thus, does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. Accordingly, the management team has discretion on a daily basis to manage the Fund's portfolio in accordance with the Fund's investment objective.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. Similar to shares of a mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

**Additional Information on the Investment Strategies. The Fund's investment objective is a non-fundamental policy and may be changed without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade fixed-income securities that are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch, or Baa3 or higher by Moody's, or, if unrated, determined by the management team to be of equivalent quality. The Fund's 80% investment policy may be changed by the Fund's Board of Trustees (the "Board") upon 60 days' notice to shareholders.**

The Fund primarily invests in fixed- and floating-rate securities of varying maturities, such as corporate and government bonds, agency securities, instruments of non-U.S. issuers, privately issued securities, ABS and MBS, structured securities, municipal bonds, money market instruments, repurchase agreements and investment companies. The Fund invests in securities issued by financial institutions such as banks, broker-dealers and insurance companies. BFA or its affiliates may advise the money market funds and investment companies in which the Fund may invest. The Fund may also invest in currency contracts for hedging and/or trade settlement purposes.

The Fund will invest in ABS and MBS. ABS are fixed-income securities that are backed by a pool of assets, usually loans such as installment sale contracts or credit card receivables. MBS are ABS based on a particular type of asset, a mortgage. There are a wide variety of MBS involving commercial or residential, fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgages and mortgages issued by banks or government agencies. Most transactions in fixed-rate mortgage pass-through securities occur through standardized contracts for future delivery in which the exact mortgage pools to be delivered are not specified

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until a few days prior to settlement, known as TBA transactions. The Fund may enter into such contracts on a regular basis. The Fund, pending settlement of such contracts, will invest the relevant assets in high-quality, liquid short-term instruments, including shares of money market funds affiliated with BFA. Collateralized mortgage obligations ("CMOs") are fixed-income securities that are backed by cash flows from pools of mortgages. CMOs may have multiple classes with different payment rights and protections.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund may, to a limited extent, engage in derivatives transactions that include futures contracts, options and swaps.

**Investment Process. The management team evaluates sectors of the fixed-income market and individual securities within these sectors to invest the Fund's assets on an ongoing basis. The investment approach represents a collaboration between the "Portfolio Teams," who are responsible for setting the top-down asset allocation framework for portfolio construction and security selection, and the "Sector Specialists," who are responsible for bottom-up idea generation, including research and analysis.**

The investment process is centered around formal investment strategy meetings. Following discussions with their teams, the senior members of the Sector Specialists present their teams' views during a meeting attended by fixed-income investment professionals within BlackRock. Next, the senior members of the Portfolio and Investment Teams, along with representatives from BlackRock's Risk & Quantitative Analysis Group, hold a meeting to discuss asset allocation, portfolio risk, and investment themes. This meeting is designed to share ideas across Portfolio Teams as each determines the appropriate interest rate risk, convexity, term structure, credit quality, liquidity bias and sector allocations for individual strategies.

The Sector Specialists then implement the Portfolio Teams' relative value outlook with respect to security selection, timing and execution, in accordance with the Fund's investment objective and guidelines. Sector Specialists are also responsible for trading, which BlackRock believes best leverages its market knowledge and experience. While the investment themes are discussed formally on a weekly basis, the process is dynamic, with ongoing discussion and modifications as needed.

In certain situations or market conditions, the Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment process, provided that such departure is, in the opinion of the management team, consistent with the Fund's investment objective and in the best interests of the Fund. For example, the Fund may hold a higher than normal proportion of its assets in cash in response to adverse market, economic or political conditions.

The management team uses an internal model for calculating duration, which may result in a different value of duration than if duration was calculated by a third party.

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A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset-Backed and Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. ABS and MBS (residential and commercial) represent interests in "pools" of mortgages or other assets, including consumer loans or receivables held in trust. Although ABS generally experience less prepayment risk than residential mortgage-backed securities, MBS and ABS, like traditional fixed-income securities, are subject to credit, interest rate, call, extension, valuation and liquidity risk. Because of call and extension risk, ABS and MBS react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain ABS and MBS.**

ABS and MBS may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and are subject to risk of default on the underlying mortgage or asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

In response to the financial crisis that began in 2008, the Federal Reserve System (the "Fed") attempted to keep mortgage rates low by acting as a buyer of mortgage-backed assets. This support has ended. As a result, mortgage rates may rise and values of MBS and ABS may fall.

#### Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers,

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countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund may effect part or all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. Paying redemption proceeds in cash rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities may require the Fund to dispose of or sell portfolio securities or other assets at an inopportune time to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. As a result, the Fund may pay out higher or lower annual capital gains distributions than ETFs that redeem in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at greater bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Furthermore, the Fund may not be able to execute cash transactions for creation and redemption purposes at the same price used to determine the Fund's NAV. To the extent that the maximum additional charge for creation or redemption transactions is insufficient to cover the execution shortfall, the Fund's performance could be negatively impacted.**

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries,**

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project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's income level or share price.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund or its service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber

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incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income and potentially in the value of the Fund's investments.**

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

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**Floating Rate Securities Risk. Securities with floating or variable interest rates can be less sensitive to interest rate changes than securities with fixed interest rates, but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general. Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline. A decline in interest rates may result in a reduction in income received from floating rate securities held by the Fund and may adversely affect the value of the Fund's shares. Generally, floating rate securities carry lower yields than fixed securities of the same maturity. The interest rate for a floating rate security resets or adjusts periodically by reference to a benchmark interest rate. The impact of interest rate changes on floating rate investments is typically mitigated by the periodic interest rate reset of the investments. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making them more volatile than securities with shorter durations. Floating rate securities generally are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale, may trade infrequently, and their value may be impaired when the Fund needs to liquidate such loans. Benchmark interest rates, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") or the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), may not accurately track market interest rates.**

Although floating rate securities are less sensitive to interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, they are subject to credit risk and default risk, which could impair their value.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and**

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contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if interest rates fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.**

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

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**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.**

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other**

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factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Management Risk. The Fund is subject to management risk because it does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. BFA and the portfolio managers will utilize a proprietary investment process, techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results. In addition, legislative, regulatory, or tax developments may affect the investment techniques available to BFA in connection with managing the Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective.**

**Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument**

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may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.*

Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative

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products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.

*Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for Fund shares and the underlying value of the Fund's portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund's NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

**Municipal Securities Risk. Municipal securities include both general obligation bonds (bonds secured by the full faith and credit of the issuer) and limited obligation bonds (or "Revenue Bonds"). All municipal securities are subject to the risk that litigation,**

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legislation or other political events, local business or economic conditions, credit rating downgrades, or the bankruptcy of the issuer could have a significant effect on an issuer's ability to make payments of principal and/or interest or otherwise affect the value of such securities. Additionally, certain municipal securities may be issued by entities with limited taxing authority, which could limit or prevent tax increases necessary to make continued payments of principal and interest.

Municipal securities can be significantly affected by political or economic changes, including changes made in the law after issuance of the securities, as well as uncertainties in the municipal market related to taxation, legislative changes or the rights of municipal security holders, including in connection with an issuer insolvency. There is also the risk that corruption may negatively affect municipal issuers, including corruption related to a particular project from which payments on a security are derived, resulting in delays and cost overruns.

There may be less publicly available information on the financial condition of municipal security issuers than for issuers of other securities. As a result, municipal securities may be more difficult for the Fund to value accurately than the securities of public companies. Municipal securities may also be harder to buy and sell compared to taxable bonds and non-municipal securities, especially on short notice. Because the Fund invests a significant portion of its portfolio in municipal securities, the Fund's portfolio is subject to greater exposure to illiquidity risk than a fund that invests in comparable taxable bonds or non-municipal securities.

The Fund and BFA will rely on the opinion of issuers' bond counsel on the tax-exempt status of interest on municipal bonds. Neither the Fund nor BFA will independently review the bases for those tax opinions, which may ultimately be determined to be incorrect, potentially resulting in the Fund and its shareholders being subject to substantial tax liabilities. In addition, changes in the financial condition of an individual municipal issuer can affect the overall municipal market.

Revenue Bonds are backed by current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or specific assets and can be negatively affected by the discontinuance of the tax benefits supporting the project or assets or the inability to collect revenues from the project or the assets. Additionally, the market values of Revenue Bonds may decline in times of higher inflation to the extent that revenues are fixed income streams. In other instances, the prices that an issuer is able to charge users of its assets may be linked to inflation, whether by government regulation, contractual arrangement or other factors. Rising interest rates could result in higher costs of capital for certain issuers, which could negatively impact their ability to meet payment obligations. In this case, changes in the rate of inflation may affect the issuer's revenues. Because many municipal securities are issued to finance projects, such as those related to education, health care, housing, transportation, utilities, and water and sewer, conditions in one or more of these sectors can affect the overall municipal market. Adverse conditions and developments affecting a particular project can result in lower revenues to an issuer of the municipal securities and, by extension, adversely affect payments of principal and interest on, or the market value of, such securities.

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Additionally, certain municipal securities are issued by entities dependent on revenue from a particular sector and thus are subject to the specific risks associated with that sector.

*Risk of Investing in Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. Entities that issue municipal securities related to infrastructure ("infrastructure issuers") may be subject to a variety of factors that could adversely affect their capacity to make principal and interest payments, such as high interest costs in connection with capital construction programs, high degrees of leverage, costs associated with governmental, environmental and other regulations, the effects of economic slowdowns, increased competition from other providers of services, uncertainties concerning costs, the level of government spending on infrastructure projects, and other factors. Such issuers may be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, import controls, depletion of resources, technological developments, and labor relations. Infrastructure issuers can be significantly affected by government spending policies.*

*Leverage Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be highly indebted, which increases investment risk and other risks normally associated with debt financing, which could adversely affect such an issuer's operations and the market value of related municipal securities in periods of rising interest rates.*

*Operations Risk. The failure of an infrastructure issuer to carry adequate insurance or to operate its assets appropriately could lead to significant losses. Infrastructure may be adversely affected by environmental clean-up costs and catastrophic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist acts.*

*Regulatory Risk. Infrastructure projects may be subject to significant regulation by various governmental authorities and also may be affected by regulation of rates charged to customers, service interruption due to environmental, operational or other events, the imposition of special tariffs and changes in tax laws, regulatory policies and accounting standards.*

*Strategic Asset Risk. Infrastructure issuers may control significant strategic assets (e.g., major pipelines or highways), which are assets that have a national or regional profile, and may have monopolistic characteristics. Given their national or regional profile or irreplaceable nature, strategic assets could generate additional risk not common in other industry sectors and they may be targeted for terrorist acts or adverse political actions.*

*User Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be dependent upon a narrow user base. If these users do not patronize infrastructure projects as expected, significant revenues could be lost and may not be replaceable, in which case infrastructure issuers may fail to pay their obligations.*

*Risk of Investing in Municipal Securities Issued By School Districts. School districts rely, in part, on funding appropriations from, among others, the federal government and state governments. As a result, municipal securities issued by school districts may be adversely affected by political and economic changes at the state or federal levels, such as decreased tax or other revenues, spending reductions or changes in appropriations. Municipal securities that are issued to finance a particular school*

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district project often depend on revenues from ad valorem taxes (i.e., property taxes) to make principal and interest payments. Investors in these securities, similar to investors in municipal securities generally, face heightened risk of loss upon insolvency of the school district issuers because there is often no ready source of funding to pay principal and interest other than the local tax base, which a bankruptcy court or administrator does not control.

*Risk of Investing in Transportation Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. The transportation infrastructure industry may be adversely affected by economic changes, increases in fuel and other operating costs, labor relations, insurance costs, and, in many jurisdictions, the effects of regulatory changes or other government decisions. Municipal securities that are issued to finance a particular transportation project (e.g., toll roads) often depend on revenues from that project to make principal and interest payments.*

*Risk of Investing in Utility-Related Municipal Securities. Certain municipal securities are issued by public bodies, including state and municipal utility authorities, to, among other things, finance the operation or expansion of utility entities. Various future economic and other conditions may adversely affect utility entities, including inflation, increases in financing requirements, increases in raw material costs and other operating costs, changes in demand for services and the effects of environmental and other governmental regulations. Certain utilities are subject to specific risks. For example, gas utilities are subject to risks of supply conditions and increased competition from other providers of utility services. In addition, gas utilities are affected by gas prices, which may be magnified to the extent that a gas utility enters into long-term contracts for the purchase or sale of gas at a fixed price, since such prices may change significantly and to the disadvantage of the gas utility.*

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Not a Money Market Fund. The Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, the**

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Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. **The Fund does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market or economic conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. At times, it also may be more difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund's NAV due to the absence of an active trading market. There can be no assurance that a privately issued security that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and its value may decline as a result.**

**Repurchase Agreement Risk. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.,* the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed upon time and price. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price. If the seller defaults on its obligation under the agreement, the Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising its rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security and the market value of the security declines, the Fund may lose money.**

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**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.**

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund invests.

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

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**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. The CMBS in which the Fund invests may be issued by entities, such as banks, mortgage lenders or other institutions. These entities are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and there can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities where it is not obligated to do so.**

CMBS depend on cash flows generated by underlying commercial real-estate loans, receivables or other assets, and can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, the availability of information concerning the underlying assets and their structure, and the creditworthiness of the originators of the underlying assets.

Due to the nature of the loans they represent, CMBS are subject to a greater degree of prepayment and extension risk than many other forms of fixed-income securities. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain CMBS. Certain CMBS are issued in several classes with different levels of yield and credit protection. The Fund's investments in CMBS with several classes may be in the lower classes that have greater risks than the higher classes, including greater interest rate, credit, prepayment and extension risks.

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In addition, the value of CMBS may be adversely affected by regulatory or tax changes. CMBS issued by non-government entities may offer higher yields than those issued by government entities, but also may be subject to greater volatility than government issues. In the recent past, the market for CMBS has experienced volatility and reduced liquidity.

**Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclical industry depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.**

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more

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countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund faces risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural*

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gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to LIBOR to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. As part of the phase-out of the use of LIBOR, the rate's administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited ("IBA"), discontinued two USD LIBOR settings immediately after publication on December 31, 2021. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR, and IBA previously announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. While the FCA is requiring the IBA to publish certain LIBOR settings, potentially to include USD settings, on a "synthetic" basis, the "synthetic" methodology is not based on panel bank contributions and is not intended to be representative of the interest rates in the underlying market. The Fund may have investments linked to other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA"), which may also cease to be published. Various financial industry groups continue planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there are challenges to converting certain securities and transactions to a new reference rate, such as SOFR, which is intended to replace USD LIBOR. For example, at times, SOFR has proven to be more volatile than the 3-month USD LIBOR. Working groups and regulators in other countries have suggested other alternatives for their markets, including the Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate ("SONIA") in England.**

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. The transition process might lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets for, and reduce the effectiveness of new hedges placed against, instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR. While some existing LIBOR-based instruments may contemplate a scenario where LIBOR is no longer available by providing for an alternative rate-setting methodology, there may be significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of any such alternative methodologies to replicate LIBOR. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Global regulators have advised market participants to cease entering into new contracts using LIBOR as a reference rate, and it is possible that investments in LIBOR-based instruments could invite regulatory scrutiny. In addition, a liquid market for newly issued instruments that use a reference rate other than LIBOR still may be developing. There may also be challenges for the Fund to enter into hedging transactions against such newly issued instruments until a market for such hedging transactions develops. All of the aforementioned may adversely affect the Fund's performance or NAV.

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the**

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ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings.

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.25%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its

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affiliates, through February 28, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the types of securities in which the Fund may also invest.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Board of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. Scott MacLellan, CFA and Akiva Dickstein are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and consult regularly with James Mauro. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

Akiva Dickstein has been employed by BlackRock as a portfolio manager since 2009. Mr. Dickstein has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2020.

Scott MacLellan, CFA has been employed by BlackRock since 2001. Mr. MacLellan has been employed by BlackRock as a portfolio manager since 2012 and has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2020.

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the

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Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. The Fund may also invest in sovereign issuers that are advised by an Affiliate with respect to their debt offerings. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.**

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could

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sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment

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for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "NEAR."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("Cboe BZX").

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund, or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting

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stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. However, registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC rules. In order for a registered investment company to invest in shares of the Fund beyond the limitations of Section 12(d)(1) in reliance on Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act, the registered investment company must, among other things, enter into an agreement with the Trust. Foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use

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matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

If your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending arrangement, you may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

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Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding, capital gains and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S."), generally the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

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**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a specified amount of cash in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a specified amount of cash and/or a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying

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redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance for the past five years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.07 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(a)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.58 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.38 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.91 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.37 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.95) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.03) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.21 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.23) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.35 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.75 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.58 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.88 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.43) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.96) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.01) |
| **Net asset value, end of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$49.16 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.07 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.12 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.75)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.70% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.51% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.19% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.78% |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.17% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.76% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.81% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.73% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.21% |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of year (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$4230166 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$4854200 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$4397750 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$6260259 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$4981818 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(f)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;44% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;55% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;67%<sup>(g)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;58%<sup>(g)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;48% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Includes mortgage dollar roll transactions ("MDRs"). | <sup>(g)</sup> Includes mortgage dollar roll transactions ("MDRs"). | <sup>(g)</sup> Includes mortgage dollar roll transactions ("MDRs"). | <sup>(g)</sup> Includes mortgage dollar roll transactions ("MDRs"). | <sup>(g)</sup> Includes mortgage dollar roll transactions ("MDRs"). | <sup>(g)</sup> Includes mortgage dollar roll transactions ("MDRs"). |

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Disclaimers

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by Cboe BZX. Cboe BZX makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. Cboe BZX is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. Cboe BZX has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Cboe BZX have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-NEAR-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946imgaea6abf02.gif)

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946imge785f7811.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF \| MEAR \| CBOE BZX

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

------

**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_7fa1cde8-0dfe-442f-ab9a-ce36c76684f5_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_15)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_16)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [Management](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_16)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_19)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| [Distribution](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_27)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_28)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_4a264e24-b270-4110-9992-cbf7bbfd0594_29)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |

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iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

i

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BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup> SHORT MATURITY

MUNICIPAL BOND ETF

Ticker: MEAR Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX

#### Investment Objective
The BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to maximize tax-free current income.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% |  | 0.00% | 0.25% |

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<sup>1</sup> The amount rounded to 0.00%.

**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $26 | $80 | $141 | $318 |

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**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 98% of the average value of its portfolio.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in municipal securities such that the interest on each bond is exempt from U.S. federal income taxes and the federal alternative minimum tax ("AMT"). Under normal circumstances, the Fund primarily invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade short-term fixed- and floating-rate municipal securities with remaining maturities of five years or less, such as municipal bonds, municipal notes and variable rate demand obligations, as well as money market instruments and registered investment companies*.* Investment-grade securities are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch Ratings, Inc. ("Fitch"), or Baa3 or higher by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's"), or, if unrated, determined by the Fund's management team to be of equivalent quality. Municipal bonds include debt obligations issued by or on behalf of a governmental entity or other qualifying issuer that pay interest that is, in the

opinion of bond counsel to the issuer at the time of issuance, generally excludable from gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in municipal securities that pay interest that is subject to the federal AMT. Issuers may be states, territories and possessions of the U.S., including the District of Columbia, and their political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities. BFA or its affiliates may advise the money market funds and investment companies in which the Fund may invest.

Under normal circumstances, the effective duration of the Fund's portfolio is expected to be 1.2 years or less, as calculated by the Fund's management team, and it is not expected to exceed 1.5 years. Effective duration is a measure of the Fund's price sensitivity to changes in yields or interest rates; however, investors should be aware that effective duration is not an exact measurement and may not reliably predict a particular security's price sensitivity to changes in yield or interest rates.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund will also seek to maintain a weighted average maturity that is less than three years. Weighted average maturity is a U.S. dollar-weighted average of the remaining term to maturity of the underlying securities in the Fund's portfolio. The calculation of the Fund's weighted average maturity is based on the constituent securities' final maturity date or, for amortizing securities such as asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, their weighted average life (*i.e*., the average length of time that each dollar of unpaid principal on the security remains outstanding).

The Fund is an actively managed

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exchange-traded fund ("ETF") that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The Fund may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index.

The Fund is not a money market fund and does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share. Please see the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") for further information.

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Unlike many ETFs, the Fund is not an index-based ETF. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this prospectus (the "Prospectus")) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on***

an agency basis (*i.e.,* on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

***Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund may effect part or all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a result, the Fund may have to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at wider bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or***

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issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, and other service providers (including the benchmark provider), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.***

***Floating Rate Securities Risk. Securities with floating or variable interest rates can be less sensitive to interest rate changes than securities with fixed interest rates, but may***

decline in value if their coupon rates do not reset as high, or as quickly, as comparable market interest rates, and generally carry lower yields than fixed securities of the same maturity. Although floating rate securities are less sensitive to interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, they are subject to credit risk and default risk, which could impair their value.

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.***

#### Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when interest rates fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or

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securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as the bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have***

increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no***

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assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. The Fund is subject to management risk, which is the risk that the investment process, techniques and risk analyses applied by BFA will not produce the desired results, and that securities selected by BFA may underperform the market or any relevant benchmark. In addition, legislative, regulatory, or tax developments may affect the investment techniques available to BFA in connection with managing the Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective.***

#### Market Risk . The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over
longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. Unlike some ETFs that track specific indexes, the Fund does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. Index-based ETFs have generally traded at prices that closely correspond to NAV. However, ETFs that do not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index have a limited trading history and, therefore, there can be no assurance as to whether, and/or the extent to which, the Fund's shares will trade at premiums or discounts to NAV. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Municipal Securities Risk. Municipal securities can be significantly affected by political or economic changes, including changes made in the law after issuance of the securities, as well as uncertainties in the municipal market related to taxation, legislative changes or the rights of municipal security holders, including in connection with an issuer insolvency. Municipal securities backed by current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or specific assets can be negatively***

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affected by the inability to collect revenues from such projects or assets. Certain municipal securities are issued by entities with limited taxing authority such as school districts, or are dependent on revenue from a particular sector or industry, such as the utilities sector, infrastructure sector, or transportation industry.

***Not a Money Market Fund. The Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, the Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. The Fund does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.***

***Tax Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's income will be exempt from U.S. federal income taxes, the federal AMT or the federal Medicare contribution tax of 3.8% on "net investment income."***

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.***

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#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 and 5 years and since inception compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946mear.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 0.89% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -0.67% in the 1st quarter of 2022.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Five Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 3/3/2015)** |  |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.15% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.87% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.15% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.87% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.45% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.99% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.89% |
| **Bloomberg Municipal Bond: 1 Year (1-2) Index<sup>2</sup>(Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;-1.14% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.02% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.85% |

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> The Bloomberg Municipal Bond: 1 Year (1-2) Index is an unmanaged index comprised of national municipal bond issues having a maturity of at least one year and less than two years.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. Kristi Manidis, James Mauro, Christian Romaglino and Kevin A. Schiatta (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Ms. Manidis, Mr. Mauro, Mr. Romaglino and Mr. Schiatta have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2019, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions primarily from net tax-exempt income (but not necessarily free from federal AMT), although distributions of taxable capital gains may also occur. **The Fund is generally not an appropriate investment for a 401(k) plan or an IRA**. Please consult your personal tax advisor.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

The Fund is an actively managed ETF and, thus, does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. Accordingly, the management team has discretion on a daily basis to manage the Fund's portfolio in accordance with the Fund's investment objective.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. Similar to shares of a mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

**Additional Information on the Investment Strategies. The Fund's investment objective is a non-fundamental policy and may be changed without shareholder approval. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in municipal securities such that the interest on each bond is exempt from U.S. federal income taxes and the federal AMT. The Fund's 80% investment policy may be changed by the Fund's Board of Trustees (the "Board") upon 60 days' notice to shareholders.**

Under normal circumstances, the Fund primarily invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade short-term fixed- and floating-rate municipal securities with remaining maturities of five years or less such as municipal bonds, municipal notes and variable rate demand obligations, as well as money market instruments and registered investment companies*.* Investment-grade securities are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch, or Baa3 or higher by Moody's, or, if unrated, determined by the management team to be of equivalent quality. Municipal bonds include debt obligations issued by or on behalf of a governmental entity or other qualifying issuer that pay interest that is, in the opinion of bond counsel to the issuer at the time of issuance, generally excludable from gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in municipal securities that pay interest that is subject to the federal AMT. Issuers may be states, territories and possessions of the U.S., including the District of Columbia, and their political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities. BFA or its affiliates may advise the money market funds and investment companies in which the Fund may invest.

Under normal circumstances, the effective duration of the Fund's portfolio is expected to be 1.2 years or less, as calculated by the management team, and it is not expected to exceed 1.5 years. Effective duration is a measure of the Fund's price sensitivity to

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changes in yields or interest rates; however, investors should be aware that effective duration is not an exact measurement and may not reliably predict a particular security's price sensitivity to changes in yield or interest rates.

Under normal circumstances, the Fund will also seek to maintain a weighted average maturity that is less than three years. Weighted average maturity is a U.S. dollar-weighted average of the remaining term to maturity of the underlying securities in the Fund's portfolio. The calculation of the Fund's weighted average maturity is based on the constituent securities' final maturity date or, for amortizing securities such as asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities, their weighted average life (*i.e*., the average length of time that each dollar of unpaid principal on the security remains outstanding).

The Fund may, to a limited extent, engage in derivatives transactions that include interest rate futures.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

**Investment Process. The management team evaluates portfolio construction, municipal security selection, and trade execution on an ongoing basis. The investment approach represents a collaboration between the Liquidity Portfolio Team and Municipal Credit Research Team. The Municipal Credit Research Team provides credit oversight and research and independently rates each security in the investment universe with a BlackRock equivalent rating. The Liquidity Portfolio Team uses these credit ratings in conjunction with the following factors to manage the portfolio:**

■ *Credit Quality of Issuers — based on bond ratings and other factors, including economic and financial conditions.* 

■ *Yield Analysis — takes into account factors such as the different yields available on different types of obligations and the shape of the yield curve (longer-term obligations typically have higher yields).* 

■ *Maturity Analysis — the weighted average maturity of the portfolio will be maintained within a desirable range as determined from time to time. Factors considered include portfolio activity, maturity of the supply of available bonds and the shape of the yield curve. Maturity of a debt security refers to the date upon which debt securities are due to be repaid, that is, the date when the issuer generally must pay back the face amount of the security. The securities to be selected will have remaining maturities of up to five years, calculated off the put dates.* 

In certain situations or market conditions, the Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment process, provided that such departure is, in the opinion of the management team, consistent with the Fund's investment objective and in the best interests of the Fund. For example, the Fund may hold a higher than normal proportion of its assets in cash in response to adverse market, economic or political conditions.

The management team uses an internal model for calculating effective duration, which may result in a different value of effective duration than if it were calculated by a third party.

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A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund may effect part or all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. Paying redemption proceeds in cash rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities may require the Fund to dispose of or sell portfolio securities or other assets at an inopportune time to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. As a result, the Fund may pay out higher or lower annual capital gains distributions than ETFs that redeem in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at greater bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Furthermore, the Fund may not be able to execute cash transactions for creation and redemption purposes at the same price used to determine the Fund's NAV. To the extent that the**

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maximum additional charge for creation or redemption transactions is insufficient to cover the execution shortfall, the Fund's performance could be negatively impacted.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's income level or share price.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund

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or its service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Floating Rate Securities Risk. Compared to the broader U.S. Treasury note market, the issuance of floating rate obligations by the U.S. Treasury is relatively new. A deep and liquid market has not yet developed for these instruments, and the market remains relatively untested. Securities with floating or variable interest rates can be less sensitive to interest rate changes than securities with fixed interest rates, but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general. Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline. A decline in interest rates may result in a reduction in income received from floating rate securities held by the Fund and may adversely affect the value of the Fund's shares. Generally, floating rate securities carry lower yields than fixed securities of the same maturity. The interest rate for a floating rate security resets or adjusts periodically by reference to a benchmark interest rate. The impact of interest rate changes on floating rate investments is typically mitigated by the periodic interest rate reset of the investments. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making them more volatile than securities with shorter durations. Floating rate securities generally are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale, may trade infrequently, and their value may be impaired when the Fund needs to liquidate such loans. Benchmark interest rates, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate or the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), may not accurately track market interest rates.**

Although floating rate securities are less sensitive to interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, they are subject to credit risk and default risk, which could impair their value.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for**

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as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments or the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if interest rates fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.**

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums

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or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.**

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative

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yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Issuer Risk. Fund performance depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Management Risk. The Fund is subject to management risk because it does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. BFA and the portfolio managers will utilize a proprietary investment process, techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results. In addition, legislative, regulatory, or tax**

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developments may affect the investment techniques available to BFA in connection with managing the Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective.

**Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.**

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.*

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Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.

*Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for Fund shares and the underlying value of the Fund's portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund's NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be*

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regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.

**Municipal Securities Risk. Municipal securities include both general obligation bonds (bonds secured by the full faith and credit of the issuer) and limited obligation bonds (or "Revenue Bonds"). All municipal securities are subject to the risk that litigation, legislation or other political events, local business or economic conditions, credit rating downgrades, or the bankruptcy of the issuer could have a significant effect on an issuer's ability to make payments of principal and/or interest or otherwise affect the value of such securities. Additionally, certain municipal securities may be issued by entities with limited taxing authority, which could limit or prevent tax increases necessary to make continued payments of principal and interest.**

Municipal securities can be significantly affected by political or economic changes, including changes made in the law after issuance of the securities, as well as uncertainties in the municipal market related to taxation, legislative changes or the rights of municipal security holders, including in connection with an issuer insolvency. There is also the risk that corruption may negatively affect municipal issuers, including corruption related to a particular project from which payments on a security are derived, resulting in delays and cost overruns.

There may be less publicly available information on the financial condition of municipal security issuers than for issuers of other securities. As a result, municipal securities may be more difficult for the Fund to value accurately than the securities of public companies. Municipal securities may also be harder to buy and sell compared to taxable bonds and non-municipal securities, especially on short notice. Because the Fund invests a significant portion of its portfolio in municipal securities, the Fund's portfolio is subject to greater exposure to illiquidity risk than a fund that invests in comparable taxable bonds or non-municipal securities.

The Fund and BFA will rely on the opinion of issuers' bond counsel on the tax-exempt status of interest on municipal bonds. Neither the Fund nor BFA will independently review the bases for those tax opinions, which may ultimately be determined to be incorrect, potentially resulting in the Fund and its shareholders being subject to substantial tax liabilities. In addition, changes in the financial condition of an individual municipal issuer can affect the overall municipal market.

Revenue Bonds are backed by current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or specific assets and can be negatively affected by the discontinuance of the tax benefits supporting the project or assets or the inability to collect revenues from the project or the assets. Additionally, the market values of Revenue Bonds may decline in times of higher inflation to the extent that revenues are fixed income streams. In other instances, the prices that an issuer is able to charge users of its assets may be linked to inflation, whether by government regulation, contractual arrangement or other factors. Rising interest rates could result in higher costs of capital for certain issuers, which could negatively impact their ability to meet payment obligations. In this case, changes in the rate of inflation may affect the issuer's revenues. Because many

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municipal securities are issued to finance projects, such as those related to education, health care, housing, transportation, utilities, and water and sewer, conditions in one or more of these sectors can affect the overall municipal market. Adverse conditions and developments affecting a particular project can result in lower revenues to an issuer of the municipal securities and, by extension, adversely affect payments of principal and interest on, or the market value of, such securities.

Additionally, certain municipal securities are issued by entities dependent on revenue from a particular sector and thus are subject to the specific risks associated with that sector.

*Risk of Investing in Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. Entities that issue municipal securities related to infrastructure ("infrastructure issuers") may be subject to a variety of factors that could adversely affect their capacity to make principal and interest payments, such as high interest costs in connection with capital construction programs, high degrees of leverage, costs associated with governmental, environmental and other regulations, the effects of economic slowdowns, increased competition from other providers of services, uncertainties concerning costs, the level of government spending on infrastructure projects, and other factors. Such issuers may be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, import controls, depletion of resources, technological developments, and labor relations. Infrastructure issuers can be significantly affected by government spending policies.*

*Leverage Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be highly indebted, which increases investment risk and other risks normally associated with debt financing, which could adversely affect such an issuer's operations and the market value of related municipal securities in periods of rising interest rates.*

*Operations Risk. The failure of an infrastructure issuer to carry adequate insurance or to operate its assets appropriately could lead to significant losses. Infrastructure may be adversely affected by environmental clean-up costs and catastrophic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist acts.*

*Regulatory Risk. Infrastructure projects may be subject to significant regulation by various governmental authorities and also may be affected by regulation of rates charged to customers, service interruption due to environmental, operational or other events, the imposition of special tariffs and changes in tax laws, regulatory policies and accounting standards.*

*Strategic Asset Risk. Infrastructure issuers may control significant strategic assets (e.g., major pipelines or highways), which are assets that have a national or regional profile, and may have monopolistic characteristics. Given their national or regional profile or irreplaceable nature, strategic assets could generate additional risk not common in other industry sectors and they may be targeted for terrorist acts or adverse political actions.*

*User Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be dependent upon a narrow user base. If these users do not patronize infrastructure projects as expected, significant revenues could be lost and may not be replaceable, in which case infrastructure issuers may fail to pay their obligations.*

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*Risk of Investing in Municipal Securities Issued By School Districts. School districts rely, in part, on funding appropriations from, among others, the federal government and state governments. As a result, municipal securities issued by school districts may be adversely affected by political and economic changes at the state or federal levels, such as decreased tax or other revenues, spending reductions or changes in appropriations. Municipal securities that are issued to finance a particular school district project often depend on revenues from ad valorem taxes (i.e., property taxes) to make principal and interest payments. Investors in these securities, similar to investors in municipal securities generally, face heightened risk of loss upon insolvency of the school district issuers because there is often no ready source of funding to pay principal and interest other than the local tax base, which a bankruptcy court or administrator does not control.*

*Risk of Investing in Transportation Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. The transportation infrastructure industry may be adversely affected by economic changes, increases in fuel and other operating costs, labor relations, insurance costs, and, in many jurisdictions, the effects of regulatory changes or other government decisions. Municipal securities that are issued to finance a particular transportation project (e.g., toll roads) often depend on revenues from that project to make principal and interest payments.*

*Risk of Investing in Utility-Related Municipal Securities. Certain municipal securities are issued by public bodies, including state and municipal utility authorities, to, among other things, finance the operation or expansion of utility entities. Various future economic and other conditions may adversely affect utility entities, including inflation, increases in financing requirements, increases in raw material costs and other operating costs, changes in demand for services and the effects of environmental and other governmental regulations. Certain utilities are subject to specific risks. For example, gas utilities are subject to risks of supply conditions and increased competition from other providers of utility services. In addition, gas utilities are affected by gas prices, which may be magnified to the extent that a gas utility enters into long-term contracts for the purchase or sale of gas at a fixed price, since such prices may change significantly and to the disadvantage of the gas utility.*

**Not a Money Market Fund. The Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, the Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. The Fund does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

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**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund invests.

**Tax Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's income will be exempt from U.S. federal income taxes, the federal AMT or the federal Medicare contribution tax of 3.8% on "net investment income." BFA relies on the bond issuer's prospectus disclosure of the opinion from its counsel as to the tax-exempt status of the investment. Neither BFA nor the Fund guarantees that this opinion is correct, and there is no assurance that the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") will agree with the bond issuer's counsel's tax opinion. Issuers or other parties generally enter into covenants requiring continuing compliance with U.S. federal tax requirements to preserve the tax-free status of interest payments over the life of the security. If at any time the covenants are not complied with, or if the IRS otherwise determines that the issuer did not comply with relevant tax requirements, interest payments from a security could become federally taxable, possibly retroactively to the date the security was issued, and the security could decline significantly in value. BFA will generally seek to obtain bonds that pay interest that is exempt from U.S. federal income taxes, the federal AMT and the federal Medicare contribution tax. The interest on any money market instruments or other cash equivalents held by the Fund may be subject to the federal AMT or the federal Medicare contribution tax.**

Events occurring after the date of issuance of a municipal bond or after the Fund's acquisition of a municipal bond may result in a determination that interest on that bond is includible in gross income for U.S. federal income tax, federal AMT or federal Medicare contribution tax purposes retroactively to its date of issuance. Such a determination may cause a portion of prior distributions by the Fund to its shareholders to be taxable to those shareholders in the year of receipt. U.S. federal or state changes in income, federal AMT or federal Medicare contribution tax rates or in the tax treatment of municipal bonds may make municipal bonds less attractive as investments and cause them to lose value. If the IRS determines an issuer of a municipal security has not complied with applicable tax requirements, interest from the security could become taxable, even retroactively, and the securities could decline significantly in value.

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**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if

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exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, at the annual rate of 0.25%. BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the types of securities in which the Fund may also invest.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Board of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that

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individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. Kristi Manidis, James Mauro, Christian Romaglino and Kevin A. Schiatta are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

Kristi Manidis has been with BlackRock since 2004. Ms. Manidis has been employed by BlackRock as a portfolio manager since 2009 and has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2019.

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.

Christian Romaglino has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2017. Prior to that, Mr. Romaglino was a portfolio manager at Brown Brothers Harriman from 2010 to 2017. Mr. Romaglino has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

Kevin A. Schiatta, CFA has been with BlackRock since 2006, following its merger with Merrill Lynch Investment Management. Mr. Schiatta has been employed by BlackRock as a portfolio manager since 2006 and has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2019.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or**

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one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

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It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "MEAR."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio

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securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("Cboe BZX").

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

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participants. These procedures are the same as those that apply to any other securities that you hold in book-entry or "street name" form.

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is

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available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares. In general, given its investment strategy, the Fund would not be an appropriate investment for a tax deferred retirement account such as an IRA.

#### Taxes on Distributions.

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Dividends paid by the Fund that are properly reported as tax-exempt interest dividends will not be subject to regular U.S. federal income tax. The Fund intends to invest its assets in a manner such that dividend distributions to its shareholders will generally be exempt from U.S. federal income taxation, including the federal AMT. Dividends paid by the Fund will be exempt from U.S. federal income tax (though not necessarily exempt from state and local taxation) to the extent of the Fund's tax-exempt interest income as long as 50% or more of the value of the Fund's assets at the end of each quarter is invested in state, municipal and other bonds that are excluded from gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes and as long as the Fund properly reports such dividends as tax-exempt interest dividends. Exempt interest dividends from interest earned on municipal securities of a state, or its political subdivisions, may be exempt from income tax in that state. However, income from municipal securities of other states generally will not qualify for tax-free treatment.

Distributions from the Fund's net investment income other than from net tax-exempt income, including distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses (capital gain dividends) are taxable to you as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the Fund's shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Taxable distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. Distributions from the Fund are not expected to qualify as qualified dividend income. In general, any taxable distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Any market discount recognized on a bond is taxable as ordinary income. A market discount bond is a bond acquired in the secondary market at a price below redemption value or adjusted issue price if issued with original issue discount. To the extent the Fund does not include the market discount in income as it accrues, gain on the Fund's disposition of such an obligation will be treated as ordinary income rather than capital gain to the extent of the accrued market discount.

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If you lend your Fund shares pursuant to securities lending arrangements, you may lose the ability to treat Fund dividends (paid while the shares are held by the borrower) as tax-exempt income. Consult your financial intermediary or tax advisor.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information as to their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

Shareholders will receive information after the end of each year setting forth the amount of dividends and long-term capital gains distributed to them by the Fund during the prior year. Likewise, the amount of tax-exempt income, including any tax-exempt income subject to federal AMT, that the Fund distributes will be reported and such income must be reported on the shareholder's U.S. federal income tax return. The AMT is a separate tax system that operates in parallel to the regular federal income tax system but eliminates many deductions and exclusions. The AMT has different tax rates and treats as taxable certain types of income that are nontaxable for regular income tax purposes. The interest on certain "private activity" municipal bonds is taxable income for AMT purposes. If a taxpayer's overall AMT liability is higher than regular income tax liability, then the taxpayer owes the regular income tax liability plus the difference between the AMT liability and the regular income tax liability.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been**

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held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.

If your shares are lent out pursuant to a securities lending arrangement, you may lose any ability to use the non-U.S. tax credits passed through by the Fund.

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a specified amount of cash in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a specified amount of cash and/or a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying

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redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance for the past five years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.11 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.19 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$49.85 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.01 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(a)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.37 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.17 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.51 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.81 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.62) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.07) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.26 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.21) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.25) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.64 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.07 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.47 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.79) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.63) |
| **Net asset value, end of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$49.62 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.11 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.19 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$49.85 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.51)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.19% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.29% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.16% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.95% |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.75% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.34% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.02% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.63% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.35% |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of year (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$520960 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$293169 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$291091 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$210532 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$127111 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(f)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;52% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;108% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;170% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;221% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Disclaimers

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by Cboe BZX. Cboe BZX makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. Cboe BZX is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. Cboe BZX has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Cboe BZX have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-MEAR-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946imgb59dd24c2.gif)

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946img6a6f71cb1.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

---

#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF \| ICSH \| CBOE BZX

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

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_027ac28e-5151-4c92-8d20-96d91c0a5498_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_18)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_22)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Management](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_22)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_26)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| [Distribution](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_34)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_35)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_f540b59f-d8a6-4ec4-9f0a-a1be5fde4baa_36)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |

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iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

i

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BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup> ULTRA SHORT-TERM BOND ETF

Ticker: ICSH Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX

#### Investment Objective
The BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to provide current income consistent with preservation of capital.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | &nbsp;&nbsp; **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;0.08% |  | 0.00% | 0.08% |

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<sup>1</sup> The amount rounded to 0.00%.

**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $8 | $26 | $45 | $103 |

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**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 27% of the average value of its portfolio.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade fixed- and floating-rate debt securities that are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch Ratings, Inc. ("Fitch"), or Baa3 or higher by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's"), or, if unrated, determined by the Fund's management team to be of equivalent quality. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will invest primarily in fixed- and floating-rate securities maturing in three years or less. Short-term investments (generally, securities with original maturities of one year or less) held by the Fund carry a rating in one of the highest two rating categories of at least one nationally recognized statistical ratings organization ("NRSRO") (*e.g.*,A-2, P-2 or F2 or better by S&P Global Ratings, Moody's or Fitch, respectively), or if such investments are unrated, are determined to be of comparable quality

by the Fund's management team, at the time of investment.

The Fund may invest in corporate and U.S. and non-U.S. government bonds, agency securities, instruments of non-U.S. issuers, privately issued securities, asset-backed securities ("ABS") and mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"), structured securities, municipal bonds, repurchase agreements, money market instruments and investment companies (including investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates). The Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in securities issued by financial institutions, such as banks, broker-dealers and insurance companies.

Under normal circumstances, the dollar-weighted average life of the Fund's portfolio is expected to be one year or less, as calculated by the Fund's management team. The Fund will also seek to maintain a dollar-weighted average maturity that is less than 180 days. "Dollar-weighted average life," or "WAL," is the weighted average of the times when principal is to be repaid. "Dollar-weighted average maturity," or "WAM," is calculated by taking the average length of time to maturity (fixed-rate) or the next interest rate reset (floating-rate) for each underlying instrument held by the Fund, weighted according to the relative holdings per instrument.

The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF") that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The Fund may have a higher degree of portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index.

The Fund is not a money market fund and does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.

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Please see the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") for further information.

The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. Unlike many ETFs, the Fund is not an index-based ETF. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this prospectus (the "Prospectus")) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with***

respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

***Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund may effect part or all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a result, the Fund may have to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at wider bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or***

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other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, and other service providers (including the benchmark provider), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.***

#### Financials Sector Risk . Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in
government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

***Floating Rate Securities Risk. Securities with floating or variable interest rates can be less sensitive to interest rate changes than securities with fixed interest rates, but may decline in value if their coupon rates do not reset as high, or as quickly, as comparable market interest rates, and generally carry lower yields than fixed securities of the same maturity. Although floating rate securities are less sensitive to interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, they are subject to credit risk and default risk, which could impair their value.***

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid***

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investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when interest rates fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as the bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's***

ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent***

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years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio***

securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. The Fund is subject to management risk, which is the risk that the investment process, techniques and risk analyses applied by BFA will not produce the desired results, and that securities selected by BFA may underperform the market or any relevant benchmark. In addition, legislative, regulatory, or tax developments may affect the investment techniques available to BFA in connection with managing the Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective.***

***Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. Unlike some ETFs that track specific indexes, the Fund does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. Index-based ETFs have generally traded at***

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prices that closely correspond to NAV. However, ETFs that do not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index have a limited trading history and, therefore, there can be no assurance as to whether, and/or the extent to which, the Fund's shares will trade at premiums or discounts to NAV. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**.

***Municipal Securities Risk. Municipal securities can be significantly affected by political or economic changes, including changes made in the law after issuance of the securities, as well as uncertainties in the municipal market related to taxation, legislative changes or the rights of municipal security holders, including in connection with an issuer insolvency. Municipal securities backed by current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or specific assets can be negatively affected by the inability to collect revenues from such projects or assets. Certain municipal securities are issued by entities with limited taxing authority such as school districts, or are dependent on revenue from a particular sector or industry, such as the utilities sector, infrastructure sector, or transportation industry.***

***Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences,***

and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.

***Not a Money Market Fund. The Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, the Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. The Fund does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading***

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market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.

***Repurchase Agreement Risk. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (i.e., the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed upon time and price. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price. If the seller defaults on its obligation under the agreement, the Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising its rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security and the market value of the security declines, the Fund may lose money.***

***Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. The Fund's investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as***

war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country's or region's security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund's investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes to the economic conditions of certain key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt burdens and the price or availability of certain commodities.

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.***

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund.***

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares.***

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Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the

securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 and 5 years and since inception compare with those of a broad measure of market performance. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946icsh.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 1.62% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -0.41% in the 1st quarter of 2022.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Five Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 12/11/2013)** |  |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;0.95% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.63% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.27% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;0.28% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.96% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.74% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;0.56% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.96% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.74% |
| **ICE BofA 6-Month US Treasury Bill Index<sup>2,3</sup> (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.31% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.38% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.98% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> The ICE BofA 6-Month US Treasury Bill Index is an unmanaged index that measures the performance of government securities with less than six months remaining to maturity.

<sup>3</sup> Index returns through February 28, 2021 reflect the 3pm pricing variant of the ICE BofA 6-Month US Treasury Bill Index. Index returns beginning on March 1, 2021 reflect the performance of the 4pm pricing variant of the ICE BofA 6-Month US Treasury Bill Index.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser and Sub-Adviser. The Fund's investment adviser is BFA. The Fund's sub-adviser is BlackRock International Limited ("BIL" or the "Sub-Adviser").
**Portfolio Managers. Eric Hiatt and James Mauro (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Hiatt and Mr. Mauro have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2022 and 2021, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

The Fund is an actively managed ETF and, thus, does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. Accordingly, the management team has discretion on a daily basis to manage the Fund's portfolio in accordance with the Fund's investment objective.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. Similar to shares of a mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund's investment objective is a non-fundamental policy and may be changed without shareholder approval.

**Additional Information on the Investment Strategies. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade fixed- and floating-rate debt securities that are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch, or Baa3 or higher by Moody's, or, if unrated, determined by the Fund's management team to be of equivalent quality. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests in fixed- and floating-rate securities maturing in three years or less. Short-term investments (generally, securities with original maturities of one year or less) held by the Fund carry a rating in one of the highest two rating categories of at least one NRSRO (*e.g.,* A-2, P-2 or F2 or better by S&P Global Ratings, Moody's or Fitch, respectively), or if such investments are unrated, are determined to be of comparable quality by BFA, at the time of investment. The Fund's 80% investment policy may be changed by the Fund's Board of Trustees (the "Board") upon 60 days' notice to shareholders.**

The Fund may invest in corporate and U.S. and non-U.S. government bonds, agency securities, instruments of non-U.S. issuers, privately issued securities, ABS and MBS, structured securities, municipal bonds, repurchase agreements, money market instruments and investment companies. The Fund invests a significant portion of its assets in securities issued by financial institutions, such as banks, broker-dealers and insurance companies. BFA or its affiliates may advise the money market funds and investment companies in which the Fund may invest.

The Fund may invest in ABS and MBS. ABS are fixed-income securities that are backed by a pool of assets, usually loans such as installment sale contracts or credit card

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receivables. MBS are ABS based on a particular type of asset, a mortgage. There are a wide variety of MBS involving commercial or residential, fixed-rate or adjustable-rate mortgages and mortgages issued by banks or government agencies. Most transactions in fixed-rate mortgage pass-through securities occur through standardized contracts for future delivery in which the exact mortgage pools to be delivered are not specified until a few days prior to settlement, known as TBA transactions. The Fund may enter into such contracts on a regular basis. The Fund, pending settlement of such contracts, will invest the relevant assets in high-quality, liquid short-term instruments, including shares of money market funds affiliated with BFA. Collateralized mortgage obligations ("CMOs") are fixed-income securities that are backed by cash flows from pools of mortgages. CMOs may have multiple classes with different payment rights and protections.

The Fund may, to a limited extent, engage in derivatives transactions that include futures contracts, options and swaps.

**Investment Process. The cash portfolio management team participates in formal investment strategy meetings where investment professionals present their views on the various market sectors, asset allocation, portfolio risk, and other investment themes. The macro, firm-level view is a consideration in setting the investment strategy.**

Decisions regarding interest rate risk, credit quality, liquidity profile and sector allocation are made by the Investment Strategy and Risk Committees. These committees build on the broader macro themes and apply them specifically to the short-term markets. The meetings are supplemented by shorter daily market updates where portfolio managers report on their specific sectors to determine relative value within the short term markets. This is a fluid process with intraday dialogue to make adjustments to portfolios when appropriate.

The collective result of these meetings is the investment strategy that liquidity portfolio managers subsequently implement. Using this method, the group is able to manage portfolios on a team basis but still leverage the individual expertise of each of its members throughout the firm.

In certain situations or market conditions, the Fund may temporarily depart from its normal investment process, provided that such departure is, in the opinion of BFA, consistent with the Fund's investment objective and in the best interests of the Fund. For example, the Fund may hold a higher than normal proportion of its assets in cash in response to adverse market, economic or political conditions.

The management team uses an internal model for calculating duration, which may result in a different value of duration than if duration was calculated by a third party.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability

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to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund may effect part or all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. Paying redemption proceeds in cash rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities may require the Fund to dispose of or sell portfolio securities or other assets at an inopportune time to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. As a result, the Fund may pay out higher or lower annual capital gains distributions than ETFs that redeem in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at greater bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Furthermore, the Fund may not be able to execute cash transactions for creation and redemption purposes at the same price used to determine the Fund's NAV. To the extent that the**

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maximum additional charge for creation or redemption transactions is insufficient to cover the execution shortfall, the Fund's performance could be negatively impacted.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's income level or share price.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund

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or its service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector

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and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

**Floating Rate Securities Risk. Securities with floating or variable interest rates can be less sensitive to interest rate changes than securities with fixed interest rates, but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general. Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline. A decline in interest rates may result in a reduction in income received from floating rate securities held by the Fund and may adversely affect the value of the Fund's shares. Generally, floating rate securities carry lower yields than fixed securities of the same maturity. The interest rate for a floating rate security resets or adjusts periodically by reference to a benchmark interest rate. The impact of interest rate changes on floating rate investments is typically mitigated by the periodic interest rate reset of the investments. Securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making them more volatile than securities with shorter durations. Floating rate securities generally are subject to legal or contractual restrictions on resale, may trade infrequently, and their value may be impaired when the Fund needs to liquidate such loans. Benchmark interest rates, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") or the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), may not accurately track market interest rates.**

Although floating rate securities are less sensitive to interest rate risk than fixed-rate securities, they are subject to credit risk and default risk, which could impair their value.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other**

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circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if interest rates fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.**

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

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Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.**

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor**

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management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Management Risk. The Fund is subject to management risk because it does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. BFA and the portfolio managers will utilize a proprietary investment process, techniques and risk analyses in making investment decisions for the Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results. In addition, legislative, regulatory, or tax developments may affect the investment techniques available to BFA in connection with managing the Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective.**

**Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and**

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may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.*

Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

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Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.

*Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for Fund shares and the underlying value of the Fund's portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund's NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

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**Municipal Securities Risk. Municipal securities include both general obligation bonds (bonds secured by the full faith and credit of the issuer) and limited obligation bonds (or "Revenue Bonds"). All municipal securities are subject to the risk that litigation, legislation or other political events, local business or economic conditions, credit rating downgrades, or the bankruptcy of the issuer could have a significant effect on an issuer's ability to make payments of principal and/or interest or otherwise affect the value of such securities. Additionally, certain municipal securities may be issued by entities with limited taxing authority, which could limit or prevent tax increases necessary to make continued payments of principal and interest.**

Municipal securities can be significantly affected by political or economic changes, including changes made in the law after issuance of the securities, as well as uncertainties in the municipal market related to taxation, legislative changes or the rights of municipal security holders, including in connection with an issuer insolvency. There is also the risk that corruption may negatively affect municipal issuers, including corruption related to a particular project from which payments on a security are derived, resulting in delays and cost overruns.

There may be less publicly available information on the financial condition of municipal security issuers than for issuers of other securities. As a result, municipal securities may be more difficult for the Fund to value accurately than the securities of public companies. Municipal securities may also be harder to buy and sell compared to taxable bonds and non-municipal securities, especially on short notice. Because the Fund invests a significant portion of its portfolio in municipal securities, the Fund's portfolio is subject to greater exposure to illiquidity risk than a fund that invests in comparable taxable bonds or non-municipal securities.

The Fund and BFA will rely on the opinion of issuers' bond counsel on the tax-exempt status of interest on municipal bonds. Neither the Fund nor BFA will independently review the bases for those tax opinions, which may ultimately be determined to be incorrect, potentially resulting in the Fund and its shareholders being subject to substantial tax liabilities. In addition, changes in the financial condition of an individual municipal issuer can affect the overall municipal market.

Revenue Bonds are backed by current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or specific assets and can be negatively affected by the discontinuance of the tax benefits supporting the project or assets or the inability to collect revenues from the project or the assets. Additionally, the market values of Revenue Bonds may decline in times of higher inflation to the extent that revenues are fixed income streams. In other instances, the prices that an issuer is able to charge users of its assets may be linked to inflation, whether by government regulation, contractual arrangement or other factors. Rising interest rates could result in higher costs of capital for certain issuers, which could negatively impact their ability to meet payment obligations. In this case, changes in the rate of inflation may affect the issuer's revenues. Because many municipal securities are issued to finance projects, such as those related to education, health care, housing, transportation, utilities, and water and sewer, conditions in one or more of these sectors can affect the overall municipal market. Adverse conditions and developments affecting a particular project can result in lower revenues to an

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issuer of the municipal securities and, by extension, adversely affect payments of principal and interest on, or the market value of, such securities.

Additionally, certain municipal securities are issued by entities dependent on revenue from a particular sector and thus are subject to the specific risks associated with that sector.

*Risk of Investing in Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. Entities that issue municipal securities related to infrastructure ("infrastructure issuers") may be subject to a variety of factors that could adversely affect their capacity to make principal and interest payments, such as high interest costs in connection with capital construction programs, high degrees of leverage, costs associated with governmental, environmental and other regulations, the effects of economic slowdowns, increased competition from other providers of services, uncertainties concerning costs, the level of government spending on infrastructure projects, and other factors. Such issuers may be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, import controls, depletion of resources, technological developments, and labor relations. Infrastructure issuers can be significantly affected by government spending policies.*

*Leverage Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be highly indebted, which increases investment risk and other risks normally associated with debt financing, which could adversely affect such an issuer's operations and the market value of related municipal securities in periods of rising interest rates.*

*Operations Risk. The failure of an infrastructure issuer to carry adequate insurance or to operate its assets appropriately could lead to significant losses. Infrastructure may be adversely affected by environmental clean-up costs and catastrophic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist acts.*

*Regulatory Risk. Infrastructure projects may be subject to significant regulation by various governmental authorities and also may be affected by regulation of rates charged to customers, service interruption due to environmental, operational or other events, the imposition of special tariffs and changes in tax laws, regulatory policies and accounting standards.*

*Strategic Asset Risk. Infrastructure issuers may control significant strategic assets (e.g., major pipelines or highways), which are assets that have a national or regional profile, and may have monopolistic characteristics. Given their national or regional profile or irreplaceable nature, strategic assets could generate additional risk not common in other industry sectors and they may be targeted for terrorist acts or adverse political actions.*

*User Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be dependent upon a narrow user base. If these users do not patronize infrastructure projects as expected, significant revenues could be lost and may not be replaceable, in which case infrastructure issuers may fail to pay their obligations.*

*Risk of Investing in Municipal Securities Issued By School Districts. School districts rely, in part, on funding appropriations from, among others, the federal government and state governments. As a result, municipal securities issued by school districts may be adversely affected by political and economic changes at the state or federal levels,*

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such as decreased tax or other revenues, spending reductions or changes in appropriations. Municipal securities that are issued to finance a particular school district project often depend on revenues from ad valorem taxes (i.e., property taxes) to make principal and interest payments. Investors in these securities, similar to investors in municipal securities generally, face heightened risk of loss upon insolvency of the school district issuers because there is often no ready source of funding to pay principal and interest other than the local tax base, which a bankruptcy court or administrator does not control.

*Risk of Investing in Transportation Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. The transportation infrastructure industry may be adversely affected by economic changes, increases in fuel and other operating costs, labor relations, insurance costs, and, in many jurisdictions, the effects of regulatory changes or other government decisions. Municipal securities that are issued to finance a particular transportation project (e.g., toll roads) often depend on revenues from that project to make principal and interest payments.*

*Risk of Investing in Utility-Related Municipal Securities. Certain municipal securities are issued by public bodies, including state and municipal utility authorities, to, among other things, finance the operation or expansion of utility entities. Various future economic and other conditions may adversely affect utility entities, including inflation, increases in financing requirements, increases in raw material costs and other operating costs, changes in demand for services and the effects of environmental and other governmental regulations. Certain utilities are subject to specific risks. For example, gas utilities are subject to risks of supply conditions and increased competition from other providers of utility services. In addition, gas utilities are affected by gas prices, which may be magnified to the extent that a gas utility enters into long-term contracts for the purchase or sale of gas at a fixed price, since such prices may change significantly and to the disadvantage of the gas utility.*

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

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**Not a Money Market Fund. The Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, the Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. The Fund does not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market or economic conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. At times, it also may be more difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund's NAV due to the absence of an active trading market. There can be no assurance that a privately issued security that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and its value may decline as a result.**

**Repurchase Agreement Risk. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.,* the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed upon time and price. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price. If the seller defaults on its obligation under the agreement, the Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising its rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security and the market value of the security declines, the Fund may lose money.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of**

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economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund invests.

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other**

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reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclical industry depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone.**

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Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund faces risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to

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influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to LIBOR to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. As part of the phase-out of the use of LIBOR, the rate's administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited ("IBA"), discontinued two USD LIBOR settings immediately after publication on December 31, 2021. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR, and IBA previously announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. While the FCA is requiring the IBA to publish certain LIBOR settings, potentially to include USD settings, on a "synthetic" basis, the "synthetic" methodology is not based on panel bank contributions and is not intended to be representative of the interest rates in the underlying market. The Fund may have investments linked to other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA"), which may also cease to be published. Various financial industry groups continue planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there are challenges to converting certain securities and transactions to a new reference rate, such as SOFR, which is intended to replace USD LIBOR. For example, at times, SOFR has proven to be more volatile than the 3-month USD LIBOR. Working groups and regulators in other countries have suggested other alternatives for their markets, including the Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate ("SONIA") in England.**

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Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. The transition process might lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets for, and reduce the effectiveness of new hedges placed against, instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR. While some existing LIBOR-based instruments may contemplate a scenario where LIBOR is no longer available by providing for an alternative rate-setting methodology, there may be significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of any such alternative methodologies to replicate LIBOR. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Global regulators have advised market participants to cease entering into new contracts using LIBOR as a reference rate, and it is possible that investments in LIBOR-based instruments could invite regulatory scrutiny. In addition, a liquid market for newly issued instruments that use a reference rate other than LIBOR still may be developing. There may also be challenges for the Fund to enter into hedging transactions against such newly issued instruments until a market for such hedging transactions develops. All of the aforementioned may adversely affect the Fund's performance or NAV.

**North American Economic Risk. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which the Fund invests.**

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S. and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities held by the Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by the Fund.

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the

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aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

**Utilities Sector Risk. Companies in the utilities sector may be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates, domestic and international competition, and governmental limitations on rates charged to consumers. The value of regulated utility debt securities (and, to a lesser extent, equity securities) tends to have an inverse relationship to the movement of interest rates. Deregulation may subject utility companies to greater competition and may adversely affect their profitability. As deregulation allows utility companies to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business, utility companies may engage in riskier ventures. In addition, deregulation may eliminate restrictions on the profits of certain utility companies, but may also subject these companies to greater risk of loss. Companies in the utilities industry may have difficulty obtaining an adequate return on invested capital, raising capital, or financing large construction projects during periods of inflation or unsettled capital markets; face restrictions on operations and increased cost and delays attributable to environmental considerations and regulation; find that existing plants, equipment or products have been rendered obsolete by technological innovations; or be subject to increased costs because of the scarcity of certain fuels or the effects of man-made or natural disasters. Existing and future regulations or legislation may make it difficult for utility companies to operate profitably. Government regulators monitor and control utility revenues and costs, and therefore may limit utility profits. In certain countries, regulatory authorities may also restrict utility companies' access to new markets, thereby diminishing these companies' long-term prospects. There is no assurance that regulatory authorities will grant rate increases in the future or that such increases will be adequate to permit the payment of coupon payments on bonds issued by such company . Energy conservation and changes in climate policy may also have a significant adverse impact on the revenues and expenses of utility companies.**

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses**

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teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, at the annual rate of 0.08%. BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA has entered into a sub-advisory agreement with the Sub-Adviser, an affiliate of BFA, under which BFA pays the Sub-Adviser for services it provides either: (i) a fee equal to a percentage of the management fee paid to BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement or (ii) an amount based on the cost of the services provided. The Sub-Adviser, subject to the supervision and oversight of the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") and BFA, is primarily responsible for the execution of securities transactions outside the U.S. and Canada and may, from time to time, participate in the management of specified assets in the Fund's portfolio. If the Sub-Adviser provides services relating to both portfolio management and trading, it is entitled to receive from BFA an amount equal to 20% of BFA's management fee, and if the Sub-Adviser provides services related solely to trading, then it is entitled to receive from BFA an amount equal to 110% of the actual pre-tax costs incurred by the Sub-Adviser.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BIL is an investment adviser located in the U.K. at Exchange Place One, 1 Semple Street, Edinburgh EH3 8BL, Scotland 011 44 131 472 7200. The Sub-Adviser is a registered investment adviser and a commodity pool operator organized in 1999. BFA, the Sub-Adviser, and their affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Board of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA and the Sub-Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Sub-Adviser is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of

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BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. Eric Hiatt and James Mauro are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

Eric Hiatt has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Hiatt was Senior Vice President and portfolio manager at Dwight Asset Management from 2009 to 2012. Mr. Hiatt has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of**

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such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. The Fund may also invest in sovereign issuers that are advised by an Affiliate with respect to their debt offerings. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance

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with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "ICSH."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject

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purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("Cboe BZX").

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund, or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. However, registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC rules. In order for a registered investment company to invest in shares of the Fund beyond the limitations of Section 12(d)(1) in reliance on Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act, the registered investment company must, among other things, enter into an agreement with the Trust. Foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

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**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that

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the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have**

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held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.

You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding, capital gains and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S."), generally the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

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Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

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A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a specified amount of cash in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a specified amount of cash and/or a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of

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Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance for the past five years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF** | **BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.45 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.54 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.41 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(a)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.61 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.69 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.38 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.07) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.23 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.16) |
| Net increase from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.01 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.94 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.61 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.00 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.47) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.81) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.35) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.97) |
| **Net asset value, end of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$49.99 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.45 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.54 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.41 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.15 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.03% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.29% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.89% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.02% |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.08% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.08% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.08% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.08% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.08% |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.22% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.44% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.36% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.74% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.33% |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of year (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$7053541 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$5806662 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$4922726 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2195391 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$601794 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(f)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;27% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;47% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;54% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;32% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Disclaimers

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by Cboe BZX. Cboe BZX makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. Cboe BZX is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. Cboe BZX has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Cboe BZX have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-ICSH-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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| ![](g371946img4bc603af1.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF \| CMDY \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_688a9f56-835d-40b8-8ef9-40c44d6058e6_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_19)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_23)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [Management](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_23)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_26)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| [Distribution](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_35)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Consolidated Financial Highlights](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_36)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_7286be83-16e9-42d4-b3cb-7f57ad1107cb_37)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |

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Bloomberg Index Services Limited and its affiliates (collectively, "Bloomberg") are not affiliated with BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates and do not approve, endorse, review, or recommend the iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF. Bloomberg and the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index are trademarks or service marks of Bloomberg and have been licensed to BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates. Bloomberg does not guarantee the timeliness, accurateness, or completeness of any data or information relating to the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index and shall not be liable in any way to the BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates, investors in iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF or other third parties in respect of the use or accuracy of the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index or any data included therein.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> BLOOMBERG ROLL SELECT COMMODITY STRATEGY ETF

Ticker: CMDY Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of a broad range of commodity exposures with enhanced roll selection, on a total return basis.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 28, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution <br>and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses** | **Acquired Fund <br>Fees<br>and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses<br>After<br>Fee Waiver** |
| 0.28% |  |  | 0.01% | 0.29% | (0.01)% | 0.28% |

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $29 | $91 | $161 | $366 |

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**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it, directly or indirectly through a subsidiary, buys and sells securities or other assets (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 0% of the average value of its portfolio.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index (the "Underlying Index"), which measures the performance of 23 futures contracts across 21 physical agricultural, energy, precious metals and industrial metals commodities. The Underlying Index, which is rebalanced annually, provides broad-based exposure to commodities as an asset class by using liquidity factors and sector caps to avoid over-concentration in any single commodity or commodity sector.

In seeking to achieve its investment

objective, the Fund will primarily invest in exchange-traded futures contracts ("Index Futures") on the Underlying Index, and is expected to roll out of existing positions in Index Futures and establish new positions in Index Futures on an ongoing basis. Index Futures subsequently acquired by the Fund may have terms that differ from those of the Index Futures it currently holds and the purchase and sale of these Index Futures may incur transaction fees. The Fund also seeks to generate interest income and capital appreciation on the cash balances arising from its investment in futures contracts through a cash management strategy consisting of investments in cash and cash equivalents, short-term government obligations and short-term investment grade fixed-income securities (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments").

In order to maintain exposure to a futures contract on a particular commodity, an investor must sell the position in the expiring contract and buy a new position in a contract with a later delivery month, which is referred to as "rolling." If the price for the new futures contract is less than the price of the expiring contract, then the market for the commodity is said to be in "backwardation." In these markets, roll returns are positive, which is referred to

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as "positive carry." The term "contango" is used to describe a market in which the price for a new futures contract is more than the price of the expiring contract. In these markets, roll returns are negative, which is referred to as "negative carry." The Underlying Index seeks to employ a positive carry strategy that emphasizes commodities and futures contract months with the greatest degree of backwardation and lowest degree of contango, resulting in net gains through positive roll returns.

The Fund will invest in financial instruments providing exposure to commodities and not in the physical commodities themselves. The Fund may also invest in exchange-traded commodity futures contracts similar to those found in the Underlying Index, as well as swaps and options on futures that correlate to the investment returns of commodities without investing directly in physical commodities and over-the-counter commodity-linked instruments like commodity-linked notes, swaps and forward contracts (together, the "Commodity Investments"). Investing in derivative contracts may have a leveraging effect on the Fund. Although the Fund may hold the same futures contracts under the same futures rolling schedule as those included in the Underlying Index, the Fund is not obligated to invest in any futures contracts included in, and does not seek to replicate the performance of, the Underlying Index. As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index was comprised of 23 components.

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive

positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor selection of securities and/or other instruments. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the Underlying Index.

The Fund seeks to gain exposure to Index Futures and other Commodity Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as

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amended (the "1940 Act"). The Subsidiary invests solely in Commodity Investments and cash and cash equivalents. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Commodity Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to broad commodities consistent with current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in Commodity Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets will be invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments, including repurchase agreements, money market instruments, U.S. government and agency securities, Treasury inflation-protected securities, sovereign debt obligations on non-U.S. countries and investment-grade corporate bonds. The Fund invests in Fixed-Income Investments for investment purposes and to provide sufficient assets to account for (or "cover") mark-to-market changes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's investments in derivatives.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's

potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

The Underlying Index is sponsored by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (the "Index Provider" or "Bloomberg"), which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes (including the futures market).***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other***

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market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.

***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

***Carry Strategy Risk. The futures market for a commodity in which the price for a new futures contract is less than the price of an expiring contract, known as a market trading in a state of "backwardation," may not continue to trade with the same degree of backwardation or with the resulting returns. To the extent that a commodity futures market is not trading in a state of backwardation (or is trading in such a state, but to a lesser degree), the Fund's cost to maintain exposure to the commodity may increase, the positive carry strategy may prove unsuccessful, and the investment performance of the Fund may suffer.***

***Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument (including swaps based on such instruments) typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic variable linked to such price***

movements. The current market prices, or "spot prices," and the price at a specified future date implied by the value of certain commodity-linked derivatives (including swaps based on such instruments), or the "futures prices," for commodities will vary depending upon expectations regarding market conditions. The value of commodity-linked investments tied to both spot and futures prices of commodities may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Commodity-linked derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives may also have a leveraging effect on the Fund's portfolio because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. Leverage generally magnifies the effect of a change in the value of an asset and creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the Fund would otherwise have had. The Fund is required to post margin with respect to its holdings in derivatives. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.

***Commodity Market Disruption Risk. The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation, intervention and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation in futures contract prices***

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that may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be executed beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices. The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges are also authorized to take other actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the imposition of higher margin requirements and the suspension of trading. Any of those actions, if taken, could adversely affect the returns of the Fund.

The constituents of the Underlying Index may experience such disruptions in trading. The Fund may be negatively impacted by the cessation of trading in futures contracts included in the Fund's Underlying Index or by a futures exchange imposing a limit price.

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed commodity pools and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund and the Subsidiary under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

#### Commodity Risk. The Fund has substantial exposure to commodities. The Fund invests in instruments that are
susceptible to fluctuations in certain commodity markets and to price changes due to trade relations, including the imposition of tariffs by the U.S. and other countries. Any negative changes in commodity markets that may be due to changes in supply and demand for commodities, market events, war, regulatory developments, political instability, other catastrophic events, or other factors that the Fund cannot control could have an adverse impact on the Commodity Investments in which the Fund invests.

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.***

***Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, uncleared swaps and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all and, if the counterparty is subject to specified types of resolution proceedings, the Fund may be subject to stays that limit its ability to close out positions and limit risk. The Fund's investments in the futures markets also introduce the risk that its futures commission merchant***

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("FCM") could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts.

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.***

#### Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a
security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation,

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insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Energy Sector Risk. The performance of energy-related commodities is generally cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of energy-related commodities may decline for many reasons, including, among others, changes in energy prices, energy supply and demand, global political changes, terrorism, natural disasters and other catastrophes; government regulations, taxation policies and energy conservation efforts. The energy sector has recently experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.***

***Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts, or swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts, are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii)***

losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. To the extent that the Fund is exposed to rolling futures contracts, it may be subject to additional risk. In addition, CFTC regulations limit the types of foreign listed futures contracts that U.S. investors, like the Fund, are allowed to invest in. As a result, the Fund may not be able to gain the exposure it seeks through certain non-U.S. futures contracts.

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments***

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held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding Fixed-Income Investments, as Fixed-Income Investments in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.***

#### Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged
quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund.***

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Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or other assets to which the Fund has exposure as well as the correlation among the assets. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or of securities referenced by swaps or other derivatives or the seller or counterparty with respect to derivatives or other assets may cause the value of the securities, derivatives, or other assets to decline.***

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in***

increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers and counterparties.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

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***Risk of Investing in Agriculture and Livestock. Investments in the agricultural and livestock sectors may be volatile and change unpredictably as a result of many factors, such as legislative or regulatory developments relating to food safety, the imposition of tariffs or other trade restraints, and the supply and demand of each commodity. Increased competition and changes in consumer tastes and spending can also influence the demand for agricultural and livestock products, affecting the price of such commodities and the performance of the Fund.***

***Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund has exposure to gold through its investments in total return swaps on the Underlying Index. Thus, the Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile, which may adversely affect the value of total return swaps on the Underlying Index. Governments, central banks, or other larger holders can influence the production and sale of gold, which may adversely affect the performance of the Fund.***

***Risk of Investing in Precious Metals. Prices of precious metals and of precious metal-related financial instruments historically have been very volatile. The high volatility of precious metal prices may adversely affect the prices of financial instruments that derive their value from the price of underlying precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments or central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors, which may be unpredictable and may have a***

significant impact on the prices of precious metals.

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized interest rate and credit default swaps are required to be traded on an exchange or trading platform and centrally cleared. Most other swaps are entered into a negotiated, bi-lateral basis and traded in the over-the-counter market. Swaps are subject to bi-lateral variation margin. The Fund is required by financial regulators to post initial margin in connection with trading over-the-counter swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps.***

***Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and,***

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unless otherwise noted in this Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"), and could adversely affect the Fund.

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.***

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's***

portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS ("ETFs") THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets, or assets that are impacted by market disruption events or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares.***

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Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the

securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with the Underlying Index. Prior to March 1, 2021, the Fund operated as a transparent active ETF. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946cmdy.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 24.15% in the 1st quarter of 2022; the worst was -19.40% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 4/3/2018)** |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;14.23% | &nbsp;&nbsp;6.86% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;12.47% | &nbsp;&nbsp;4.83% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.45% | &nbsp;&nbsp;4.39% |
| **Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;15.32% | &nbsp;&nbsp;7.49% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mejzak and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2018. Mr. Montalvo and Mr. Whitehead have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2023 and 2022, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial markets and seeks to track the performance of an index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.

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An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities, assets or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors (including the futures market). Various types of securities or assets may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.**

**Carry Strategy Risk. The futures market for a commodity in which the price for a new futures contract is less than the price of an expiring contract, known as a market**

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trading in a state of "backwardation," may not continue to trade with the same degree of backwardation or with the resulting returns. To the extent that a commodity futures market is not trading in a state of backwardation (or is trading in such a state, but to a lesser degree), the Fund's cost to maintain exposure to the commodity may increase, the positive carry strategy may prove unsuccessful, and the investment performance of the Fund may suffer.

**Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument (including swaps based on such instruments) typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. Therefore, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall economic conditions, interest rates, or factors affecting a particular commodity or industry, such as production, disease, climate conditions, supply or demand, politics, geopolitics, changes in international balance of payments and trade, currency devaluations and revaluations, market liquidity, and economic, political and regulatory developments. The current market prices, or "spot prices," and the price at a specified future date implied by the value of certain commodity-linked derivatives (including swaps based on such instruments), or the "futures prices," for commodities will vary depending upon expectations regarding market conditions. The value of commodity-linked investments tied to both spot and futures prices of commodities may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may or may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Investments in commodity-linked derivatives may be subject to greater volatility than non-derivative based investments because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop. Commodity-linked derivatives also may be subject to credit and interest rate risks that in general affect the values of fixed-income securities. Therefore, at maturity, the Fund may receive more or less principal than it originally invested. The Fund might receive interest payments that are more or less than the stated coupon interest payments. Commodity derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. In addition, each exchange or trading facility on which derivatives are traded has the right to suspend or limit trading in all futures or other instruments that it lists. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives can result in large amounts of financial leverage. Although the Fund will not borrow money in order to increase the amount of its trading, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit a high degree of leverage on the investment itself. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. Like other leveraged investments, any trade may result in losses in excess of the amount invested. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.**

**Commodity Market Disruption Risk. The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation, intervention and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of**

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fluctuation in futures contract prices that may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be executed beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices. The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges are also authorized to take other actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the imposition of higher margin requirements and the suspension of trading. Any of those actions, if taken, could adversely affect the returns of the Fund.

The constituents of the Underlying Index may experience such disruptions in trading. The Fund may be negatively impacted by the cessation of trading in futures contracts included in the Fund's Underlying Index or by a futures exchange imposing a limit price. If there is a market disruption event on a day when the Fund enters into or terminates a swap transaction tied to the Underlying Index, there could be an adverse impact on the Fund's portfolio and the performance of the Fund. Market disruption events may delay payments on swaps tied to the futures market. In order to meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to terminate swaps tied to the futures market at disadvantageous times or prices if a market disruption event persists beyond two consecutive business days.

In the event of a market disruption event, the execution price the Fund will pay or receive upon the settlement of a swap transaction tied to the Underlying Index may differ from the Fund's initial valuation of the swap, which is based on the official closing price of the Underlying Index, which uses the limit price of the affected contract. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem shares on a day when one or more constituents of the Underlying Index is experiencing a market disruption event could bear additional costs associated with increased market risk because the execution price of the swap may differ from the value assigned to the swap on the day the Authorized Participant submits their creation or redemption order. Such market disruption events may have an adverse effect on the value of the Fund shares.

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed "commodity pools" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

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**Commodity Risk. The Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices. Commodity prices may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors, including, where applicable, high volatility, changes in supply and demand relationships, weather, agriculture, trade, pestilence, political instability, war, catastrophic events, changes in interest rates and monetary and other governmental policies, action and inaction, including price changes due to the imposition of tariffs by the U.S. and other countries.**

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, uncleared swaps and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all and, if the counterparty is subject to specified types of resolution proceedings, the Fund may be subject to stays that limit its ability to close out positions and limit risk. The Fund may deposit funds required to margin open positions in the derivative instruments subject to the CEA with a clearing broker registered as an FCM, which is an entity that solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell commodity futures, options, swaps or forward contracts and accepts money or other assets from customers to support such orders. The FCM could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts. If a counterparty defaults on its payment obligations, the Fund may lose money and the value of an investment in Fund shares may decrease. In addition, the Fund may engage in such investment transactions with a limited number of counterparties, which may increase the Fund's exposure to counterparty credit risk.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal**

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payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's income level or share price.

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund or its service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, the Index Provider, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with**

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the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Energy Sector Risk. The performance of energy-related commodities is generally cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. Energy prices may fluctuate significantly due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") and non-OPEC energy exporters, such as the Russian Federation, policies and relationships, and the economies of key energy-consuming countries. The market value of energy-related commodities may decline for many reasons, including, among other things: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; terrorism, natural disasters and other catastrophes; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. The energy sector may also be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing. In 2020, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.**

**Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts, or swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts, are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting**

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inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty to a swap or other derivative referencing futures contracts will default in the performance of its obligations. When a futures contract is rolled forward—which may be done in order to retain the allocation to a specific position beyond the maturity of the futures contract—the Fund may lose money if the two contracts are trading at different prices as compared to fair value. For example, if the futures contract which the Fund has exposure to and is rolling is trading at a discount to fair value and the new contract it rolls into is trading at a premium to fair value, the Fund will lose money. The actual realization of a potential roll cost will be dependent upon the difference in price of the near and distant contracts. The relevant futures contracts may not be "rolled" on a predefined schedule as they approach expiration; instead BFA may determine to gain exposure to another futures contract (chosen from a list of tradable futures that expire in the next 9 months) in an attempt to generate maximum yield. There can be no guarantee that such a strategy will produce the desired results. In addition, CFTC regulations limit the types of foreign listed futures contracts that U.S. investors, like the Fund, are allowed to invest in. As a result, the Fund may not be able to gain the exposure it seeks through certain non-U.S. futures contracts.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. Although the Fund primarily seeks to redeem shares of the Fund on an in-kind basis, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing**

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to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding Fixed-Income Investments, as Fixed-Income Investments in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.**

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.**

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from

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those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making**

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their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or assets to which the Fund has exposure as well as the correlation among the assets. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. These securities or assets may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities or assets to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to**

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decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and volatility in spot prices and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn the prices of securities, commodities, and multiple other asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities, commodities and other instruments.**

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

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*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.*

Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.

*Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for Fund shares and the underlying value of the Fund's portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund's NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the*

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"bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.

**Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with these particular issuers or counterparties or to a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence affecting these issuers or counterparties.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the Underlying Index. The Fund invests in securities included in, or representative of, the Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.**

**Risk of Investing in Agriculture and Livestock. The agricultural and livestock sectors are subject to government subsidy policies and environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Specific governmental policies, such as taxes, tariffs, duties, subsidies and import and export restrictions on agricultural commodities, commodity products and livestock, can influence the profitability of investing in agriculture and livestock. Import restrictions and tariffs that have recently been imposed by foreign countries on U.S. agricultural and livestock products are expected to negatively impact the profitability of investing in these products. These industries may also be adversely affected by changes in commercial and consumer demand for their products. A growing competitive landscape and increased availability of such commodities can influence: (i) the planting and raising of certain crops/livestock versus other uses of resources; (ii) the location and size of crop and livestock production; (iii) whether unprocessed or processed commodity products are traded; and (iv) the volume and types of imports and exports. Economic recession or labor difficulties may also lead to a decrease in demand for the products and services**

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involved in agriculture. As a result, the price of agricultural or livestock commodities could decline, which would affect the performance of the Fund.

The agricultural and livestock sectors also are particularly sensitive to changing weather conditions, such as floods or droughts, natural disasters and other factors, such as disease outbreaks and pollution.

**Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund has exposure to gold through its investments in total return swaps on the Underlying Index. Thus, the Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile. Governments, central banks, or other large holders can influence the production and sale of gold, which may adversely affect the supply and price of gold, and thus, the performance of the Fund. Unpredictable economic, financial, social, and political factors may also affect the price of gold.**

Investments related to gold are considered to be speculative. The price of gold may fluctuate sharply over short periods of time due to, among other things: (i) changes in inflation or expectations regarding inflation in various countries; (ii) the availability of supply; (iii) changes in demand; (iv) investment speculation and political uncertainty; and (v) monetary and other economic policies of various governments.

**Risk of Investing in Precious Metals. Prices of precious metals and of precious metal-related financial instruments historically have been very volatile. The high volatility of precious metal prices may adversely affect the prices of financial instruments that derive their value from the price of underlying precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments, central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors, which may be unpredictable and may have a significant impact on the prices of precious metals. Other factors that may affect the prices of precious metal-related financial instruments include changes in inflation, the outlook for inflation and changes in industrial and commercial demand for precious metals.**

Some precious metals mining operation companies may hedge, to varying degrees, their exposure to declines in precious metals prices by selling forward future production. This may affect prices of precious metals-related financial instruments, which in turn may limit the Fund's ability to benefit from future increases in the price of precious metals, thereby lowering returns to the Fund.

Additionally, increased environmental or labor costs may depress the value of mining and metal investments.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

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The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities or physical commodities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized interest rate and credit default swaps are required to be traded on an exchange or trading platform and centrally cleared. Most other swaps are entered into on a negotiated, bi-lateral basis and traded in the over-the-counter market. Swaps are subject to bi-lateral variation margin. The Fund is required by financial regulators to post initial margin in connection with trading over-the-counter swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. Swaps entered into by the Fund through its Subsidiary are not expected to be centrally cleared and thus will expose the Fund to counter-party default risk and illiquidity risk, as liquidity depends on the willingness of counterparties to enter into, and the ability of counterparties to hedge the risks of, such contracts. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary, as determined at the end of each of the Fund's fiscal quarters. By investing in a Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The swaps and Commodity Investments that may be held by the Subsidiary are subject to the same risks that apply to similar investments if held directly by the Fund. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of the Subsidiary will be achieved. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. The Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. The Subsidiary's financial statements are consolidated with the Fund's financial statements that are included in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a RIC for U.S.**

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federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances. Moreover, changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and in the SAI, and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely experience decreased investment returns.

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets, or assets that are impacted by market disruption events or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The**

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ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.**

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of

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their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund faces risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

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**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**North American Economic Risk. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a**

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significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which the Fund invests.

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S. and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities held by the Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by the Fund.

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.**

**Risk of Investing in Industrial Metals. The price of industrial metals may be adversely affected by unpredictable international economic and political policies, such as currency devaluations or revaluations, economic and social conditions within an individual country, trade imbalances, or trade or currency restrictions between countries. As a result, the price of industrial metals historically has been subject to substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time.**

This sector also could be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates and inflation, imposition of import controls, increased competition, and changes in industrial and commercial demand for industrial metals as the principal supplies of metal industries may be concentrated in a small number of countries and regions.

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the**

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ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities, and derivatives such as options, swaps, and futures, may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings including derivatives such as options, swaps and futures.

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities and other assets is available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities and other assets. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

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For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.27%. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 28, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Board of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

Richard Mejzak has been with BlackRock since 1990, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which was acquired by BlackRock in 2006. Mr. Mejzak became a portfolio manager for BFA in 2012. Mr. Mejzak has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2018.

Orlando Montalvo has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2009. Prior to that, Mr. Montalvo was a senior portfolio manager from

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2005 to 2009 for Barclays Global Fund Advisors ("BGFA"). Mr. Montalvo has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2023.

Greg Savage has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2006. Prior to that, Mr. Savage was a portfolio manager from 2001 to 2006 for BGFA. Mr. Savage has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2018.

Paul Whitehead has been with BlackRock since 1996, including his years with Barclays Global Investors ("BGI"), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been employed by BlackRock as a Managing Director since 2010 and a Director from 2009 to 2010. Mr. Whitehead was employed by BGI as Principal from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the**

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Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may**

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engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "CMDY."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities or other assets held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities or other assets.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities

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of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund, or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. However, registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC rules. In order for a registered investment company to invest in shares of the Fund beyond the limitations of Section 12(d)(1) in reliance on Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act, the registered investment company must, among other things, enter into an agreement with the Trust. Foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities or assets held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been

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designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities and other assets used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

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#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a RIC or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income (other than qualified dividend income), including distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions by the Fund of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses (capital gain dividends) are taxable to you as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the Fund's shares. Distributions by the Fund that qualify as qualified dividend income are taxable to you at long-term capital gain rates. However, given the Fund's investment objective and strategies, the Fund generally does not expect its distributions to be treated as qualified dividend income. Long-term capital gains and qualified dividend income are generally eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Because the Fund may have a higher portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index, the Fund may, in comparison to such other funds, realize and distribute a higher amount of taxable realized capital gain. In addition, a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is**

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imposed on "net investment income," including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding, capital gains and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S."), generally the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies, provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into

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agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders, comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts, report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information, and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities,

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assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units partially or solely for cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of

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Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Consolidated Financial Highlights

The consolidated financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance since inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Consolidated Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF** | **iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF** | **iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF** | **iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF** | **iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Period From<br> 04/03/18<sup>(a)</sup><br> to 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$59.67 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$41.91 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$45.01 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$47.77 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.00 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.53 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.09) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.23 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.05 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.99 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17.92 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.05) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.81) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.52 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17.83 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.00) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.23) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(d)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(7.96) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.07) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.00) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.76) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| **Net asset value, end of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$56.23 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$59.67 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$41.91 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$45.01 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$47.77 |
| **Total Return<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9.78% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;42.59% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.81)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.19)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.46)%<sup>(f)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(g)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.28% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.28% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.28% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.28% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.28%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.27% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.27% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.27% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.19% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Net investment income (loss) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.91% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.16)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.55% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.30% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.01%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of period (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$314890 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$208844 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$41912 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$27004 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$40607 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(i)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. |
| <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Disclaimers

**Bloomberg and the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index are trademarks or service marks of Bloomberg Index Services Limited and its affiliates (collectively, "Bloomberg"). Bloomberg or Bloomberg's licensors own all proprietary right in the Bloomberg Commodity Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index. Bloomberg does not guarantee the timeliness, accuracy or completeness of any data or information relating to the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index. Bloomberg makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index or any data or values relating thereto or results to be obtained therefrom, and expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect thereto. Bloomberg reserves the right to change the methods of calculation or publication, or to cease the calculation or publication, of the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index, and Bloomberg shall not be liable for any miscalculation of or any incorrect, delayed or interrupted publication with respect to the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Back-tested performance is not actual performance. To the maximum extent allowed by law, Bloomberg, its licensors, and its and their respective employees, contractors, agents, suppliers and vendors shall have no liability or responsibility whatsoever for any injury or damages - whether direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, punitive or otherwise - arising in connection with the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index or any data or values relating thereto - whether arising from their negligence or otherwise. Nothing in Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index shall constitute or be construed as an offering of financial instruments or as investment advice or investment recommendations *(i.e*., recommendations as to whether or not to "buy,""sell,""hold," or to enter or not to enter into any other transaction involving any specific interest or interests) by Bloomberg or its affiliates or a recommendation as to an investment or other strategy by Bloomberg or its affiliates. Data and other information available via the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index should not be considered as information sufficient upon which to base an investment decision. All information provided by the Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index is impersonal and not tailored to the needs of any person, entity or group of persons. Bloomberg and its affiliates do not express an opinion on the future or expected value of any security or other interest and do not explicitly or implicitly recommend or suggest an investment strategy of any kind.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to track the total return performance of the Underlying Index or the ability of the Underlying Index to track market performance. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the compilation or the calculation of the Underlying Index, nor in the determination**

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**of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of shares of the Fund.**

**NYSE Arca does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. NYSE Arca makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Trust on behalf of the Fund as licensee, licensee's customers and counterparties, owners of shares of the Fund, or any other person or entity from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein in connection with the rights licensed as described herein or for any other use.**

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

**The past performance of the Underlying Index is not a guide to future performance. BFA and its affiliates do not guarantee the accuracy or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein and BFA and its affiliates shall have no liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. BFA and its affiliates make no warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or to any other person or entity, as to results to be obtained by the Fund from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall BFA or its affiliates have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-CMDY-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946img31bb01762.gif)

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| ![](g371946img37780ab51.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF \| CCRV \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_8852e18c-f639-46c8-93eb-0574b09468a6_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_18)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_21)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Management](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_21)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_25)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| [Distribution](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_33)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| [Consolidated Financial Highlights](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_34)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_fa760fb1-540f-4fc3-83ea-2a002675c9f9_35)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |

---

ICE<sup>®</sup> is a trademark of ICE Data Indices, LLC or its affiliates and has been licensed, along with the ICE BofA Commodity Enhanced Carry Total Return Index, for use by BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates in connection with the Fund. BofA<sup>®</sup> is a registered trademark of Bank of America Corporation licensed by Bank of America Corporation and its affiliates ("BofA"), and may not be used without BofA's prior written approval. iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

i

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> COMMODITY CURVE CARRY STRATEGY ETF

Ticker: CCRV Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of commodities with the top ten highest ranking roll yields, on a total return basis, selected from a broad commodity universe.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses.

The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through March 1, 2024. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to March 1, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution<br>and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses** | **Acquired Fund<br>Fees<br>and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses<br>After<br>Fee Waiver** |
| 0.40% |  |  | 0.03% | 0.43% | (0.03)% | 0.40% |

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $41 | $135 | $238 | $539 |

---

**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it, directly or indirectly through a subsidiary, buys and sells securities or other assets (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 0% of the average value of its portfolio.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the ICE BofA Commodity Enhanced Carry Total Return Index (the "Underlying Index"), which measures the performance of the 10 commodity futures contracts representing the underlying commodities with the largest global production value, where more weight in the Underlying Index is given to those contracts having the highest degree of backwardation or lowest degree of contango (*i.e*., those with the highest "positive carry," as explained below) among a universe of 22 futures contracts on physical agricultural,

energy, precious metals, and industrial metals commodities listed on U.S. and non-U.S. futures exchanges, as determined by ICE Data Services, LLC ("IDI" or the "Index Provider"). The Underlying Index is rebalanced on a monthly basis and could contain more than 10 contracts during the rebalancing period. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily by investing in a total return swap on the Underlying Index.

The Fund, through its Subsidiary (as defined below) will invest in financial instruments that provide exposure to commodities, and not in the physical commodities themselves. Although the Fund reserves the right to invest in a broad range of financial instruments, the Fund expects to obtain a substantial amount of its exposure to the investment results of the Underlying Index by entering into total return swaps that provide returns similar to the commodity futures contracts referenced in the Underlying Index.

In order to maintain exposure to a futures contract on a particular commodity, an investor must sell the position in the expiring contract and buy a new position in a contract with a later delivery month, which is referred to as "rolling." If the price for the new futures contract is less than the price of the

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expiring contract, then the market for the commodity is said to be in "backwardation." In these markets, investors experience positive roll returns, which is referred to as "positive carry." The term "contango" is used to describe a market in which the price for a new futures contract is more than the price of the expiring contract. In these markets, investors experience negative roll returns, which is referred to as "negative carry." The Underlying Index seeks to employ a positive carry strategy that emphasizes commodities and futures contract months with the greatest degree of backwardation and lowest degree of contango, resulting in net gains through positive roll returns.

The Fund is expected to establish new total return swap contracts on the Underlying Index on an ongoing basis and replace expiring contracts. Total return swaps subsequently acquired by the Fund may have terms that differ from the swaps the Fund previously held. The Fund generally expects to pay a fixed payment rate and swap-related fees to each counterparty and receive the total return of the Underlying Index, including, in the event of negative performance by the Underlying Index, a negative return (*i.e.*, a payment from the Fund to the swap counterparty). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index was comprised of 10 components.

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may

reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor selection of securities and/or other instruments. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the Underlying Index.

The Fund also seeks to generate interest income and capital appreciation on the cash balances arising from its investment in Commodity Investments (as defined below) through a cash management strategy consisting primarily of investments in cash and cash equivalents, short-term government obligations, and short-term fixed-income securities (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments"). The Fund invests in Fixed-Income Investments for investment purposes and to provide sufficient assets to account for (or "cover") mark-to-market changes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's

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investments in derivatives on a day-to-day basis.

The Fund may also invest in swaps on commodity futures contracts that are not included in the Underlying Index but provide exposure to commodities from the same sectors as those found in the Underlying Index, as well as in futures, options and forwards that provide exposure to commodities from such sectors (collectively with total return swaps on the Underlying Index, the "Commodity Investments"). The Fund will invest in Commodity Investments solely through its Subsidiary. INVESTING IN DERIVATIVE CONTRACTS MAY HAVE A LEVERAGING EFFECT ON THE FUND BECAUSE OF THE LEVERAGE INHERENT IN THE USE OF DERIVATIVES.

The Fund seeks to gain exposure to Commodity Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). The Subsidiary invests solely in Commodity Investments and cash and cash equivalents.

In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Commodity Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to broad commodities consistent with current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly

in Commodity Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets will be invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments, including repurchase agreements, money market instruments, U.S. government and agency securities, sovereign debt obligations on non-U.S. countries (excluding emerging market countries), commercial paper, non-convertible corporate debt securities, and obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks and similar institutions.

The CFTC has adopted certain requirements that subject the adviser of a registered investment company to regulation by the CFTC if such registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in commodity interests, including futures, options and swaps, or if the registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of commodity interests above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's

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net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes (including the futures market).***

***Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a***

premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.

***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

***Carry Strategy Risk. The futures market for a commodity in which the price for a new futures contract is less than the price of an expiring contract, known as a market trading in a state of "backwardation," may not continue to trade with the same degree of backwardation or with the resulting returns. To the extent that a commodity futures market is not trading in a state of backwardation (or is trading in such a state, but to a lesser degree), the Fund's cost to maintain exposure to the commodity may increase, the positive carry strategy may prove unsuccessful, and the investment performance of the Fund may suffer.***

***Cash Transactions Risk. The Fund expects to effect all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. As a result, the Fund may have to sell portfolio securities at inopportune times in order to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at wider***

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bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

***Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The commodities markets are volatile, and movements in the market price of one or more of the underlying commodities could cause the Fund to incur large losses. It is possible that the Fund could lose all or substantially all of its investment. Prices of commodity-linked investments have a historically low correlation with the returns of the stock and bond markets and are subject to change based on a variety of factors that may not be anticipated by the Fund's adviser. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument (including swaps based on such instruments) typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. The current market prices, or "spot prices," and the price at a specified future date implied by the value of certain commodity-linked derivatives (including swaps based on such instruments), or the "futures prices," for commodities will vary depending upon expectations regarding market conditions. The value of commodity-linked investments tied to both spot and futures prices of commodities may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Commodity-linked derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives may also have a***

leveraging effect on the Fund's portfolio because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. Leverage generally magnifies the effect of a change in the value of an asset and creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the Fund would otherwise have had. The Fund is required to post margin with respect to its holdings in derivatives. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.

***Commodity Market Disruption Risk. The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation, intervention and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation in futures contract prices that may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be executed beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices. The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges are also authorized to take other actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the imposition of higher margin requirements and the suspension of trading. Any of those actions, if taken, could adversely affect the returns of the Fund.***

The constituents of the Underlying Index may experience such disruptions in trading. The Fund may be negatively

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impacted by the cessation of trading in futures contracts included in the Fund's Underlying Index or by a futures exchange imposing a limit price.

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed commodity pools and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund and the Subsidiary under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

***Commodity Risk. The Fund has substantial exposure to commodities. The Fund invests in instruments that are susceptible to fluctuations in certain commodity markets and to price changes due to trade relations, including the imposition of tariffs by the U.S. and other importing countries. Any negative changes in commodity markets that may be due to changes in supply and demand for commodities, market events, war, regulatory developments, political instability, other catastrophic events, or other factors that the Fund cannot control could have an adverse impact on the Commodity Investments in which the Fund invests.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of***

industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

***Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, uncleared swaps agreements and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all and, if the counterparty is subject to specified types of resolution proceedings, the Fund may be subject to stays that limit its ability to close out positions and limit risk. The Fund's investments in the futures markets also introduce the risk that its futures commission merchant ("FCM") could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

#### Cybersecurity Risk . Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service

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providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.

***Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the***

time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Energy Sector Risk. The performance of energy-related commodities is generally cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of energy-related commodities may decline for many reasons, including, among others, changes in energy prices, energy supply and demand, global political changes, terrorism, natural disasters and other catastrophes; government regulations, taxation policies and energy conservation efforts. The energy sector has recently experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.***

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***Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts, or swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts, are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. To the extent that the Fund is exposed to rolling futures contracts, it may be subject to additional risk. In addition, CFTC regulations limit the types of foreign listed futures contracts that U.S. investors, like the Fund, are allowed to invest in. As a result, the Fund may not be able to gain the exposure it seeks through certain non-U.S. futures contracts.***

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an***

adverse impact on the Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding Fixed-Income Investments as Fixed-Income Investments in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or the Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.***

#### Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged

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quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund.***

Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or other assets to which the Fund has exposure as well as the correlation among the assets. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or of securities referenced by swaps or other derivatives or the seller or counterparty with respect to derivatives or other assets may cause the value of the securities, derivatives, or other assets to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund***

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otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES***

#### TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV .
***Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers and counterparties.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Risk of Investing in Agriculture and Livestock. Investments in the agricultural and livestock sectors may be volatile and change unpredictably as a result of many factors, such as legislative or regulatory developments relating to food safety, the imposition of tariffs or other trade restraints, and the supply and demand of each commodity. Increased competition and changes in consumer tastes and spending can also***

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influence the demand for agricultural and livestock products, affecting the price of such commodities and the performance of the Fund.

***Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund has exposure to gold through its investments in total return swaps on the Underlying Index. Thus, the Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile, which may adversely affect the value of total return swaps on the Underlying Index. Governments, central banks, or other larger holders can influence the production and sale of gold, which may adversely affect the performance of the Fund.***

***Risk of Investing in Precious Metals. Prices of precious metals and of precious metal-related financial instruments historically have been very volatile. The high volatility of precious metal prices may adversely affect the prices of financial instruments that derive their value from the price of underlying precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments or central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors, which may be unpredictable and may have a significant impact on the prices of precious metals.***

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.***

#### Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to
exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized interest rate and credit default swaps are required to be traded on an exchange or trading platform and centrally cleared. Most other swaps are entered into a negotiated, bi-lateral basis and traded in the over-the-counter market. Swaps are subject to bi-lateral variation margin. The Fund is required by financial regulators to post initial margin in connection with trading over-the-counter swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps.

***Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.***

***Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in this***

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Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"), and could adversely affect the Fund.

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.***

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the***

Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets, or assets that are impacted by market disruption events or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to***

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purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the

securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with the Underlying Index. Prior to March 1, 2021, the Fund operated as a transparent active ETF. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946ccrv.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 23.21% in the 1st quarter of 2022; the worst was -12.48% in the 3rd quarter of 2022.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 9/1/2020)** |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;19.04% | &nbsp;&nbsp;24.76% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.76% | &nbsp;&nbsp;14.57% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;11.20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;14.79% |
| **ICE BofA Commodity Enhanced Carry Total Return Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;20.00% | &nbsp;&nbsp;25.61% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mejzak and Mr. Whitehead have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2020 and 2022, respectively. Mr. Montalvo and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2023.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial markets and seeks to track the performance of an index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.

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An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities, assets or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors (including the futures market). Various types of securities or assets may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

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**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.**

**Carry Strategy Risk. The futures market for a commodity in which the price for a new futures contract is less than the price of an expiring contract, known as a market trading in a state of "backwardation," may not continue to trade with the same degree of backwardation or with the resulting returns. To the extent that a commodity futures market is not trading in a state of backwardation (or is trading in such a state, but to a lesser degree), the Fund's cost to maintain exposure to the commodity may increase, the positive carry strategy may prove unsuccessful, and the investment performance of the Fund may suffer.**

**Cash Transactions Risk. Unlike most other ETFs, the Fund expects to effect all of its creations and redemptions for cash, rather than in-kind securities. Paying redemption proceeds in cash rather than through in-kind delivery of portfolio securities may require the Fund to dispose of or sell portfolio securities or other assets at an inopportune time to obtain the cash needed to meet redemption orders. This may cause the Fund to sell a security and recognize a capital gain or loss that might not have been incurred if it had made a redemption in-kind. As a result, the Fund may pay out higher or lower annual capital gains distributions than ETFs that redeem in-kind. The use of cash creations and redemptions may also cause the Fund's shares to trade in the market at greater bid-ask spreads or greater premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.**

**Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument (including swaps based on such instruments) typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. Therefore, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall economic conditions, interest rates, or factors affecting a particular commodity or industry, such as production, disease, climate conditions, supply or demand, politics, geopolitics, changes in international balance of payments and trade, currency devaluations and revaluations, market liquidity, and economic, political and regulatory developments. The current market prices, or "spot prices," and the price at a specified future date implied by the value of certain commodity-linked derivatives (including swaps based on such instruments), or the "futures prices," for commodities will vary depending upon expectations regarding market conditions. The value of commodity-linked investments tied to both spot and futures prices of commodities may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may or may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Investments in commodity-linked derivatives may be subject to greater volatility than non-derivative based investments because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop. Commodity-linked derivatives also may be subject to credit and interest rate risks that in general affect the values of**

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fixed-income securities. Therefore, at maturity, the Fund may receive more or less principal than it originally invested. The Fund might receive interest payments that are more or less than the stated coupon interest payments. Commodity derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. In addition, each exchange or trading facility on which derivatives are traded has the right to suspend or limit trading in all futures or other instruments that it lists. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives can result in large amounts of financial leverage. Although the Fund will not borrow money in order to increase the amount of its trading, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit a high degree of leverage on the investment itself. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. Like other leveraged investments, any trade may result in losses in excess of the amount invested. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.

**Commodity Market Disruption Risk. The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation, intervention and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation in futures contract prices that may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be executed beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices. The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges are also authorized to take other actions in the event of a market emergency, including, for example, the imposition of higher margin requirements and the suspension of trading. Any of those actions, if taken, could adversely affect the returns of the Fund.**

The constituents of the Underlying Index may experience such disruptions in trading. The Fund may be negatively impacted by the cessation of trading in futures contracts included in the Fund's Underlying Index or by a futures exchange imposing a limit price. If there is a market disruption event on a day when the Fund enters into or terminates a swap transaction tied to the Underlying Index, there could be an adverse impact on the Fund's portfolio and the performance of the Fund. Market disruption events may delay payments on swaps tied to the futures market. In order to meet redemption requests, the Fund may be forced to terminate swaps tied to the futures market at disadvantageous times or prices if a market disruption event persists beyond two consecutive business days.

In the event of a market disruption event, the execution price the Fund will pay or receive upon the settlement of a swap transaction tied to the Underlying Index may differ from the Fund's initial valuation of the swap, which is based on the official closing price of the Underlying Index, which uses the limit price of the affected contract. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem shares on a day when one or more constituents of the Underlying Index is experiencing a market disruption event could

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bear additional costs associated with increased market risk because the execution price of the swap may differ from the value assigned to the swap on the day the Authorized Participant submits their creation or redemption order. Such market disruption events may have an adverse effect on the value of the Fund shares.

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed "commodity pools" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Commodity Risk. The Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices. Commodity prices may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors, including, where applicable, high volatility, changes in supply and demand relationships, weather, agriculture, trade, pestilence, political instability, war, catastrophic events, changes in interest rates and monetary and other governmental policies, action and inaction, including price changes due to the imposition of tariffs by the U.S. and other countries.**

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, uncleared swaps agreements and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all and, if the counterparty is subject to specified types of resolution proceedings, the Fund may be subject to stays that limit its ability to close out positions and limit risk. The Fund may deposit funds required to margin open positions in the derivative instruments subject to the CEA with a clearing broker registered as an FCM, which is an entity that solicits**

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or accepts orders to buy or sell commodity futures, options, swaps or forward contracts and accepts money or other assets from customers to support such orders. The FCM could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts. If a counterparty defaults on its payment obligations, the Fund may lose money and the value of an investment in Fund shares may decrease. In addition, the Fund may engage in such investment transactions with a limited number of counterparties, which may increase the Fund's exposure to counterparty credit risk.

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's income level or share price.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund or its service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares,

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and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, the Index Provider, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.**

**Energy Sector Risk. The performance of energy-related commodities is generally cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. Energy prices may fluctuate significantly due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") and non-OPEC energy exporters, such as the Russian Federation, policies and relationships, and the economies of key energy-consuming countries. The market value of energy-related commodities may decline for many reasons, including, among other things: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; terrorism, natural disasters and other catastrophes; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and**

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technological advances. The energy sector may also be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing. In 2020, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.

**Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts, or swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts, are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty to a swap or other derivative referencing futures contracts will default in the performance of its obligations. When a futures contract is rolled forward—which may be done in order to retain the allocation to a specific position beyond the maturity of the futures contract—the Fund may lose money if the two contracts are trading at different prices as compared to fair value. For example, if the futures contract which the Fund has exposure to and is rolling is trading at a discount to fair value and the new contract it rolls into is trading at a premium to fair value, the Fund will lose money. The actual realization of a potential roll cost will be dependent upon the difference in price of the near and distant contracts. In addition, CFTC regulations limit the types of foreign listed futures contracts that U.S. investors, like the Fund, are allowed to invest in. As a result, the Fund may not be able to gain the exposure it seeks through certain non-U.S. futures contracts.**

**Geographic Risk. Some of the assets in which the Fund invests are located in, or exposed to, parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or assets exposed to these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund.**

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding Fixed-Income Investments, as Fixed-Income Investments in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.**

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**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.**

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

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An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.**

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The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or assets to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities or assets may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities or assets to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain**

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circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and volatility in spot prices and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn the prices of securities, commodities, and multiple other asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities, commodities and other instruments.**

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's shares*

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may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.*

Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.

*Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for Fund shares and the underlying value of the Fund's portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund's NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for*

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such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

**Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with these particular issuers or counterparties or to a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence affecting these issuers or counterparties.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the Underlying Index. The Fund invests in securities included in, or representative of, the Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.**

**Risk of Investing in Agriculture and Livestock. The agricultural and livestock sectors are subject to government subsidy policies and environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Specific governmental policies, such as taxes, tariffs, duties, subsidies and import and export restrictions on agricultural commodities, commodity products and livestock, can influence the profitability of investing in agriculture and livestock. Import restrictions and tariffs that have recently been imposed by foreign countries on U.S. agricultural and livestock products are expected to negatively impact the profitability of investing in these products. These industries may also be adversely affected by changes in commercial and consumer demand for**

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their products. A growing competitive landscape and increased availability of such commodities can influence: (i) the planting and raising of certain crops/livestock versus other uses of resources; (ii) the location and size of crop and livestock production; (iii) whether unprocessed or processed commodity products are traded; and (iv) the volume and types of imports and exports. Economic recession or labor difficulties may also lead to a decrease in demand for the products and services involved in agriculture. As a result, the price of agricultural or livestock commodities could decline, which would affect the performance of the Fund.

The agricultural and livestock sectors also are particularly sensitive to changing weather conditions, such as floods or droughts, natural disasters and other factors, such as disease outbreaks and pollution.

**Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund has exposure to gold through its investments in total return swaps on the Underlying Index. Thus, the Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile. Governments, central banks, or other large holders can influence the production and sale of gold, which may adversely affect the supply and price of gold, and thus, the performance of the Fund. Unpredictable economic, financial, social, and political factors may also affect the price of gold.**

Investments related to gold are considered to be speculative. The price of gold may fluctuate sharply over short periods of time due to, among other things: (i) changes in inflation or expectations regarding inflation in various countries; (ii) the availability of supply; (iii) changes in demand; (iv) investment speculation and political uncertainty; and (v) monetary and other economic policies of various governments.

**Risk of Investing in Precious Metals. Prices of precious metals and of precious metal-related financial instruments historically have been very volatile. The high volatility of precious metal prices may adversely affect the prices of financial instruments that derive their value from the price of underlying precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments, central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors, which may be unpredictable and may have a significant impact on the prices of precious metals. Other factors that may affect the prices of precious metal-related financial instruments include changes in inflation, the outlook for inflation and changes in industrial and commercial demand for precious metals.**

Some precious metals mining operation companies may hedge, to varying degrees, their exposure to declines in precious metals prices by selling forward future production. This may affect prices of precious metals-related financial instruments, which in turn may limit the Fund's ability to benefit from future increases in the price of precious metals, thereby lowering returns to the Fund.

Additionally, increased environmental or labor costs may depress the value of mining and metal investments.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many**

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aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities or physical commodities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized interest rate and credit default swaps are required to be traded on an exchange or trading platform and centrally cleared. Most other swaps are entered into on a negotiated, bi-lateral basis and traded in the over-the-counter market. Swaps are subject to bi-lateral variation margin. The Fund is required by financial regulators to post initial margin in connection with trading over-the-counter swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. Swaps entered into by the Fund through its Subsidiary are not expected to be centrally cleared and thus will expose the Fund to counter-party default risk and illiquidity risk, as liquidity depends on the willingness of counterparties to enter into, and the ability of counterparties to hedge the risks of, such contracts. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If the Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.**

**Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary, as determined at the end of each of the Fund's fiscal quarters. By investing in a Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The**

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swaps and Commodity Investments that may be held by the Subsidiary are subject to the same risks that apply to similar investments if held directly by the Fund. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of the Subsidiary will be achieved. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. The Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. The Subsidiary's financial statements are consolidated with the Fund's financial statements that are included in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders.

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances. Moreover, changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and in the SAI, and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely experience decreased investment returns.**

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

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**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets, or assets that are impacted by market disruption events or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Futures Commission Merchant Risk. The CEA requires an FCM to segregate funds deposited in a customer's commodity futures account. If the FCM fails to properly segregate customer funds, the Fund may be subject to a risk of loss of its funds on deposit in the event of the FCM's bankruptcy or insolvency. In addition, under certain circumstances, such as the inability of another customer of the FCM or its own inability to satisfy substantial deficiencies in such other customer's account, the Fund may be subject to a risk of loss of its funds on deposit even if such funds are properly segregated. In the case of any such bankruptcy or customer loss, the Fund might recover only a *pro rata* share of all property available for distribution to all of the FCM's customers. If no property is available for distribution to the FCM's customers, the Fund would not recover any of its assets on deposit with the FCM.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in**

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seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments or the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

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**North American Economic Risk. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which the Fund invests.**

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S. and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities held by the Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by the Fund.

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities, and derivatives such as options, swaps, and futures, may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings including derivatives such as options, swaps and futures.**

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For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. government debt obligations, which are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, could result in higher interest rates for individual and corporate borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial effect on the U.S. economy. A downgrade of U.S. Treasury securities by S&P Global Ratings or another ratings agency may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline.**

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities and other assets is available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities and other assets. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not

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"interested persons" of the Trust). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.38%. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through March 1, 2024. The fee waiver information provided in the annual fund operating expenses table reflects the fees that will be waived consistent with the contractual waiver. It is not necessarily identical to the amount of fees that had been waived by BFA as shown in the financial highlights of the Fund's Annual Report. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to March 1, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding acquired fund fees and expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Board of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

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Richard Mejzak has been with BlackRock since 1990, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which was acquired by BlackRock in 2006. Mr. Mejzak became a portfolio manager for BFA in 2012. Mr. Mejzak has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2020.

Orlando Montalvo has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2009. Prior to that, Mr. Montalvo was a senior portfolio manager from 2005 to 2009 for Barclays Global Fund Advisors ("BGFA"). Mr. Montalvo has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2023.

Greg Savage has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2006. Prior to that, Mr. Savage was a portfolio manager from 2001 to 2006 for BGFA. Mr. Savage has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2023.

Paul Whitehead has been with BlackRock since 1996, including his years with Barclays Global Investors ("BGI"), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been employed by BlackRock as a Managing Director since 2010 and a Director from 2009 to 2010. Mr. Whitehead was employed by BGI as Principal from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future**

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provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

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Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "CCRV."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities or other assets held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities or other assets.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

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The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund, or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. However, registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC rules. In order for a registered investment company to invest in shares of the Fund beyond the limitations of Section 12(d)(1) in reliance on Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act, the registered investment company must, among other things, enter into an agreement with the Trust. Foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities or assets held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that**

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any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities and other assets used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value

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prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a RIC or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income (other than qualified dividend income), including distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions by the Fund of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses (capital gain dividends) are taxable to you as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the Fund's shares. Distributions by the Fund that qualify as qualified dividend income are taxable to you at long-term capital gain rates. However, given the Fund's investment objective and strategies, the Fund generally does not expect its distributions to be treated as qualified dividend income. Long-term capital gains and qualified dividend income are generally eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds**

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certain threshold amounts. Because the Fund may have a higher portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index, the Fund may, in comparison to such other funds, realize and distribute a higher amount of taxable realized capital gain, the short-term portion of which is taxed at ordinary income tax rates. In addition, a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on "net investment income," including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding, capital gains and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S."), generally the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies, provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

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Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders, comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts, report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information, and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

If your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending arrangement, you may lose the ability to treat Fund dividends paid while the shares are held by the borrower as qualified dividend income. In addition, you may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of**

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BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a specified amount of cash in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a specified amount of cash and/or a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any

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determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Consolidated Financial Highlights

The consolidated financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance since inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Consolidated Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF** | **iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF** | **iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Period From<br> 09/01/20<sup>(a)</sup><br> to 10/31/20** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$28.36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$19.45 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$20.16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.07) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.01) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.29 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.98 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.70) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.44 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.91 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.71) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(d)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.90) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| **Net asset value, end of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.90 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$28.36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$19.45 |
| **Total Return<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;15.79% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;45.81% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.52)%<sup>(f)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(g)</sup>** |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.40% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.40% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.40%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.38% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.39% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.00%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Net investment income (loss) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.57% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.28)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.28)%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of period (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$36264 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$39710 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$29178 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(i)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. |
| <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Disclaimers

**Source ICE Data Indices, LLC is used with permission. ICE<sup>®</sup> is a trademark of IDI or its affiliates and BofA<sup>®</sup> is a registered trademark of Bank of America Corporation licensed by Bank of America Corporation and its affiliates ("BofA") and may not be used without BofA's prior written approval. These trademarks have been licensed, along with the Underlying Index for use by BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates ("BlackRock") in connection with the Fund. Neither BlackRock, Inc., the Trust nor the Fund, as applicable, is sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by IDI, its affiliates or its third party suppliers ("IDI and its Suppliers"). IDI and its Suppliers make no representations or warranties regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally, in the Fund particularly, the Trust or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general market performance. IDI's only relationship to BlackRock is the licensing of certain trademarks and trade names and the Underlying Index or components thereof. The Underlying Index is determined, composed and calculated by IDI without regard to BlackRock or the Fund or its holders. IDI has no obligation to take the needs of BlackRock or the holders of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. IDI is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the Fund is to be priced, sold, purchased, or redeemed. Except for certain custom index calculation services, all information provided by IDI is general in nature and not tailored to the needs of BlackRock or any other person, entity or group of persons. IDI has no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing, or trading of the Fund. IDI is not an investment adviser. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by IDI to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment advice.**

**IDI AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND REPRESENTATIONS, EXPRESS AND/OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE, INCLUDING THE UNDERLYING INDEX, INDEX DATA AND ANY INFORMATION INCLUDED IN, RELATED TO, OR DERIVED THEREFROM ("INDEX DATA"). IDI AND ITS SUPPLIERS SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE ADEQUACY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS OR COMPLETENESS OF THE UNDERLYING INDEX AND THE INDEX DATA, WHICH ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND YOUR USE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.**

**ICE DATA MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE UNDERLYING INDEX OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. IN NO EVENT SHALL ICE DATA HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS), EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

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**The licensee's indices and products have not been passed on by BofA as to their legality or suitability, and are not regulated, issued, administered, endorsed, sold, guaranteed, or promoted by BofA. BofA MAKES NO WARRANTIES AND BEARS NO LIABILITY WITH RESPECT TO THE INDICES, ANY RELATED INFORMATION, ITS TRADEMARKS, OR THE PRODUCT(S) (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, THEIR QUALITY, ACCURACY, SUIT ABILITY AND/OR COMPLETENESS).**

**BofA may, from time to time, actively trade in some or all of the components of the referenced index on a spot and forward basis and other contracts and products in or related to the components of the referenced index (including without limitation purchases and sales of futures contracts and options on futures contracts, traded on futures exchanges in the United States and other countries, and commodity options and swaps) both for their proprietary accounts and for the accounts of clients. Trading in the components of the referenced index by BofA may affect the performance of the referenced index. Also, BofA may issue or underwrite other financial instruments with returns linked to the prices of the components of the referenced index, commodities which are included in the referenced index, and derivative instruments that relate to the referenced index. These trading and underwriting activities may affect the level of the referenced index in a manner that may consequently impact the performance of the licensee's products. BofA may engage in hedging activities that could affect the value of the index or components of the referenced index that may consequently impact the performance of the licensee's products. In addition, BofA may purchase or otherwise acquire and dispose of long or short positions in the product. These activities may adversely affect the performance of the licensee's products.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to track the total return performance of the Underlying Index or the ability of the Underlying Index to track market performance. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the compilation or the calculation of the Underlying Index, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**NYSE Arca does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. NYSE Arca makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Trust on behalf of the Fund as licensee, licensee's customers and counterparties, owners of shares of the Fund, or any other person or entity from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein in connection with the rights licensed as described herein or for any other use.**

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

**The past performance of the Underlying Index is not a guide to future performance. BFA and its affiliates do not guarantee the accuracy or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein and BFA and its affiliates shall have no liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. BFA and its affiliates make no warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or to any other person or entity, as to results to be obtained by the Fund from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall BFA or its affiliates have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-CCRV-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946imgab6c278b2.gif)

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|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| ![](g371946img7f4c662f1.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Gold Strategy ETF \| IAUF \| CBOE BZX

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_a37f1e8b-4340-4f8d-a51e-e3f6cbced142_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_17)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_21)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Management](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_21)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_24)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| [Distribution](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_32)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| [Consolidated Financial Highlights](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_33)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_e39d8591-8a37-4d69-96e6-cfca399994e5_34)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |

---

Bloomberg Index Services Limited and its affiliates (collectively, "Bloomberg") are not affiliated with BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates and do not approve, endorse, review, or recommend the iShares Gold Strategy ETF. Bloomberg and the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index are trademarks or service marks of Bloomberg and have been licensed to BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates. Bloomberg does not guarantee the timeliness, accurateness, or completeness of any data or information relating to the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index and shall not be liable in any way to the BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates, investors in iShares Gold Strategy ETF or other third parties in respect of the use or accuracy of the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index or any data included therein.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

i

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> GOLD STRATEGY ETF

Ticker: IAUF Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Gold Strategy ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index that provides exposure, on a total return basis, to the price performance of gold.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment products. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to the Fund's investments in other exchange-traded products ("ETPs") sponsored by BFA or its affiliates and other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates through February 29, 2024, provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee of 0.25%. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br> Fees** | **Distribution<br> and<br> Service (12b-1)<br> Fees** | **Other<br> Expenses** | **Acquired Fund<br> Fees<br> and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses<br> After<br> Fee Waiver** |
| 0.25% |  |  | 0.09% | 0.34% | (0.09)% | 0.25% |

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $26 | $100 | $182 | $422 |

---

**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities or other assets (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 52% of the average value of its portfolio.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index (the "Underlying Index"), which is designed to track the price performance of gold. The Underlying Index is composed of exchange-traded gold futures contracts and one or more ETPs backed by or linked to physical gold, as determined by Bloomberg Index Services Limited (the "Index Provider"), and is rebalanced on a quarterly basis.

In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Fund invests in a combination of (i) exchange-traded gold futures contracts and other exchange-traded or over-the-counter ("OTC")

derivatives (*i.e.*, forward contracts, futures, options and swaps) that correlate to the investment returns of physical gold, based on the notional value of such derivative instruments; and (ii) ETPs backed by or linked to physical gold, which may include the iShares Gold Trust (the "Gold Trust") ((i) and (ii) together, the "Gold Investments"). The Gold Trust, whose assets consist primarily of gold held by a custodian on behalf of the Gold Trust, seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of gold. The Fund may invest up to 20% of the Fund's assets in OTC derivatives. The Fund additionally aims to generate interest income and capital appreciation through a cash management strategy consisting primarily of cash and cash equivalents and short-term government obligations (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments").

The ETPs held by the Fund may invest in physical gold bullion or OTC or exchange-traded derivatives on gold bullion, such as forward contracts, futures, options and swaps. The ETPs held by the Fund may be sponsored by an affiliate of BFA or by an unaffiliated entity, and may be structured as, among others, exchange-traded commodities that track the price of gold or exchange-traded notes with interest and/or principal payments linked to the price of

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gold. As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index was composed of 3 components.

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor selection of securities and/or other instruments. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the Underlying Index.

The Fund seeks to gain exposure to the

Gold Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). The Subsidiary invests solely in the Gold Investments and cash and cash equivalents.

In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Gold Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to the gold market consistent with current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in the Gold Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets is invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments, including repurchase agreements, money market instruments, U.S. government and agency securities, treasury inflation-protected securities and sovereign debt obligations of non-U.S. countries. The Fund invests in Fixed-Income Investments for investment purposes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's investments in derivatives.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of

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its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes (including the futures market).***

***Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the***

Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.***

***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

#### Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic

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variable linked to such price movements. The prices of commodity-linked investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Commodity-linked derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives may also have a leveraging effect on the Fund's portfolio because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. Leverage generally magnifies the effect of a change in the value of an asset and creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the Fund would otherwise have had. The Fund is required to post margin with respect to its holdings in derivatives. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund. The Fund is specifically exposed to the **Risk of Investing in Gold**.

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed commodity pools and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund and the Subsidiary under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

#### Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events
that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

***Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, swap agreements and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all. The Fund's investments in the futures markets also introduce the risk that its futures commission merchant ("FCM") could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

#### Cybersecurity Risk . Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of

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the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.

***Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could***

make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Financials Sector Risk. Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual***

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financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

***Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. To the extent that the Fund invests in rolling futures contracts, it may be subject to additional risk.***

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or the***

Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.***

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's***

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ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent***

years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or other assets to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or assets may cause the value of the securities or assets to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may***

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also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result,***

the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers and counterparties.

***Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Risk of Investing in ETPs. Through the Fund's investments in ETPs, which may be affiliated or unaffiliated with the Fund, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETPs' investments. The Fund's exposure to particular risks of an ETP generally will be proportionate to the Fund's allocation to the ETP. To the extent the Fund invests a portion of its assets in the Gold Trust, which seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of gold, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with the Gold Trust, including the possibility that the market price of its shares could decrease. The value of the Fund's investment in the Gold Trust may fluctuate, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The Gold Trust is sponsored by an affiliate of BFA that receives a fee in exchange for assuming certain administrative and marketing expenses of the Gold Trust, which may***

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create a conflict of interest for BFA in determining whether, and under what circumstances, to purchase or sell shares in the Gold Trust.

***Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund has a substantial exposure to gold through its investments in the Gold Investments. Thus, the Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile, which may adversely affect the value of Gold Investments. Governments, central banks, or other larger holders can influence the production and sale of gold, which may adversely affect the performance of the Fund.***

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.***

***Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the***

listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.

***Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in this Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"), and could adversely affect the Fund.***

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be***

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required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund 's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund 's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund 's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also***

may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities or other instruments may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities or other instruments not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.***

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#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with the Underlying Index. Prior to March 1, 2021, the Fund operated as a transparent active ETF. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946iauf.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 11.85% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -9.98% in the 1st quarter of 2021.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br> Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 6/6/2018)** |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;-1.11% | &nbsp;&nbsp;6.35% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;-1.46% | &nbsp;&nbsp;4.59% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;-0.66% | &nbsp;&nbsp;4.15% |
| **Bloomberg Composite Gold Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;-0.70% | &nbsp;&nbsp;6.61% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mejzak and Mr. Savage have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2018. Mr. Montalvo and Mr. Whitehead have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2023 and 2022, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("Cboe BZX"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial markets and seeks to track the performance of an index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.

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An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities, assets or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors (including the futures market). Various types of securities or assets may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

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**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.**

**Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. Therefore, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall economic conditions, interest rates, or factors affecting a particular commodity or industry. The prices of commodity-related investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may or may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Investments in commodity-linked derivatives may be subject to greater volatility than non-derivative based investments because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop. Commodity-linked derivatives also may be subject to credit and interest rate risks that in general affect the values of fixed-income securities. Commodity-linked derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. In addition, each exchange or trading facility on which derivatives are traded has the right to suspend or limit trading in all futures or other instruments that it lists. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives can result in large amounts of financial leverage. Although the Fund will not borrow money in order to increase the amount of its trading, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit a high degree of leverage on the investment itself. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. Like other leveraged investments, any trade may result in losses in excess of the amount invested. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.**

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed "commodity pools" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

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**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, swap agreements and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all. The Fund may deposit funds required to margin open positions in the derivative instruments subject to the CEA with a clearing broker registered as an FCM, which is an entity that solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell commodity futures, options, swaps or forward contracts and accepts money or other assets from customers to support such orders. The FCM could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts. If a counterparty defaults on its payment obligations, the Fund will lose money and the value of an investment in Fund shares may decrease. In addition, the Fund may engage in such investment transactions with a limited number of counterparties, which may increase the Fund's exposure to counterparty credit risk.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's income level or share price.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking"**

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or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund or its service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, the Index Provider, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to**

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greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

#### Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific

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amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. To the extent that the Fund invests in rolling futures contracts, it may be subject to additional risk. As the futures contracts approach expiration, they may be replaced by similar contracts that have a later expiration. This process is referred to as "rolling." If the market for these contracts is in "contango," meaning that the prices of futures contracts in the nearer months are lower than the price of contracts in the distant months, the sale of the near-term month contract would be at a lower price than the longer-term contract, resulting in a cost to "roll" the futures contract. The actual realization of a potential roll cost will be dependent upon the difference in price of the near and distant contracts. The Fund may not "roll" the futures contracts on a predefined schedule as they approach expiration; instead BFA may determine to roll to another futures contract in an attempt to generate maximum yield. There can be no guarantee that such a strategy will produce the desired results.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.**

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and**

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would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations , issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies

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and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.**

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on

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various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or assets to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities or assets may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities or assets to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's**

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investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.

**Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. During a general market or commodity market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.**

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.*

Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by

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extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.

*Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund's NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be*

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advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.

**Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with these particular issuers or counterparties or to a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence affecting these issuers or counterparties.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the Underlying Index. The Fund invests in securities included in, or representative of, the Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.**

**Risk of Investing in ETPs. Through the Fund's investments in ETPs, which may be affiliated or unaffiliated with the Fund, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with the ETPs' investments, including the possibility that the value of the gold held by or linked to an ETP could decrease. An ETP's investment in OTC or exchange-traded derivatives on gold bullion will subject the Fund to risks associated with investments in derivatives.**

The Fund has no control over the investments and related risks taken by the ETPs in which it invests. Thus, the Fund's exposure to particular risks of an ETP generally will be proportionate to the Fund's allocation to the ETP. The ETPs in which the Fund may invest may be passive investment vehicles. In such cases, their shares may be adversely affected by losses that, if actively managed, might have been possible to avoid.

The price of ETP shares is subject to the risks associated with investing in the securities market. This means that the price of ETP shares owned by the Fund may fluctuate, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. The value of the Fund's investment in ETPs is generally based on secondary market prices and, as such, the Fund may suffer losses due to developments in the securities markets, the failure of an active trading market to develop, trading halts or de-listings. The ETPs in which the Fund may invest may decline in value due to factors affecting securities markets generally or the price of gold and may trade at prices, above or below their NAV, that fluctuate with changes in the market value of gold. Although ETPs are listed for trading on a market, a lack of an active trading market may result in losses on investment at the time of disposition of ETP shares.

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An investment in the Fund may entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in an ETP. For example, the Fund may indirectly pay a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the underlying ETPs in addition to its own expenses. To the extent that the expense ratio of an ETP in which the Fund invests changes or the Fund's allocation among the ETPs changes from time to time, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

BFA may also receive management or other fees paid by its affiliated ETPs. Because the amount of the fees to be retained by BFA may differ depending upon the ETPs in which the Fund invests, there may be a conflict of interest for BFA in selecting affiliated ETPs. In addition, BFA may have an incentive to take into account the effect on an affiliated ETP in which the Fund may invest in determining whether, and under what circumstances, to purchase or sell shares in that affiliated ETP. BFA may receive greater compensation in connection with an affiliated ETP than with an unaffiliated ETP. Any differential in compensation may create a financial incentive on the part of BFA in selecting an affiliated ETP over an unaffiliated ETP.

*Risk of Investing in the Gold Trust. To the extent the Fund invests a portion of its assets in the Gold Trust, which seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of gold, the Fund is subject to the risks associated with the Gold Trust, including the possibility that the market price of its shares could decrease. The value of the Fund's investment in the Gold Trust may fluctuate, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably.*

The value of Gold Trust's shares may be adversely affected by actual or perceived disruptions or lack of confidence in the gold price benchmark used to value the Gold Trust's gold. The amount of gold represented by each of its shares will decrease over the life of the Gold Trust due to the sales of gold necessary to pay the fees of the Gold Trust's sponsor and the Gold Trust's expenses not otherwise assumed by the Gold Trust's sponsor. Without increases in the price of gold sufficient to compensate for that decrease, the price of the Gold Trust's shares will also decline.

The Gold Trust is not registered as an investment company for purposes of federal securities laws and is not a commodity pool for purposes of the CEA. As such, the Fund, as an owner of beneficial interests in the shares of the Gold Trust, does not have the protections normally associated with ownership of shares in an investment company registered under the 1940 Act or the protections afforded by the CEA.

The Gold Trust is sponsored by an affiliate of BFA that receives a fee in exchange for assuming certain administrative and marketing expenses of the Gold Trust, which may create a conflict of interest for BFA in determining whether, and under what circumstances, to purchase or sell shares in the Gold Trust.

**Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund has a substantial exposure to gold through its investments in the Gold Investments. Thus, the Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile. Governments, central banks, or other large holders can influence the production and sale of gold, which may adversely affect the supply and price of gold, and thus, the performance of the Fund. Unpredictable economic, financial, social, and political factors may also affect the price of gold.**

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Investments related to gold are considered to be speculative. The price of gold may fluctuate sharply over short periods of time due to, among other things: (i) changes in inflation or expectations regarding inflation in various countries; (ii) the availability of supply; (iii) changes in demand; (iv) investment speculation and political uncertainty; and (v) monetary and other economic policies of various governments.

The Fund also invests in gold bullion through ETPs. Gold bullion may depreciate in value and does not generate income, unlike many other investments, which may pay interest or dividends or make other current payments. Also, as compared to other investments, ETPs may have higher custody and transaction costs.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If the Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.**

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**Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary, as determined at the end of each of the Fund's fiscal quarters. By investing in a Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The Gold Investments that may be held by the Subsidiary are generally similar to those that are permitted to be held by the Fund and are subject to the same risks that apply to similar investments if held directly by the Fund. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of the Subsidiary will be achieved. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. The Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. The Subsidiary's financial statements are consolidated with the Fund's financial statements that are included in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances. Moreover, changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and in the SAI, and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely experience decreased investment returns.**

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund 's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund 's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may**

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be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities or other instruments may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities or other instruments not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the**

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common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund faces risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact

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of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments or the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the**

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market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and**

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such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings.

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities and other assets is available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities and other assets. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.17%. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to the

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Fund's investments in other ETPs sponsored by BFA or its affiliates and other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates through February 29, 2024, provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee of 0.25%. The fee waiver information provided in the annual fund operating expenses table reflects the fees that will be waived consistent with the contractual waiver. It is not necessarily identical to the amount of fees that had been waived by BFA as shown in the financial highlights of the Fund's Annual Report. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Board of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

Richard Mejzak has been with BlackRock since 1990, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which was acquired by BlackRock in 2006. Mr. Mejzak became a portfolio manager for BFA in 2012. Mr. Mejzak has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2018.

Orlando Montalvo has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2009. Prior to that, Mr. Montalvo was a senior portfolio manager from

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2005 to 2009 for Barclays Global Fund Advisors ("BGFA"). Mr. Montalvo has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2023.

Greg Savage has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2006. Prior to that, Mr. Savage was a portfolio manager from 2001 to 2006 for BGFA. Mr. Savage has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2018.

Paul Whitehead has been with BlackRock since 1996, including his years with Barclays Global Investors ("BGI"), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been employed by BlackRock as a Managing Director since 2010 and a Director from 2009 to 2010. Mr. Whitehead was employed by BGI as Principal from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the**

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Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may**

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engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "IAUF."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity of the underlying securities or other assets held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities or other assets.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is Cboe BZX.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities

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of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund, or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. However, registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC rules. In order for a registered investment company to invest in shares of the Fund beyond the limitations of Section 12(d)(1) in reliance on Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act, the registered investment company must, among other things, enter into an agreement with the Trust. Foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities or assets held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been

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designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities and other assets used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

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#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a RIC or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income (other than qualified dividend income), including distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions by the Fund of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses (capital gain dividends) are taxable to you as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the Fund's shares. Distributions by the Fund that qualify as qualified dividend income are taxable to you at long-term capital gain rates.However, given the Fund's investment objective and strategies, the Fund generally does not expect its distributions to be treated as qualified dividend income. Long-term capital gains and qualified dividend income are generally eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Because the Fund may have a higher portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index, the Fund may, in comparison to such other funds, realize and distribute a higher amount of taxable realized capital gain. In addition, a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is**

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imposed on "net investment income," including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding, capital gains and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S."), generally the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies, provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into

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agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders, comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts, report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information, and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities,

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assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For

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delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Consolidated Financial Highlights

The consolidated financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance since inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Consolidated Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Gold Strategy ETF** | **iShares Gold Strategy ETF** | **iShares Gold Strategy ETF** | **iShares Gold Strategy ETF** | **iShares Gold Strategy ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Period From<br> 06/06/18<sup>(a)</sup><br> to 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$54.54 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$62.75 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$57.41 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$46.76 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$50.00 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.38 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.07) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.82 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10.47 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10.20 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.51) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.86) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10.60 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;11.02 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.24) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(d)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.47) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| **Net asset value, end of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$49.68 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$54.54 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$62.75 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$57.41 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$46.76 |
| **Total Return<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(8.92)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6.21)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;20.64% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;23.74% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6.48)%<sup>(f)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(g)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.25%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.17% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.13% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.13% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.18% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.19%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Net investment income (loss) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.69% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.12)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.22% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.58% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.45%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of period (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$34773 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$29996 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$21964 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$8612 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$4676 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(i)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;52% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;121% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;77% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;47% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. |
| <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Disclaimers

**Bloomberg and the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index are trademarks or service marks of Bloomberg Index Services Limited and its affiliates (collectively, "Bloomberg"). Bloomberg or Bloomberg's licensors own all proprietary right in the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index. Bloomberg does not guarantee the timeliness, accuracy or completeness of any data or information relating to the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index. Bloomberg makes no warranty, express or implied, as to the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index or any data or values relating thereto or results to be obtained therefrom, and expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose with respect thereto. Bloomberg reserves the right to change the methods of calculation or publication, or to cease the calculation or publication, of the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index, and Bloomberg shall not be liable for any miscalculation of or any incorrect, delayed or interrupted publication with respect to the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index. It is not possible to invest directly in an index. Back-tested performance is not actual performance. To the maximum extent allowed by law, Bloomberg, its licensors, and its and their respective employees, contractors, agents, suppliers and vendors shall have no liability or responsibility whatsoever for any injury or damages - whether direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, punitive or otherwise - arising in connection with the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index or any data or values relating thereto - whether arising from their negligence or otherwise. Nothing in Bloomberg Composite Gold Index shall constitute or be construed as an offering of financial instruments or as investment advice or investment recommendations (*i.e.*, recommendations as to whether or not to "buy,""sell,""hold," or to enter or not to enter into any other transaction involving any specific interest or interests) by Bloomberg or its affiliates or a recommendation as to an investment or other strategy by Bloomberg or its affiliates. Data and other information available via the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index should not be considered as information sufficient upon which to base an investment decision. All information provided by the Bloomberg Composite Gold Index is impersonal and not tailored to the needs of any person, entity or group of persons. Bloomberg and its affiliates do not express an opinion on the future or expected value of any security or other interest and do not explicitly or implicitly recommend or suggest an investment strategy of any kind.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by Cboe BZX. Cboe BZX makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to track the total return performance of the Underlying Index or the ability of the Underlying Index to track market performance. Cboe BZX is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the compilation or the calculation of the Underlying Index, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are**

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**redeemable. Cboe BZX has no obligation or liability to owners of shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Cboe BZX does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. Cboe BZX makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Trust on behalf of the Fund as licensee, licensee's customers and counterparties, owners of shares of the Fund, or any other person or entity from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein in connection with the rights licensed as described herein or for any other use.**

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

**The past performance of the Underlying Index is not a guide to future performance. BFA and its affiliates do not guarantee the accuracy or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein and BFA and its affiliates shall have no liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. BFA and its affiliates make no warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or to any other person or entity, as to results to be obtained by the Fund from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall BFA or its affiliates have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-IAUF-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946imgabfa56fb2.gif)

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| ![](g371946imgf279af2e1.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF \| COMT \| NASDAQ

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_5ff77a63-ee98-48f7-816a-16f029906abf_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_19)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_22)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Management](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_22)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_26)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| [Distribution](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_35)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Consolidated Financial Highlights](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_36)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_1fe54dff-7b14-4a98-b709-d9a91004a1ce_37)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |

---

The "S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index" is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC or its affiliates ("SPDJI"), and has been licensed for use by BlackRock Fund Advisors or its affiliates. Standard & Poor's<sup>®</sup> and S&P<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC ("S&P"); Dow Jones<sup>®</sup> is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"); iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates; and these trademarks have been licensed for use by SPDJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by iShares Trust. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI, Dow Jones, S&P or their respective affiliates, and none of such parties makes any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such product(s); nor do they have any liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions of the S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

i

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> GSCI COMMODITY DYNAMIC ROLL STRATEGY ETF

Ticker: COMT Stock Exchange: Nasdaq

#### Investment Objective
The iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of a broad range of commodity exposures with enhanced roll selection, on a total return basis.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses and are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Consolidated Financial Highlights* section of this prospectus (the "Prospectus"). The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Prospectus. BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other registered investment companies advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 29, 2024. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution<br>and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | **Acquired Fund<br>Fees<br>and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses<br>After<br>Fee Waiver** |
| 0.48% |  | 0.00% | 0.01% | 0.49% | (0.01)% | 0.48% |

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<sup>1</sup> The amount rounded to 0.00%.

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $49 | $156 | $273 | $615 |

---

**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it, directly or through a subsidiary, buys and sells securities or other assets (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate may indicate higher transaction costs and may result in higher taxes when Fund shares are held in a taxable account. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example, affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 0% of the average value of its portfolio.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index (the "Underlying Index"), which measures the performance of futures contracts such as aluminum, Brent crude oil, cocoa, coffee, copper, corn, cotton, gas oil, feeder cattle, gold, heating oil, lean hogs, lead, live cattle, natural gas, nickel, silver, soybeans, sugar, unleaded gasoline, wheat, West Texas Intermediate crude oil and zinc. The Underlying Index is rebalanced on an annual basis.

In seeking to achieve its investment

objective, the Fund will invest in a combination of exchange-traded commodity futures contracts, exchange-traded options on commodity-related futures contracts and exchange-cleared commodity related swaps (together, "Commodity-Linked Investments"), thereby obtaining exposure to the commodities markets. Commodity-Linked Investments may also include exchange-cleared swaps on commodities and exchange-traded options on futures that provide exposure to the investment returns of the commodities markets, without investing directly in physical commodities. Investing in Commodity-Linked Investments may have a leveraging effect on the Fund.

The Fund also seeks to generate interest income and capital appreciation on the cash balances arising from its investment in Commodity-Linked Investments through a cash management strategy consisting primarily of investments in short-term, investment-grade fixed-income securities that include U.S. government and agency securities, treasury inflation-protected securities, sovereign debt obligations of non-U.S. countries, and repurchase agreements, money market instruments and cash and other cash equivalents (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments"). The Fund uses

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Fixed-Income Investments as investments and to provide sufficient assets to account for (or "cover") mark-to-market changes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's (as defined below) Commodity-Linked Investments exposure on a day-to-day basis. As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index was comprised of 24 components.

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor selection of securities and/or other instruments. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively has an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures

similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the Underlying Index.

The Fund will seek to gain exposure to Commodity-Linked Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act"). The Subsidiary will invest solely in Commodity-Linked Investments and cash.

In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Commodity-Linked Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to commodity markets within the limits of current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in Commodity-Linked Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets will be invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments.

The Fund or the Subsidiary may from time to time invest in other exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), exchange-traded notes or commodity-linked notes.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC

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if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value ("NAV") in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

The Underlying Index is sponsored by S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC (the "Index Provider"), which is independent of the Fund and BFA. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in (i) equity securities issued by commodity-related companies, derivatives with exposure to commodity-related companies or investments in securities and derivatives linked to the underlying price movement of commodities, including but not limited to commodity-linked derivatives such as commodity-linked notes, commodity futures, forward contracts and swaps and other similar derivative instruments and investment vehicles that invest in commodities, or commodity-linked derivatives, and (ii) the industry or group of industries that constitutes the energy sector. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities), repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities, and securities of** 

state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes (including the futures market).***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this prospectus (the "Prospectus")) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund***

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shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

***Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. The prices of commodity-linked investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Commodity-linked derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives may also have a leveraging effect on the Fund's portfolio because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. Leverage generally magnifies the effect of a change in the value of an asset and creates a risk of loss of value on a larger pool of assets than the Fund would otherwise have had. The Fund is required to post margin with respect to its holdings in derivatives. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.***

#### Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed commodity pools and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with
respect to the Fund and the Subsidiary under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.

***Commodity Risk. The Fund invests in instruments that are susceptible to fluctuations in certain commodity markets and to price changes due to trade relations, including the imposition of tariffs by the U.S. and other importing countries. Any negative changes in commodity markets that may be due to changes in supply and demand for commodities, market events, war, regulatory developments, political instability, other catastrophic events, or other factors that the Fund cannot control could have an adverse impact on Commodity-Linked Investments in which the Fund invests.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.***

***Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, uncleared swaps and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either***

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through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all and, if the counterparty is subject to specified types of resolution proceedings, the Fund may be subject to stays that limit its ability to close out positions and limit risk. The Fund's investments in the futures markets also introduce the risk that its futures commission merchant ("FCM") could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts.

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund, the Fund's adviser, distributor, the Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system***

breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants or issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.

***Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of***

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termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Energy Sector Risk. The performance of energy-related commodities is generally cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of energy-related commodities may decline for many reasons, including, among others, changes in energy prices, energy supply and demand, global political changes, terrorism, natural disasters and other catastrophes; government regulations, taxation policies and energy conservation efforts. The energy sector has recently experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.***

***Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a***

certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts, or swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts, are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. To the extent that the Fund is exposed to rolling futures contracts, it may be subject to additional risk. In addition, CFTC regulations limit the types of foreign listed futures contracts that U.S. investors, like the Fund, are allowed to invest in. As a result, the Fund may not be able to gain the exposure it seeks through certain non-U.S. futures contracts.

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund***

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reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural***

disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have***

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increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or other assets to which the Fund has exposure as well as the correlation among the assets. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or of securities referenced by swaps or other derivatives or the seller or counterparty with respect to derivatives or other assets may cause the value of the securities, derivatives, to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or***

another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. As the Fund may not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that the investment strategy of BFA and BlackRock International Limited ("BIL"), the Fund's sub-adviser, may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of***

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terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund faces numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for Fund shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Metals and Mining Industry Risk. The Fund will have exposure to various metals. Investments in metals may be speculative and subject to greater price volatility than investments in other types of assets. The price of metals is related to, among other things, worldwide metal prices and extraction and production costs. Worldwide metal prices may fluctuate substantially over short periods of time, and as a result, the Fund's share price may be more volatile than other types of investments.***

***National Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent that the underlying securities and/or other assets held by the Fund trade on foreign exchanges or in foreign markets that may be closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund's shares trade is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of such an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (i.e., the Fund's quote from the closed foreign market). The impact of a closed foreign market on the Fund is likely to be***

greater where a large portion of the Fund's underlying securities and/or other assets trade on that closed foreign market or when the foreign market is closed for unscheduled reasons. These deviations could result in premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.

***Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

#### Reliance on Trading Partners Risk . The Fund invests in countries or regions whose economies are heavily

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dependent upon trading with key partners. Any reduction in this trading may have an adverse impact on the Fund's investments. Through its holdings of securities of certain issuers, the Fund is specifically exposed to **North American Economic Risk**.

***Risk of Investing in Agriculture and Livestock. Investments in the agricultural and livestock sectors may be volatile and change unpredictably as a result of many factors, such as legislative or regulatory developments relating to food safety, the imposition of tariffs or other trade restraints, and the supply and demand of each commodity. Increased competition and changes in consumer tastes and spending can also influence the demand for agricultural and livestock products, affecting the price of such commodities and the performance of the Fund.***

***Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. The Fund's investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country's or region's security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund's investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes to the economic conditions of certain key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt***

burdens and the price or availability of certain commodities.

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized interest rate and credit default swaps are required to be traded on an exchange or trading platform and centrally cleared. Most other swaps are entered into a negotiated, bi-lateral basis and traded in the over-the-counter market. Swaps are subject to bi-lateral variation margin. The Fund is required by financial regulators to post initial margin in connection with trading over-the-counter swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps.***

***Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. By investing in the Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and,***

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unless otherwise noted in this Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"), and could adversely affect the Fund.

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.***

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's***

portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares.***

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Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the

securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 and 5 years and since inception compare with the Underlying Index. Prior to March 1, 2021, the Fund operated as a transparent active ETF. Both assume that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946comt.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 29.76% in the 1st quarter of 2022; the worst was -31.52% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Five Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 10/15/2014)** |  |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;18.89% | &nbsp;&nbsp;6.46% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.83% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.63% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;-2.11% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;11.11% | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.01% | &nbsp;&nbsp;-0.65% |
| **S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index<sup>2</sup> (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;19.83% | &nbsp;&nbsp;7.20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;-1.66% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> Prior to March 1, 2021, the Fund operated as a transparent active ETF. Index returns from inception through October 30, 2018 reflect the S&P GSCI™ Commodity Total Return Index. Index returns beginning on October 31, 2018 through January 30, 2020 reflect the S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll Reduced Energy 70/30 Futures/Equity Blend Total Return Index. Index returns from January 31, 2020 reflect the S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser and Sub-Adviser. The Fund's investment adviser is BFA. The Fund's investment sub-adviser is BIL.
**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Tim Parsons, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mejzak, Mr. Montalvo, Mr. Parsons, Mr. Savage and Mr. Whitehead have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2016, 2023, 2019, 2014 and 2022, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund, and BIL is the sub-adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ("Nasdaq"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial markets and seeks to track the performance of an index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.

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An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below (either directly or through its investments in the Subsidiary), any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities, assets or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors (including the futures market). Various types of securities or assets may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of the underlying commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. Therefore, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall economic conditions, interest rates, or factors affecting a particular commodity or industry, such as production, disease, climate conditions, supply or demand, politics, geopolitics, changes in international balance of payments and trade, currency**

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devaluations and revaluations, market liquidity, and economic, political and regulatory developments. The prices of commodity-related investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically as a result of changes affecting a particular commodity and may or may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Investments in commodity-linked derivatives may be subject to greater volatility than non-derivative based investments because of the leverage inherent in the use of derivatives. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop. Commodity-linked derivatives also may be subject to credit and interest rate risks that in general affect the values of fixed-income securities. Therefore, at maturity, the Fund may receive more or less principal than it originally invested. The Fund might receive interest payments that are more or less than the stated coupon interest payments. Commodity derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction, the exchange or trading facility on which they trade or the applicable clearing house may default or otherwise fail to perform. In addition, each exchange or trading facility on which derivatives are traded has the right to suspend or limit trading in all futures or other instruments that it lists. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives can result in large amounts of financial leverage. Although the Fund will not borrow money in order to increase the amount of its trading, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit a high degree of leverage on the investment itself. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. Like other leveraged investments, any trade may result in losses in excess of the amount invested. Each of these factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund and the Subsidiary are deemed "commodity pools" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Commodity Risk. The Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices. Commodity prices may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors, including, where applicable, high volatility, changes in supply and demand relationships, weather, agriculture, trade, pestilence, political instability, war, catastrophic events, changes in interest rates and monetary and other governmental policies, action and inaction, including price changes due to trade relations. Assets held by the Fund that are dependent on a single commodity, or are**

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concentrated in a single commodity sector, may typically exhibit even higher volatility attributable to commodity prices.

The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation in futures contract prices that may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be made beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Counterparty Risk. Certain commodity-linked derivative instruments, uncleared swaps and other forms of financial instruments that involve counterparties subject the Fund to the risk that the counterparty could default on its obligations under the agreement, either through the counterparty's bankruptcy or failure to perform its obligations. In the event of a counterparty default, the Fund could experience lengthy delays in recovering some or all of its assets or obtain no recovery at all and, if the counterparty is subject to specified types of resolution proceedings, the Fund may be subject to stays that limit its ability to close out positions and limit risk. The Fund may deposit funds required to margin open positions in the derivative instruments subject to the CEA with a clearing broker registered as an FCM, which is an entity that solicits or accepts orders to buy or sell commodity futures, options, swaps or forward contracts and accepts money or other assets from customers to support such orders. The FCM could default on an obligation set forth in an agreement between the Fund and the FCM, including the FCM's obligation to return margin posted in connection with the Fund's futures contracts. If a counterparty defaults on its payment obligations, the Fund may lose money and the value of an investment in Fund shares may decrease. In addition, the Fund may engage in such investment transactions with a limited number of counterparties, which may increase the Fund's exposure to counterparty credit risk.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of**

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credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's income level or share price.

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund or its service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund has established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund, issuers in which the Fund invests, the Index Provider, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an**

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index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. A risk of the Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund to value accurately. The Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Energy Sector Risk. The performance of energy-related commodities is generally cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. Energy prices may fluctuate significantly due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") and non-OPEC energy exporters, such as the Russian Federation, policies and relationships, and the economies of key energy-consuming countries. The market value of energy-related commodities may decline for many reasons, including, among other things: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; terrorism, natural disasters and other catastrophes; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. The energy sector may also be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing. In 2020, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.**

**Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts, or**

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swaps or other derivatives referencing futures contracts, are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations. When a futures contract is rolled forward—which may be done in order to retain the allocation to a specific position beyond the maturity of the futures contract—the Fund may lose money if the two contracts are trading at different prices as compared to fair value. For example, if the futures contract which the Fund has exposure to is trading at a discount to fair value and the contract being rolled into is trading at a premium to fair value, the Fund will lose money. The actual realization of a potential roll cost will be dependent upon the difference in price of the near and distant contracts. The relevant futures contracts may not be "rolled" on a predefined schedule as they approach expiration; instead BFA may determine to gain exposure to another futures contract. In addition, CFTC regulations limit the types of foreign listed futures contracts that U.S. investors, like the Fund, are allowed to invest in. As a result, the Fund may not be able to gain the exposure it seeks through certain non-U.S. futures contracts.

**Geographic Risk. Some of the assets in which the Fund invests are located in, or exposed to, parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or assets exposed to these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is**

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forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's (and BIL) mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA and BIL. BFA and BIL do not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders.**

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market capitalizations, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index

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Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example,**

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if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain fixed-income investments, including those held by the Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities or assets to which the Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities or assets may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities or assets to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

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**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Management Risk. Because BFA and BIL use a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund may not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that the investment strategy of BFA and BIL, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and volatility in spot prices and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. During a general market or commodity**

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market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders.*

Secondary market trading in Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund.

*Shares of the Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund is calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuates with changes in the market value of the Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for Fund shares and the underlying value of the Fund's portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant*

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redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with the Fund's NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund that differ significantly from its NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

**Metals and Mining Industry Risk. The Fund will have exposure to various metals. Investments in metals may be speculative and subject to greater price volatility than investments in other types of assets. The price of metals is related to, among other things, worldwide metal prices and extraction and production costs. Worldwide metal prices may fluctuate substantially over short periods of time, and as a result, the Fund's share price may be more volatile than other types of investments. In addition, metals may be significantly affected by changes in global demand for certain metals, economic developments, energy conservation, the success of exploration projects, changes in exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, trade treaties, and government regulation and intervention, and events in the regions which the Fund has exposure (*e.g.*, expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property of mining companies, the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments or repatriation of capital, military coups, social or political unrest, violence and labor**

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unrest). Metals may also be subject to the effects of competitive pressures in the metals and mining industry.

**National Closed Market Trading Risk. To the extent that the underlying securities and/or other assets held by the Fund trade on foreign exchanges or in foreign markets that may be closed when the securities exchange on which the Fund's shares trade is open, there are likely to be deviations between the current price of an underlying security and the last quoted price for the underlying security (*i.e.*, the Fund's quote from the closed foreign market). The impact of a closed foreign market on the Fund is likely to be greater where a large portion of the Fund's underlying securities and/or other assets trade on that closed foreign market or when the foreign market is closed for unscheduled reasons. These deviations could result in premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV that may be greater than those experienced by other ETFs.**

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**North American Economic Risk. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which the Fund invests.**

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S. and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities, including Commodity-Linked Investments, held by the Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by the Fund.

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**Operational Risk. The Fund is exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund is not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the Underlying Index. The Fund invests in securities included in, or representative of, the Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.**

**Reliance on Trading Partners Risk. The economies of many countries or regions in which the Fund invests are highly dependent on trade with certain key trading partners. Reduction in spending on products and services by these key trading partners, institution of tariffs or other trade barriers or a slowdown in the economies of key trading partners may adversely affect the performance of any security in which the Fund invests and have a material adverse effect on the Fund's performance.**

**Risk of Investing in Agriculture and Livestock. The agricultural and livestock sectors are subject to government subsidy policies and environmental, health and safety laws and regulations. Specific governmental policies, such as taxes, tariffs, duties, subsidies and import and export restrictions on agricultural commodities, commodity products and livestock, can influence the profitability of investing in agriculture and livestock. These industries may also be adversely affected by changes in commercial and consumer demand for their products. A growing competitive landscape and increased availability of such commodities can influence: (i) the planting and raising of certain crops/livestock versus other uses of resources; (ii) the location and size of crop and livestock production; (iii) whether unprocessed or processed commodity products are traded; and (iv) the volume and types of imports and exports. Economic recession or labor difficulties may also lead to a decrease in demand for the products and services involved in agriculture. As a result, the price of agricultural or livestock commodities could decline, which would affect the performance of the Fund.**

The agricultural and livestock sectors also are particularly sensitive to changing weather conditions, such as floods or droughts, natural disasters and other factors, such as disease outbreaks and pollution.

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense**

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concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities or physical commodities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized interest rate and credit default swaps are required to be traded on an exchange or trading platform and centrally cleared. Most other swaps are entered into on a negotiated, bi-lateral basis and traded in the over-the-counter market. Swaps are subject to bi-lateral variation margin. The Fund is required by financial regulators to post initial margin in connection with trading over-the-counter swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. Swaps entered into by the Fund through its Subsidiary may not be centrally cleared which would expose the Fund to counter-party default risk and illiquidity risk, as liquidity depends on the willingness of counterparties to enter into, and the ability of counterparties to hedge the risks of, such contracts. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to**

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the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.

**Subsidiary Risk. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary, as determined at the end of each of the Fund's fiscal quarters. By investing in a Subsidiary, the Fund is indirectly exposed to the risks associated with the Subsidiary's investments. The Commodity-Linked Investments that may be held by the Subsidiary are generally similar to those that are permitted to be held by the Fund and are subject to the same risks that apply to similar investments if held directly by the Fund. There can be no assurance that the investment objective of the Subsidiary will be achieved. The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Prospectus, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. The Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. The Subsidiary will be subject to the same investment restrictions and limitations, and will follow the same compliance policies and procedures, as the Fund. The Subsidiary's financial statements are consolidated with the Fund's financial statements that are included in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a RIC for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances. Moreover, changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or Subsidiary to operate as described in the Prospectus and in the SAI, and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely experience decreased investment returns.**

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's NAV), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested**

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cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN FUTURES CONTRACTS ISSUERS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or other asset may differ from the Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other assets that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other assets in the Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Affiliated Fund Risk. In managing the Fund, BFA will have the ability to invest in certain ETFs consistent with the model output which it believes will achieve the Fund's objective. BFA may be subject to potential conflicts of interest in selecting certain ETFs because the fees paid to BFA by some ETFs managed by BFA may be higher than the fees paid by other ETFs. If a mutual fund or ETF holds interests in an affiliated fund in excess of a certain amount, the Fund may be prohibited from purchasing shares of that ETF.**

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution**

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proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.**

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund faces risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have

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been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

**Risk of Investing in Industrial Metals. The price of industrial metals may be adversely affected by unpredictable international economic and political policies, such as currency devaluations or revaluations, economic and social conditions within an individual country, trade imbalances, or trade or currency restrictions between countries. As a result, the price of industrial metals historically has been subject to substantial price fluctuations over short periods of time.**

This sector also could be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates and inflation, imposition of import controls, increased competition, and changes in industrial and commercial demand for industrial metals as the principal supplies of metal industries may be concentrated in a small number of countries and regions.

**Risk of Investing in Precious Metals. Prices of precious metals and of precious metal-related financial instruments historically have been very volatile. The high volatility of precious metal prices may adversely affect the prices of financial instruments that derive their value from the price of underlying precious metals. The production and sale of precious metals by governments, central banks or other larger holders can be affected by various economic, financial, social and political factors,**

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which may be unpredictable and may have a significant impact on the prices of precious metals. Other factors that may affect the prices of precious metal-related financial instruments include changes in inflation, the outlook for inflation and changes in industrial and commercial demand for precious metals.

Some precious metals mining operation companies may hedge, to varying degrees, their exposure to declines in precious metals prices by selling forward future production. This may affect prices of precious metals-related financial instruments, which in turn may limit the Fund's ability to benefit from future increases in the price of precious metals, thereby lowering returns to the Fund.

Additionally, increased environmental or labor costs may depress the value of mining and metal investments.

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities, and derivatives such as options, swaps, and futures, may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings including derivatives such as options, swaps and futures.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities and other assets is available in the Fund's SAI. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to**

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portfolio securities and other assets. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Fund, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Fund will bear, the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.48%. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other registered investment companies advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 29, 2024. The fee waiver information provided in the annual fund operating expenses table reflects the fees that will be waived consistent with the contractual waiver. It is not necessarily identical to the amount of fees that had been waived by BFA as shown in the financial highlights of the Fund's Annual Report. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA has entered into a sub-advisory agreement with BIL (the "Sub-Adviser"), an affiliate of BFA, under which BFA pays the Sub-Adviser for services it provides a fee equal to 60% of the management fee paid to BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement. The Sub-Adviser, subject to the supervision and oversight of the Board and BFA, is responsible for day-to-day management of specified assets in the Fund's portfolio. BIL also serves as Sub-Adviser to the Subsidiary.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA, the Sub-Adviser, and their affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

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BIL is an investment adviser located in the U.K. at Exchange Place One, 1 Semple Street, Edinburgh EH3 8BL, Scotland 011 44 131 472 7200. The Sub-Adviser is a registered investment adviser and a commodity pool operator organized in 1999.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Board of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA and the Sub-Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Sub-Adviser is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. Richard Mejzak, Orlando Montalvo, Tim Parsons, Greg Savage and Paul Whitehead are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

Richard Mejzak has been with BlackRock since 1990, including his years with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, which was acquired by BlackRock in 2006. Mr. Mejzak became a portfolio manager for BFA in 2012. Mr. Mejzak has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2016.

Orlando Montalvo has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2009. Prior to that, Mr. Montalvo was a senior portfolio manager from 2005 to 2009 for Barclays Global Fund Advisors ("BGFA"). Mr. Montalvo has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2023.

Tim Parsons has been with BlackRock since 2007, including his time with Barclays Global Investors ("BGI"), which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Mr. Parsons has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2016 and has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2019.

Greg Savage has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2006. Prior to that, Mr. Savage was a portfolio manager from 2001 to 2006 for BGFA. Mr. Savage has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2014.

Paul Whitehead has been with BlackRock since 1996, including his years with BGI, which merged with BlackRock in 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been employed by BlackRock as a Managing Director since 2010 and a Director from 2009 to 2010. Mr. Whitehead was employed by BGI as Principal from 2002 to 2009. Mr. Whitehead has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

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The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the 1940 Act). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.**

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's

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investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "COMT."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant

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proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity of the underlying securities or other assets held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities or other assets.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is Nasdaq.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund, or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. However, registered investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to certain terms and conditions set forth in SEC rules. In order for a registered investment company to invest in shares of the Fund beyond the limitations

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of Section 12(d)(1) in reliance on Rule 12d1-4 under the 1940 Act, the registered investment company must, among other things, enter into an agreement with the Trust. Foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities or assets held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt

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obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities and other assets used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a RIC or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

*Dividend Reinvestment Service. No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the Trust. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment*

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Service for use by beneficial owners of the Fund for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their broker to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the Fund purchased in the secondary market.

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income (other than qualified dividend income), including distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. Distributions by the Fund of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses (capital gain dividends) are taxable to you as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the Fund's shares. Distributions by the Fund that qualify as qualified dividend income are taxable to you at long-term capital gain rates. Long-term capital gains and qualified dividend income are generally eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Because the Fund may have a higher portfolio turnover than funds that seek to replicate the performance of an index, the Fund may, in comparison to such other funds, realize and distribute a higher amount of taxable realized capital gain. In addition, a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on "net investment income," including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.**

Dividends will be qualified dividend income to you if they are attributable to qualified dividend income received by the Fund. Generally, qualified dividend income includes dividend income from taxable U.S. corporations and qualified non-U.S. corporations, provided that the Fund satisfies certain holding period requirements in respect of the stock of such corporations and has not hedged its position in the stock in certain ways. For this purpose, a qualified non-U.S. corporation means any non-U.S. corporation that is eligible for benefits under a comprehensive income tax treaty with the U.S., which includes an exchange of information program, or if the stock with respect to which the dividend was paid is readily tradable on an established U.S. securities market. The term excludes a corporation that is a passive foreign investment company.

Dividends received by the Fund from a RIC generally are qualified dividend income only to the extent such dividend distributions are made out of qualified dividend income received by such RIC. Additionally, it is expected that dividends received by the Fund from a real estate investment trust and distributed to a shareholder generally will be

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taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income. However, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026, the Fund may report dividends eligible for a 20% "qualified business income" deduction for non-corporate U.S. shareholders to the extent the Fund's income is derived from ordinary REIT dividends, reduced by allocable Fund expenses.

For a dividend to be treated as qualified dividend income, the dividend must be received with respect to a share of stock held without being hedged by the Fund, and with respect to a share of the Fund held without being hedged by you, for 61 days during the 121-day period beginning at the date which is 60 days before the date on which such share becomes ex-dividend with respect to such dividend or, in the case of certain preferred stock, 91 days during the 181-day period beginning 90 days before such date.

In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding, capital gains and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S."), generally the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate

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applies, provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders, comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts, report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information, and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

If your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending arrangement, you may lose the ability to treat Fund dividends paid while the shares are held by the borrower as qualified dividend income. In addition, you may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

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**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund will accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a

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DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Consolidated Financial Highlights

The consolidated financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance for the past five years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Consolidated Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

---

| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF** | **iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF** | **iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF** | **iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF** | **iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$37.41 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.27 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$31.80 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$37.18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$35.97 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income (loss)<sup>(a)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.21 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.26 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.76 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.80 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13.37 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6.93) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.04) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.62 |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.01 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13.24 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6.67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.49) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.86) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.04) |
| **Net asset value, end of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$37.93 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$37.41 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.27 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$31.80 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$37.18 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19.92% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;54.75% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(21.66)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.87)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9.29%<sup>(e)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(f)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.48% |
| Net investment income (loss) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.54% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.38)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.95% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.32% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.66% |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of year (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2359148 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2824785 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$196558 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$518373 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$728739 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(g)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;32% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;167% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 9.06%. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 9.06%. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 9.06%. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 9.06%. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 9.06%. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 9.06%. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(f)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(f)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(f)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(f)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(f)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(g)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(g)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(g)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(g)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(g)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Disclaimers

**The Underlying Index is a product of SPDJI, and has been licensed for use by BFA or its affiliates. Standard & Poor's<sup>®</sup> and S&P<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC, a division of S&P Global ("S&P"); Dow Jones<sup>®</sup> is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"); iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates; and these trademarks have been licensed for use by SPDJI and sublicensed for certain purposes by the Trust. The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by SPDJI, Dow Jones, S&P, or any of their respective affiliates (collectively, "S&P Dow Jones Indices"). S&P Dow Jones Indices make no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in securities generally or in the Fund in particular or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general market performance. S&P Dow Jones Indices' only relationship to the Trust and BFA and their affiliates with respect to the Underlying Index is the licensing of the Underlying Index and certain trademarks, service marks and/or trade names of S&P Dow Jones Indices and/or its third party licensors. The Underlying Index is determined, composed and calculated by S&P Dow Jones Indices without regard to the Trust, BFA or its affiliates or the Fund. S&P Dow Jones Indices have no obligation to take the needs of BFA or its affiliates or the owners of shares of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. S&P Dow Jones Indices are not responsible for and have not participated in the determination of the prices, and amount of shares of the Fund or the timing of the issuance or sale of such shares or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which shares of the Fund are to be converted into cash, surrendered or redeemed, as the case may be. S&P Dow Jones Indices have no obligation or liability in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of shares of the Fund. There is no assurance that investment products based on the Underlying Index will accurately track index performance or provide positive investment returns. SPDJI is not an investment adviser. Inclusion of a security within an index is not a recommendation by S&P Dow Jones Indices to buy, sell, or hold such security, nor is it considered to be investment advice.**

**S&P DOW JONES INDICES DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ADEQUACY, ACCURACY, TIMELINESS AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE UNDERLYING INDEX OR ANY DATA RELATED THERETO OR ANY COMMUNICATION, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ORAL OR WRITTEN COMMUNICATION (INCLUDING ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS) WITH RESPECT THERETO. S&P DOW JONES INDICES SHALL NOT BE SUBJECT TO ANY DAMAGES OR LIABILITY FOR ANY ERRORS, OMISSIONS, OR DELAYS THEREIN. S&P DOW JONES INDICES MAKE NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE OR AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY BFA OR ITS AFFILIATES, OWNERS OF SHARES OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE UNDERLYING INDEX OR WITH RESPECT TO ANY DATA RELATED THERETO. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT WHATSOEVER SHALL S&P DOW JONES INDICES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF PROFITS, TRADING**

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**LOSSES, LOST TIME OR GOODWILL, EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. THERE ARE NO THIRD PARTY BENEFICIARIES OF ANY AGREEMENTS OR ARRANGEMENTS BETWEEN S&P DOW JONES INDICES AND BFA OR ITS AFFILIATES, OTHER THAN THE LICENSORS OF S&P DOW JONES INDICES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by Nasdaq. Nasdaq makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to track the total return performance of the Underlying Index or the ability of the Underlying Index to track market performance. Nasdaq is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the compilation or the calculation of the Underlying Index, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. Nasdaq has no obligation or liability to owners of shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of shares of the Fund.**

**Nasdaq does not guarantee the accuracy and/or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. Nasdaq makes no warranty, express or implied, as to results to be obtained by the Trust on behalf of the Fund as licensee, licensee's customers and counterparties, owners of shares of the Fund, or any other person or entity from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein in connection with the rights licensed as described herein or for any other use. Nasdaq makes no express or implied warranties and hereby expressly disclaims all warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose with respect to the Underlying Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Nasdaq have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

**The past performance of the Underlying Index is not a guide to future performance. BFA and its affiliates do not guarantee the accuracy or the completeness of the Underlying Index or any data included therein and BFA and its affiliates shall have no liability for any errors, omissions or interruptions therein. BFA and its affiliates make no warranty, express or implied, to the owners of shares of the Fund or to any other person or entity, as to results to be obtained by the Fund from the use of the Underlying Index or any data included therein. Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall BFA or its affiliates have any liability for any special, punitive, direct, indirect, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits), even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-COMT-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946img935aacd32.gif)

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946img58d51efd1.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF \| LQDI \| CBOE BZX

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_f85f8547-3a0c-4882-bc3b-4b0acffc6010_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_19)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_24)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_25)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| [Management](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_26)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_29)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |
| [Distribution](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_37)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;37 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_38)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;38 |
| [Index Provider](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_39)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;39 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_4fcfd45d-5f83-425c-bc7a-c5eee7e0842e_40)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> INFLATION HEDGED CORPORATE BOND ETF

Ticker: LQDI Stock Exchange: Cboe BZX

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade corporate bonds.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF ("LQD" or the "Underlying Fund"), after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br> Fees** | **Distribution<br> and<br> Service (12b-1)<br> Fees** | **Other<br> Expenses** | **Acquired Fund<br> Fees<br> and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses<br> After<br> Fee Waiver** |
| 0.20% |  |  | 0.13% | 0.33% | (0.15)% | 0.18% |

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $18 | $58 | $101 | $336 |

---

**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 10% of the average value of its portfolio. To the extent the Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond Index (the "Underlying Index"), which is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds, represented in the

Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 inflation swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider")). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index includes approximately 12 components, and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 2,542 components. The Fund invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds primarily through its investment in the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the inflation hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in inflation swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments based on a notional reference amount while receiving floating-rate payments on the same notional reference amount determined from an inflation index). The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's inflation risk at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the inflation swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly

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basis, the Index Provider will add new inflation swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's inflation swap contracts.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.

The Fund may also invest in other instruments designed to transfer inflation risk from one party to another, including but not limited to U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities ("TIPS"), total return swaps, futures and options (collectively with inflation swaps, "inflation hedging instruments"). The Fund's investments in inflation hedging instruments are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of investment-grade corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact than inflation rates. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the investment-grade corporate bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods.

A registered investment company and its adviser are subject to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests more than a

prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if the registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and

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industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration (*i.e.*, a security's price sensitivity to a change in interest rates), maturity or credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.

The Fund may lend securities from its portfolio representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that an underlying fund is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.** 

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund

is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.***

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***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market,***

industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

***Consumer Staples Sector Risk. The consumer staples sector may be affected by, among other things, marketing campaigns, changes in consumer demands, government regulations and changes in commodity prices.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers,***

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market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

***Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying***

Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Financials Sector Risk. Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused***

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significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of inflation on the performance of investment-grade corporate bonds by investing in inflation hedging instruments. The Fund's use of inflation hedging instruments is intended solely to mitigate inflation risk and is not intended to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk, or other factors influencing the price of investment-grade corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact on the bonds' returns than inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments will completely eliminate the inflation risk of the long positions in investment-grade corporate bonds. In addition, when interest rates rise above the inflation rate, the Fund's investments will generally underperform a portfolio composed solely of the investment-grade corporate bonds. In certain low inflation rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the positions in inflation hedging instruments as compared to gains in the long investment-grade corporate bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. The Fund only seeks to hedge the impact of inflation and, as a result, if floating interest rates rise above the inflation-linked rates, the Fund will not***

be hedged. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund incurs expenses when entering into positions in inflation hedging instruments. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the investment-grade corporate bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods.

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to***

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the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when interest rates fall because the Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as the bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the***

Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

***Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. There can be no assurance that the Consumer Price Index ("CPI"), which typically is referenced by inflation swaps, or any other inflation index will accurately measure the rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by the Fund. CPI swaps may cause the Fund's NAV and returns to be more volatile and expose the Fund to counterparty risk. The Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the investment-grade corporate bonds, and the present value of the Fund's portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.***

#### Inflation Risk . The Fund seeks to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of

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inflation on investment-grade corporate bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund and their issuers primarily through the use of swaps linked to the CPI. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, and measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. CPI swaps will not mitigate inflation risk regarding distributions made by the Fund itself.

By entering into a CPI swap, the Fund effectively turns the inflation component of the bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund from fixed rates into floating rates. The Fund will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform the Underlying Index if inflation is lower than the expected rate being hedged. The Fund will benefit from a CPI swap if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) during the time period in which the Fund holds the swap is the same or greater than the level of inflation expected for that period.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over***

certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

In order to hedge the risk of interest rate increases due to inflation, the Fund will take positions in inflation hedging instruments. As a result, when the rate of inflation does not increase or when interest rates increase or decrease inversely to changes in the rate of inflation, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will have positive performance even in environments of sharply rising inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will be able to successfully mitigate inflation risk or that bond values and interest rates will match changes in inflation rates.

***Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could***

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result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

***Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, adjusted for the impact of changes in the rate of inflation. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.***

As the Fund's allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to **Management Risk**, **Market Risk**, and **Market Trading Risk**, among other risks.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.***

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV.***

#### Market Trading Risk . The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential

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lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**.

***Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

***Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country's or region's security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes to the economic conditions of certain key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt burdens and the price or availability of certain commodities.***

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.***

#### Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to

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exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.***

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). If such provisions are applicable, there***

could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV,***

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respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. **INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

#### Valuation Risk . The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a
financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

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#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 year and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower. Prior to December 1, 2021, the Fund was an actively managed ETF. The performance information below prior to December 1, 2021 is based on the performance of the Fund when it was actively managed by BFA using an investment strategy substantially similar to the methodology of the Underlying Index.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946lqdi.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 13.58% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -11.88% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br> Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 5/8/2018)** |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;-14.93% | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.12% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;-15.99% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.86% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-8.81% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.88% |
| **Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;-17.91% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.45% |
| **BlackRock Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond Index<sup>2</sup>(Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;-14.35% | &nbsp;&nbsp;4.54% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> Effective December 1, 2021, the fund is no longer actively managed and the Fund's new Underlying Index is the BlackRock Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond Index. The inception date of the BlackRock Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond Index is October 29, 2021.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2018 and 2021, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("Cboe BZX"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index, which was created and is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial market and seeks to track the performance of an inflation hedged index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the

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underlying index.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes or do not seek to hedge the rate of inflation.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor**

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BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields or interest rates that would not benefit from the hedging strategies used by the Fund. This might result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in the Underlying Fund holding bonds or exposure to bonds that is not hedged through the instruments used by the Fund to hedge inflation risk.**

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers or counterparty or counterparties, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets and other instruments, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

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**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. The Fund's hedging strategy does not seek to mitigate credit risk.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, the Underlying Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund, the Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund or the Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund or the Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund and the Underlying Fund have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent,

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such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund or Underlying Fund, issuers in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, the Index Provider, hedging counterparties to the Fund or Underlying Fund, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.**

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of**

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changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

**Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund or Underlying Fund.**

**Hedging Risk. When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.**

The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of rising inflation rates on the performance of investment-grade corporate bonds by investing in inflation hedging instruments. An inflation swap is a contract in which one party pays a floating rate linked to an inflation index on a notional amount and the other party pays a fixed rate. The positions are not intended to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk or certain other factors influencing the price of investment-grade corporate bonds, which may have a

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greater impact on the bonds' return than rising or falling inflation rates. There is no guarantee that the Fund's positions in inflating hedging instruments will completely eliminate the inflation risk of the long positions in investment-grade corporate bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, but inflation does not, investors may be better off in a long–only investment-grade investment than with an investment in the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor in risk-averse, flight-to-quality environments and in deflationary environments. Furthermore, the Fund may be more volatile than a long-only investment in investment-grade corporate bonds. The Fund may contain a significant allocation to callable investment-grade corporate bonds, which are subject to call risk and prepayment risk (see Call Risk and Prepayment Risk); callable bonds may have lower sensitivity to interest rate declines than non-callable bonds or U.S. Treasury futures. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the investment-grade corporate bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into positions in inflation hedging instruments. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences, as noted in the Taxes section of the Prospectus.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. Although the Fund primarily seeks to redeem shares of the Fund on an in-kind basis, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing**

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increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund or the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates that do not benefit from the hedges entered into by the Fund. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds. Hedges entered into by the Fund may not be effective to hedge inflationary risk and, in this case, the income of the Fund may fall because both the securities of the Fund drop in value and the value of the futures and swaps held by the Fund declines.**

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.**

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Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market value, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund or Underlying Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

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An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. The returns of CPI swaps and other inflation-linked instruments that may be used by the Fund to hedge inflation risk reflect a specified index of inflation measured by the CPI. There can be no assurance that the CPI or other inflation index used will accurately measure either the actual rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by the Fund. As a result, the Fund's inflation-hedging strategy may not perform as expected. CPI swaps may be riskier than other types of investments because they may be more sensitive to changes in economic or market conditions. CPI swaps create leverage because they rely on future payments, which may cause the Fund's NAV and returns to be more volatile than they would be if the Fund had not used swaps. CPI swaps also expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the swap counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations. The Fund's hedging strategy is not customized to particular bonds or investment instruments. As a result, there may be a mismatch between the CPI swaps (and other inflation-linked instruments) and the bonds held by the Underlying Fund that are being hedged. If this were the case, the Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the bonds, and the present value of the Fund's portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.**

**Inflation Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of inflation on investment-grade corporate bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund and their issuers primarily through the use of swaps linked to the CPI. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, and measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. CPI swaps will not mitigate inflation risk regarding distributions made by the Fund itself.**

By entering into a CPI swap, the Fund effectively turns the inflation component of the bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund from fixed rates into floating rates. The Fund will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform if inflation is lower than the expected rate being hedged. The Fund will benefit from a CPI swap if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) during the time period in which the Fund holds the swap is the same or greater than the level of inflation expected for that period. However, if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) is less than the rate of inflation expected for that period, the Fund generally will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform the Underlying Fund as a result of having entered into the CPI swap.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise,**

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the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments to decline significantly, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. To the extent such rises are linked to increases in inflation, the inflation hedging instruments used by the Fund are designed to off-set such decreases in value. Even if the hedging strategy of the Fund performs as intended, however, an increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

The Fund seeks to mitigate inflation risk, to the extent that increases are tied to inflation, by using inflation hedging instruments; such positions should increase in value in rising inflationary environments and should decrease in value in falling inflationary environments, thereby mitigating potential gains and losses in the Underlying Fund arising from changing rates of inflation. The Fund does not attempt to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk generally or other factors, which may have a greater influence on returns of the Underlying Fund than inflation risk. Because the Fund's inflationary hedge is reset on a periodic basis, inflation risk can develop intra-period. Furthermore, while the Fund is designed to hedge the inflation rate exposure of

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the Underlying Fund, it is possible that a degree of exposure may remain even at the time of rebalance.

**Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps consist of an exchange between counterparties of their rights to receive interest payments based on a reference interest rate and typically involve the payment by one counterparty of a fixed rate in respect of a defined notional amount in exchange for receipt of a floating rate on the same notional amount, each having the same payment dates and payable in the same currency. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. The Fund's use of interest rate swaps requires it to post collateral, which may restrict the Fund's ability to otherwise invest such collateral and involves additional costs to the Fund. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.**

**Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, adjusted for the impact of changes in the rate of inflation. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund. For example, the Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Fund.**

An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Fund, as well as taxable gains from transactions in shares of the Underlying Fund by the Fund.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to**

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decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund and the Underlying Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities and other instruments with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities and other instruments with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates will not have the same impact on all types of securities and other instruments.**

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of*

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the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders. If the Fund purchases shares of the Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to NAV, the Fund may incur losses.*

Secondary market trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

*Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the respective Fund's and the Underlying Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's next calculated*

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NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund or Underlying Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and**

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technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the applicable Underlying Index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, the applicable Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. The Fund may also be exposed to passive investment risk through its investment in the Underlying Fund.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund or the Underlying Fund to regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.**

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to**

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maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or the Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset or may have other adverse consequences. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the IRS. Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales."**

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Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund and the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security, instrument or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

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A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies either directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Communication Services Sector Risk. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.**

The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in

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the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

**Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclical industry depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Energy Sector Risk. The success of companies inthe energy sector may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by companies in the energy sector may decline for the following reasons, among others: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions; war or other geopolitical conflicts; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Companies in this sector may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of these companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the**

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stock prices of companies in this sector. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, cyber incident, political strife or natural disasters. Any such event could have serious consequences for the general population of the affected area and could have an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio and the performance of the Fund. Energy companies can be significantly affected by the supply of, and demand for, specific products (*e.g.*, oil and natural gas) and services, exploration and production spending, government subsidization, world events and general economic conditions. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than other companies to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in energy markets or in the global economy.

In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contracts (those with the nearest expiration date) falling below zero for a period of time. Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. In March 2022, the U.S. announced that it would ban imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia. The effect of the U.S. ban and any similar bans by other countries, as well as the extent and duration of the Russian military action, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to,**

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Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions*

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and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.

**Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations.**

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in**

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shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.

**Technology Sector Risk. Technology companies, including information technology companies, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on a company's profit margins. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and other intellectual property rights. A technology company's loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the company's profitability. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings compared to the performance of the Underlying Index. This may increase the risk of the Fund being underinvested to the Underlying Index and increase the risk of tracking error.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"). The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.*

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Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies

#### Overview
The Fund allocates and reallocates its assets among direct investments in securities and other instruments, and in investments in the Underlying Fund consistent with the allocation and reallocation of securities in the Underlying Index as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund intends to invest a substantial portion of its assets in one underlying fund, the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the inflation hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in inflation swaps (*i.e*., contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments based on a notional reference amount while receiving floating-rate payments on the same notional reference amount determined from an inflation index).

In addition, the Fund may borrow, lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions, and may invest the collateral in certain short-term instruments, either directly or through one or more money market funds, as described in greater detail in the Fund's SAI.

The Fund invests, through the Underlying Fund, in non-U.S. securities, emerging markets securities and debt instruments, which are subject to additional risks, as described in this Prospectus and in the Fund's SAI.

#### The Underlying Fund
The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, as adjusted through the impact of inflation swaps and other inflation hedging instruments. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests subject to the Fund's inflation hedges. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

The Underlying Fund, the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF, seeks to track the performance of the Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index includes liquid, U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds for sale in the U.S., as determined by the index provider. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index is a trademark of and is maintained by Markit Indices Limited ("Markit") and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by BFA or its affiliates. Markit makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding the advisability of investing in the Underlying Fund.

In managing the Underlying Fund, BFA uses a representative sampling index strategy. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to a specified benchmark index. Securities selected for the Underlying Fund are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return

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variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the applicable underlying index. The Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in its underlying index and may hold certain securities that are not included in its underlying index.

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.20% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.05%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.13%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in LQD, after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities.

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A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2018.

Karen Uyehara has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Uyehara was a portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Company (WAMCO). Ms. Uyehara has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter,**

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adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the

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securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

BlackRock and its Affiliates may benefit from the Fund using a BlackRock index by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock and its Affiliates are not obligated to license indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. The Fund cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock or its Affiliates will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "LQDI."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading

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volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is Cboe BZX.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

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**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets, which includes the value of the Underlying Fund shares in which the Fund invests, less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

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Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

*Dividend Reinvestment Service. No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the Trust. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment Service for use by beneficial owners of the Fund for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their broker to determine the*

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availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the Fund purchased in the secondary market.

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Underlying Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the

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Underlying Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S.") (and 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of the year consists of securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, or, at the close of each quarter, shares of the Underlying Fund), the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of such Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

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If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units partially or solely for cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

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Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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documents, or if you are currently enrolled in householding and wish to change your householding status.

Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance since inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Period From<br> 05/08/18<sup>(a)</sup><br> to 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$30.45 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$27.66 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$26.33 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.31 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.00 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.75 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.63 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.71 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.91 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.37 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.80) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.82 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.01 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.70) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.05) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.45 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.07 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.92 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.33) |
| **Distributions** |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;From net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.76) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.66) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.90) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.36) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;From net realized gain | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.07) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| Total distributions | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.83) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.66) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.90) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.36) |
| **Net asset value, end of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.57 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$30.45 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$27.66 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$26.33 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.31 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(16.89)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12.60% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.00%<sup>(e)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12.26%<sup>(f)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.34)%<sup>(g)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(h)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.20%<sup>(i)</sup> |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05%<sup>(i)</sup> |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.68% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.14% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.64% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.60% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.04%<sup>(i)</sup> |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of period (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$56515 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$73073 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$17979 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$7898 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$9725 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(j)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0%<sup>(k)</sup> |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which had no impact on the Fund's total return. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which had no impact on the Fund's total return. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which had no impact on the Fund's total return. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which had no impact on the Fund's total return. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which had no impact on the Fund's total return. | <sup>(e)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which had no impact on the Fund's total return. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 12.22%. | <sup>(f)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 12.22%. | <sup>(f)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 12.22%. | <sup>(f)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 12.22%. | <sup>(f)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 12.22%. | <sup>(f)</sup> Includes payment received from an affiliate, which impacted the Fund's total return. Excluding the payment from an affiliate, the Fund's total return would have been 12.22%. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(g)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(g)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(g)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(g)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(g)</sup> Not annualized. |
| <sup>(h)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(h)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(h)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(h)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(h)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(h)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(i)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(i)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(i)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(i)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(i)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(i)</sup> Annualized. |
| <sup>(j)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(j)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(j)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(j)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(j)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(j)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |
| <sup>(k)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(k)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(k)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(k)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(k)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(k)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. |

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Index Provider

The Underlying Index was created and is sponsored by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. The Index Provider or one or more of its affiliates has entered into a license agreement with the Fund pursuant to which the Fund uses the Underlying Index at no charge.

The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider will also act as calculation agent for the Underlying Index. The Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent non-public information related to the Underlying Index, such as pending changes to the Underlying Index, from being used or disseminated in an improper manner, including to affiliates of the Fund. The Fund is not entitled to obtain non-public information about the Underlying Index prior to dissemination of such changes. Furthermore, the Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent improper use and dissemination of non-public information about the Fund's portfolio strategies.

The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of the Fund or its shareholders into consideration in establishing and maintaining the Underlying Index. The Index Provider does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or performance of the Underlying Index or the data included therein and shall have no liability in connection with the Underlying Index or Underlying Index calculation.

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Disclaimers

**The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC. BlackRock Index Services, LLC makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in funds generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general stock market performance. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is the licensor of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and of the Underlying Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BlackRock Index Services, LLC without regard to the issuer of the Fund or the Fund. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation to take the needs of the issuer of the Fund or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation or liability to owners of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.**

**ALTHOUGH BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC CONSIDERS RELIABLE, BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, LICENSEE'S CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN IN CONNECTION WITH THE RIGHTS LICENSED HEREUNDER OR FOR ANY OTHER USE. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by Cboe BZX. Cboe BZX makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. Cboe BZX is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities**

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**of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. Cboe BZX has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall Cboe BZX have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-LQDI-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946img398513142.gif)

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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| ![](g371946img45c77eae1.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF \| HYGI \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_3332dd92-b222-4bca-87e6-5f298071dc2e_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_19)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_27)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_27)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| [Management](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_29)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_32)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| [Distribution](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_40)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;39 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_41)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |
| [Index Provider](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_42)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_62ab7d69-1492-47d2-93b3-551c2292670d_43)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;42 |

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> INFLATION HEDGED HIGH YIELD BOND ETF

Ticker: HYGI Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF ("HYG" or the "Underlying Fund"), after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br> Fees** | **Distribution and<br> Service (12b-1)<br> Fees** | **Other<br> Expenses** | **Acquired Fund Fees<br> and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses<br> After<br> Fee Waiver** |
| 0.55% |  |  | 0.46% | 1.01% | (0.50)% | 0.51% |

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** |
| $52 | $164 |

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**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund's performance. From inception (June 22, 2022) to the most recent fiscal year end, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 1% of the average value of its portfolio. To the extent the Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond Index (the "Underlying Index"). The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield

corporate bonds, which is represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 inflation swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider")). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index includes approximately 12 components (including shares of the Underlying Fund), and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 1,222 securities. The Fund uses its investment in the Underlying Fund primarily to gain exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds (commonly referred to as "junk bonds"). The Fund seeks to track the inflation hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in inflation swaps (*i.e*., derivative contracts used to transfer inflation risk by exchanging a fixed cash flow for a floating cash flow). The Fund makes fixed-rate payments based on a notional reference amount while receiving floating-rate payments on the same notional reference amount determined from an inflation index. The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's inflation risk at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index

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includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.

The Fund may also invest in other instruments designed to transfer inflation risk from one party to another, including but not limited to U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities ("TIPS"), total return swaps, futures and options (collectively with inflation swaps, "inflation hedging instruments"). The Fund's investments in inflation hedging instruments are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact than inflation rates. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds owned by the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even

during inflationary periods.

A registered investment company and its adviser are subject to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if the registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable

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underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration (*i.e.*, a security's price sensitivity to a change in interest rates), maturity or credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.

The Fund may lend securities from its portfolio representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.** 

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other***

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market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.

***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

***Communication Services Sector Risk. Companies in the communications sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals and changing consumer tastes and interests.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.***

***Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. Consumer cyclical companies rely heavily on business cycles and economic conditions. Consumer cyclical companies may be adversely affected by domestic and international economic downturns, changes in exchange and interest rates, competition, consumers' disposable income and preferences, social trends and marketing campaigns.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk***

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depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.***

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of inflation on the performance of high yield corporate bonds by investing in inflation hedging instruments. The Fund's use of inflation hedging instruments is***

intended solely to mitigate inflation risk and is not intended to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk, or other factors influencing the price of high yield corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact on the bonds' returns than inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments will completely eliminate the inflation risk of the long positions in high yield corporate bonds. In addition, when interest rates rise above the inflation rate, the Fund's investments will generally underperform a portfolio composed solely of the high yield corporate bonds. In certain low inflation rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the positions in inflation hedging instruments as compared to gains in the long high yield corporate bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. The Fund only seeks to hedge the impact of inflation and, as a result, if floating interest rates rise above the inflation-linked rates, the Fund will not be hedged. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund incurs expenses when entering into positions in inflation hedging instruments. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the high yield corporate bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods.

#### High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (commonly referred to as "junk bonds," which may include those bonds rated

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below "BBB-" by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, Inc. ("Fitch") or below "Baa3" by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's")), or are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when interest rates fall because the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as the bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen***

circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

***Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. There can be no assurance that the Consumer Price Index ("CPI"), which typically is referenced by inflation swaps, or any other inflation index will accurately measure the rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by the Fund. CPI swaps may cause the Fund's NAV and returns to be more volatile and expose the Fund to counterparty risk. The Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the high yield corporate bonds, and the***

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present value of the Fund's portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.

***Inflation Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of inflation primarily through the use of swaps linked to the CPI. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, and measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. CPI swaps will not mitigate inflation risk regarding distributions made by the Fund itself.***

By entering into a CPI swap, the Fund effectively turns the inflation component of the bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund from fixed rates into floating rates. The Fund will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform the Underlying Index if inflation is lower than the expected rate being hedged. The Fund will benefit from a CPI swap if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) during the time period in which the Fund holds the swap is the same or greater than the level of inflation expected for that period.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have***

increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

In order to hedge the risk of interest rate increases due to inflation, the Fund will take positions in inflation hedging instruments. As a result, when the rate of inflation does not increase or when interest rates increase or decrease inversely to changes in the rate of inflation, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will have positive performance even in environments of sharply rising inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will be able to successfully mitigate inflation risk or that bond values and interest rates will match changes in inflation rates.

#### Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the

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Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, adjusted for the impact of changes in the rate of inflation. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

As the Fund's allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to **Management Risk**, **Market Risk**, and **Market Trading Risk**, among other risks.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.***

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also***

subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.

***Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers and counterparties.***

#### Operational Risk . The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to,

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human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

***Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than***

publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.***

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.***

#### Security Risk . Some countries and regions in which the Fund invests have

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experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country's or region's security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments.

***Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.***

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service***

("IRS"). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of***

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custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. **INDEX EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS ("ETFs") THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of***

trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund does not have a full calendar year of performance information to report.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2022.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account ("IRA"), in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

The Underlying Fund's date of inception is April 4, 2007. Shares of the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca. The Underlying Fund's investment adviser is BFA and its portfolio managers are James Mauro and Karen Uyehara. The Underlying Fund's Index Provider is Markit Indices Limited.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index, which was created and is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial market and seeks to track the performance of an inflation hedged index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

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Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes or do not seek to hedge the rate of inflation.**

**Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares**

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may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.

**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields or interest rates that would not benefit from the hedging strategies used by the Fund. This might result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in the Underlying Fund holding bonds or exposure to bonds that is not hedged through the instruments used by the Fund to hedge inflation risk.**

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Communication Services Sector Risk. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while**

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all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.

The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular**

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issuer or issuers or counterparty or counterparties, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets and other instruments, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.

**Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclical industry depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. The Fund's hedging strategy does not seek to mitigate credit risk.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, the Underlying Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to,

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index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund, the Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund or the Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund or the Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund and the Underlying Fund have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund or Underlying Fund, issuers in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, the Index Provider, hedging counterparties to the Fund or Underlying Fund, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund or Underlying Fund.**

**Hedging Risk. When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.**

The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of rising inflation rates on the performance of high yield corporate bonds by investing in inflation hedging instruments. An inflation swap is a contract in which one party pays a floating rate linked to an inflation index on a notional amount and the other party pays a fixed rate. The positions are not intended to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk or certain other factors influencing the price of high yield corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact on the bonds' return than rising or falling inflation rates. There is no guarantee

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that the Fund's positions in inflating hedging instruments will completely eliminate the inflation risk of the long positions in high yield corporate bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, but inflation does not, investors may be better off in a long–only high yield investment than with an investment in the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor in risk-averse, flight-to-quality environments and in deflationary environments. Furthermore, the Fund may be more volatile than a long-only investment in high yield corporate bonds. The Fund may contain a significant allocation to callable high yield corporate bonds, which are subject to call risk (see Call Risk); callable bonds may have lower sensitivity to interest rate declines than non-callable bonds or U.S. Treasury futures. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the high yield corporate bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into positions in inflation hedging instruments. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences, as noted in the Taxes section of the Prospectus.

**High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (commonly referred to as "junk bonds," which may include those bonds rated below "BBB-" by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch, or below "Baa3" by Moody's), or are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default.**

The major risks of high yield securities investments include:

■ High yield securities may be issued by less creditworthy issuers. Issuers of high yield securities may have a larger amount of outstanding debt relative to their assets than issuers of investment-grade bonds. In the event of an issuer's bankruptcy, claims of other creditors may have priority over the claims of high yield securities holders, leaving few or no assets available to repay high yield securities holders.

■ Prices of high yield securities are subject to extreme price fluctuations. Adverse changes in an issuer's industry and general economic conditions may have a greater impact on the prices of high yield securities than on other higher rated fixed-income securities. The credit rating of a high yield security does not necessarily address its market value risk. Ratings and market value may change from time to time, positively or negatively, to reflect new developments regarding the issuer.

■ Issuers of high yield securities may be unable to meet their interest or principal payment obligations because of an economic downturn, specific issuer developments, or the unavailability of additional financing.

■ High yield securities frequently have redemption features that permit an issuer to repurchase the security from the Underlying Fund before it matures. If the issuer redeems high yield securities held by the Underlying Fund, the Underlying Fund may have to invest the proceeds in bonds with lower yields and may lose income.

■ High yield securities may be less liquid than higher rated fixed-income securities, even under normal economic conditions. There are fewer dealers in the high yield securities market, and there may be significant differences in the prices quoted for

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | high yield securities by the dealers. Because high yield securities may be less liquid than higher rated fixed-income securities, judgment may play a greater role in valuing certain of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities than is the case with securities trading in a more liquid market. |
| ■ | The Fund or the Underlying Fund may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms with a defaulting issuer. |

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**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund or the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates that do not benefit from the hedges entered into by the Fund. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds. Hedges entered into by the Fund may not be effective to hedge inflationary risk and, in this case, the income of the Fund may fall because both the securities of the Fund drop in value and the value of the futures and swaps held by the Fund declines.**

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.**

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the

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Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market value, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund or Underlying Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

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Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. The returns of CPI swaps and other inflation-linked instruments that may be used by the Fund to hedge inflation risk reflect a specified index of inflation measured by the CPI. There can be no assurance that the CPI or other inflation index used will accurately measure either the actual rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by the Fund. As a result, the Fund's inflation-hedging strategy may not perform as expected. CPI swaps may be riskier than other types of investments because they may be more sensitive to changes in economic or market conditions. CPI swaps create leverage because they rely on future payments, which may cause the Fund's NAV and returns to be more volatile than they would be if the Fund had not used swaps. CPI swaps also expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the swap counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations. The Fund's hedging strategy is not customized to particular bonds or investment instruments. As a result, there may be a mismatch between the CPI swaps (and other inflation-linked instruments) and the bonds held by the Underlying Fund that are being hedged. If this were the case, the Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the bonds, and the present value of the Fund's portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.**

**Inflation Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of inflation primarily through the use of swaps linked to the CPI. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, and measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. CPI swaps will not mitigate inflation risk regarding distributions made by the Fund itself.**

By entering into a CPI swap, the Fund effectively turns the inflation component of the bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund from fixed rates into floating rates. The Fund will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform if inflation is lower than the expected rate being hedged. The Fund will benefit from a CPI swap if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) during the time period in which the Fund holds the swap is the same or greater than the level of inflation expected for that period. However, if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) is less than the rate of inflation expected for that period, the Fund generally will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform the Underlying Fund as a result of having entered into the CPI swap.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments to decline**

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significantly, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. To the extent such rises are linked to increases in inflation, the inflation hedging instruments used by the Fund are designed to off-set such decreases in value. Even if the hedging strategy of the Fund performs as intended, however, an increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

The Fund seeks to mitigate inflation risk, to the extent that increases are tied to inflation, by using inflation hedging instruments; such positions should increase in value in rising inflationary environments and should decrease in value in falling inflationary environments, thereby mitigating potential gains and losses in the Underlying Fund arising from changing rates of inflation. The Fund does not attempt to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk generally or other factors, which may have a greater influence on returns of the Underlying Fund than inflation risk. Because the Fund's inflationary hedge is reset on a periodic basis, inflation risk can develop intra-period. Furthermore, while the Fund is designed to hedge the inflation rate exposure of the Underlying Fund, it is possible that a degree of exposure may remain even at the time of rebalance.

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**Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, adjusted for the impact of changes in the rate of inflation. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund. For example, the Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Fund.**

An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Fund, as well as taxable gains from transactions in shares of the Underlying Fund by the Fund.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund and the Underlying Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and**

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their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities and other instruments with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities and other instruments with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates will not have the same impact on all types of securities and other instruments.

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders. If the Fund purchases shares of the Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to NAV, the Fund may incur losses.*

Secondary market trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading

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activity in derivative products based on the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

*Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the respective Fund's and the Underlying Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund or Underlying Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be*

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advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.

**Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with these particular issuers or counterparties or to a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence affecting these issuers or counterparties.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the applicable Underlying Index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, the applicable Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. The Fund may also be exposed to passive investment risk through its investment in the Underlying Fund.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market or economic conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Fund the Underlying Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. At times, it also may be more difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund's NAV due to the absence of an active trading market. There can be no assurance that a privately issued**

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security that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund and the Underlying Fund, and its value may decline as a result.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or the Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Security Risk. Some geographic areas in which the Fund invests have experienced acts of terrorism and strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations**

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may cause uncertainty in the markets of these geographic areas and may adversely affect their economies.

**Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If the Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset or may have other adverse consequences. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the IRS. Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.**

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may**

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result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. **INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund and the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security, instrument or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies either directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Capital Goods Industry Risk. Companies in the capital goods group of industries include aerospace and defense, building products, construction and engineering, and other manufacturers of capital intensive products. Companies in the capital goods industry may be affected by fluctuations in the business cycle and by other factors affecting manufacturing demands. The capital goods industry depends heavily on corporate spending. Companies in the capital goods industry may perform well during times of economic expansion, but as economic conditions worsen, the demand for capital goods may decrease. Many capital goods are sold internationally, and companies in this industry may be affected by market conditions in other countries and regions.**

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards**

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and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.

**Consumer Services Industry Risk. The success of firms in the consumer services industry and certain retailers (including food and beverage, general retailers, media, and travel and leisure companies) is tied closely to the performance of the domestic and international economies, interest rates, exchange rates and consumer confidence. The consumer services industry depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Companies in the consumer services industry may be subject to severe competition, which may also have an adverse impact on their profitability. Companies in the consumer services industry are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. Changes in consumer demographics and preferences in the countries in which the issuers of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund are located and in the countries to which they export their products may affect the success of consumer products.**

**Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage**

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and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Energy Sector Risk. The success of companies inthe energy sector may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by companies in the energy sector may decline for the following reasons, among others: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions; war or other geopolitical conflicts; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Companies in this sector may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of these companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of companies in this sector. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, cyber incident, political strife or natural disasters. Any such event could have serious consequences for the general population of the affected area and could have an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio and the performance of the Fund. Energy companies can be significantly affected by the supply of, and demand for, specific products (*e.g.*, oil and natural gas) and services, exploration and production spending, government subsidization, world events and general economic conditions. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than other companies to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in energy markets or in the global economy.**

In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contracts (those with the nearest expiration date) falling below zero for a period of time. Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and

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commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. In March 2022, the U.S. announced that it would ban imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia. The effect of the U.S. ban and any similar bans by other countries, as well as the extent and duration of the Russian military action, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.**

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU

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laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of**

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changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

**Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for**

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as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. Although the Fund primarily seeks to redeem shares of the Fund on an in-kind basis, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large**

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redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund or the Underlying Fund to regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.**

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**Technology Sector Risk. Technology companies, including information technology companies, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on a company's profit margins. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and other intellectual property rights. A technology company's loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the company's profitability. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings compared to the performance of the Underlying Index. This may increase the risk of the Fund being underinvested to the Underlying Index and increase the risk of tracking error.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"). The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies

#### Overview

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The Fund allocates and reallocates its assets among direct investments in securities and other instruments, and in investments in the Underlying Fund consistent with the allocation and reallocation of securities in the Underlying Index as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund intends to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the inflation hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in inflation swaps (*i.e*., contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments based on a notional reference amount while receiving floating-rate payments on the same notional reference amount determined from an inflation index).

In addition, the Fund may borrow, lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions, and may invest the collateral in certain short-term instruments, either directly or through one or more money market funds, as described in greater detail in the Fund's SAI.

The Fund invests, through the Underlying Fund, in U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate securities and debt instruments, which are subject to additional risks, as described in this Prospectus and in the Fund's SAI.

#### The Underlying Fund
The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, as adjusted through the impact of inflation swaps and other inflation hedging instruments. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests subject to the Fund's inflation hedges. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

The Underlying Fund, the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF, commenced investment operations on April 4, 2007. The Underlying Fund seeks to track the performance of the Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid High Yield Index. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid High Yield Index is designed to provide a broad representation of the U.S. dollar-denominated liquid high yield corporate bond market. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid High Yield Index includes a trademark of and is maintained by Markit Indices Limited (Markit) and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by BFA or its affiliates. Markit makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding the advisability of investing in the Underlying Fund.

In managing the Underlying Fund, BFA uses a representative sampling index strategy. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to a specified benchmark index. Securities selected for the Underlying Fund are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the applicable underlying index. The Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in its underlying index and may hold certain securities that are not included in its underlying index.

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Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.55% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.05%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.46%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in HYG, after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that

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individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and the Underlying Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

Karen Uyehara has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Uyehara was a portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Company (WAMCO). Ms. Uyehara has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest**

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in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

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It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

BlackRock and its Affiliates may benefit from the Fund using a BlackRock index by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock and its Affiliates are not obligated to license indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. The Fund cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock or its Affiliates will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "HYGI."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

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The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

Investors owning shares of the Fund are beneficial owners as shown on the records of DTC or its participants. DTC serves as the securities depository for shares of the Fund.

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets, which includes the value of the Underlying Fund shares in which the Fund invests, less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies

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and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

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**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Underlying Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Underlying Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S.") (and 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of the year consists of securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, or, at the close of each quarter, shares of the Underlying Fund), the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund or the

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Underlying Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of such Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund**

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shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units partially or solely for cash. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

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To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance since inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total return in the table represents the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout the period)

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF** |
|  | **Period From<br>06/22/22<sup>(a)</sup><br>to 10/31/22** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.99 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized loss<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.03) |
| Net increase from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(d)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.43) |
| **Net asset value, end of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.97 |
| **Total Return<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.62%<sup>(f)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(g)</sup>** |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.55%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.85%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |
| Net assets, end of period (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2497 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(i)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. |
| <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Index Provider

The Underlying Index was created and is sponsored by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. The Index Provider or one or more of its affiliates has entered into a license agreement with the Fund pursuant to which the Fund uses the Underlying Index at no charge.

The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider will also act as calculation agent for the Underlying Index. The Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent non-public information related to the Underlying Index, such as pending changes to the Underlying Index, from being used or disseminated in an improper manner, including to affiliates of the Fund. The Fund is not entitled to obtain non-public information about the Underlying Index prior to dissemination of such changes. Furthermore, the Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent improper use and dissemination of non-public information about the Fund's portfolio strategies.

The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of the Fund or its shareholders into consideration in establishing and maintaining the Underlying Index. The Index Provider does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or performance of the Underlying Index or the data included therein and shall have no liability in connection with the Underlying Index or Underlying Index calculation.

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Disclaimers

**The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC. BlackRock Index Services, LLC makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in funds generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general stock market performance. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is the licensor of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and of the Underlying Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BlackRock Index Services, LLC without regard to the issuer of the Fund or the Fund. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation to take the needs of the issuer of the Fund or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation or liability to owners of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.**

**ALTHOUGH BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC CONSIDERS RELIABLE, BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, LICENSEE'S CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN IN CONNECTION WITH THE RIGHTS LICENSED HEREUNDER OR FOR ANY OTHER USE. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities**

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**of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual Report to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free)Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-HYGI-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946img4fcdc6c42.gif)

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| ![](g371946imge0584c9a1.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF \| AGIH \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_bae4546d-b793-4e86-b245-7a1d5778f325_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_18)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_23)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_23)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [Management](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_24)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_27)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| [Distribution](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_35)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_36)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| [Index Provider](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_37)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_f10e0edd-61d0-4954-af06-fc574c9328dd_37)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> INFLATION HEDGED U.S. AGGREGATE BOND ETF

Ticker: AGIH Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF ("AGG" or the "Underlying Fund"), after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br> Fees** | **Distribution and<br> Service (12b-1)<br> Fees** | **Other<br> Expenses** | **Acquired Fund Fees<br> and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses<br> After<br> Fee Waiver** |
| 0.13% |  |  | 0.03% | 0.16% | (0.03)% | 0.13% |

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** |
| $13 | $42 |

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**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund's performance. From inception (June 22, 2022) to the most recent fiscal year end, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 1% of the average value of its portfolio. To the extent the Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the "Underlying Index"). The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-

grade bonds, which is represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 inflation swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider")). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index includes approximately 12 components (including shares of the Underlying Fund), and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 9,268 securities. The Fund uses its investment in the Underlying Fund primarily to gain exposure to U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds. To be included in the Underlying Fund, securities must have $300 million or more of outstanding face value and must have at least one year remaining to maturity, with the exception of amortizing securities such as mortgage-backed securities ("MBS") and asset-backed securities ("ABS"), which have lower thresholds as defined by the Underlying Fund's index provider. The Fund seeks to track the inflation hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in inflation swaps (*i.e*., derivative contracts used to transfer inflation risk by exchanging a fixed cash flow for a floating cash flow). The Fund makes fixed-rate payments based on a notional reference amount while receiving

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floating-rate payments on the same notional reference amount determined from an inflation index. The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's inflation risk at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.

The Fund may also invest in other instruments designed to transfer inflation risk from one party to another, including but not limited to U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities ("TIPS"), total return swaps, futures and options (collectively with inflation swaps, "inflation hedging instruments"). The Fund's investments in inflation hedging instruments are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors

influencing the price of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than inflation rates. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds owned by the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods.

A registered investment company and its adviser are subject to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if the registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

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BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration (*i.e.*, a security's price sensitivity to a change in interest rates), maturity or credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.

The Fund may lend securities from its portfolio representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is** 

concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.***

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***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.***

***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

#### Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is
considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests***

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have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

***Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income and potentially in the value of the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments.***

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of inflation on the performance of investment-grade bonds by investing in inflation hedging instruments. The Fund's use of inflation hedging instruments is intended solely to mitigate inflation risk and is not intended to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk, or other factors influencing the***

price of investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact on the bonds' returns than inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments will completely eliminate the inflation risk of the long positions in investment-grade bonds. In addition, when interest rates rise above the inflation rate, the Fund's investments will generally underperform a portfolio composed solely of the investment-grade bonds. In certain low inflation rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the positions in inflation hedging instruments as compared to gains in the long investment-grade bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. The Fund only seeks to hedge the impact of inflation and, as a result, if floating interest rates rise above the inflation-linked rates, the Fund will not be hedged. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund incurs expenses when entering into positions in inflation hedging instruments. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the investment-grade bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods.

***High Portfolio Turnover Risk. High portfolio turnover (considered by the Fund to mean higher than 100% annually) may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund or an Underlying Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of***

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the securities and on reinvestment in other securities.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when interest rates fall because the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds, and as the bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the***

Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

***Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. There can be no assurance that the Consumer Price Index ("CPI"), which typically is referenced by inflation swaps, or any other inflation index will accurately measure the rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by the Fund. CPI swaps may cause the Fund's NAV and returns to be more volatile and expose the Fund to counterparty risk. The Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the investment-grade bonds, and the present value of the Fund's portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.***

#### Inflation Risk . The Fund seeks to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of

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inflation on investment-grade bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund and their issuers primarily through the use of swaps linked to the CPI. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, and measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. CPI swaps will not mitigate inflation risk regarding distributions made by the Fund itself.

By entering into a CPI swap, the Fund effectively turns the inflation component of the bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund from fixed rates into floating rates. The Fund will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform the Underlying Index if inflation is lower than the expected rate being hedged. The Fund will benefit from a CPI swap if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) during the time period in which the Fund holds the swap is the same or greater than the level of inflation expected for that period.

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over***

certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

In order to hedge the risk of interest rate increases due to inflation, the Fund will take positions in inflation hedging instruments. As a result, when the rate of inflation does not increase or when interest rates increase or decrease inversely to changes in the rate of inflation, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will have positive performance even in environments of sharply rising inflation. There is no guarantee that the Fund or Underlying Fund will be able to successfully mitigate inflation risk or that bond values and interest rates will match changes in inflation rates.

***Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, adjusted for the***

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impact of changes in the rate of inflation. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

As the Fund's allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to **Management Risk**, **Market Risk**, and **Market Trading Risk**, among other risks.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.***

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers and counterparties.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service***

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providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an***

advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.***

***Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.***

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as***

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amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a***

security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. **INDEX EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS ("ETFs") THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

***U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. The Underlying Fund invests in MBS issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, some of which may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. MBS represent interests in "pools" of mortgages and are subject to interest rate, prepayment, and extension risk. MBS react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds, and the prices of MBS may reflect adverse economic and market conditions. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of***

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certain MBS. MBS are also subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage loans, particularly during periods of economic downturn. Default or bankruptcy of a counterparty to a to-be-announced ("TBA") transaction would expose the Fund to possible losses.

***U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics and may provide relatively lower returns than those of other securities. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline.***

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using***

a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund does not have a full calendar year of performance information to report.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2022.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account ("IRA"), in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

The Underlying Fund's date of inception is September 22, 2003. Shares of the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on the NYSE Arca. The Underlying Fund's investment adviser is BFA and its portfolio managers are James Mauro and Karen Uyehara. The Underlying Fund's Index Provider is Bloomberg Index Services Limited.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index, which was created and is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial market and seeks to track the performance of an inflation hedged index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

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Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the underlying index.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes or do not seek to hedge the rate of inflation.**

**Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares**

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may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.

**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields or interest rates that would not benefit from the hedging strategies used by the Fund. This might result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in the Underlying Fund holding bonds or exposure to bonds that is not hedged through the instruments used by the Fund to hedge inflation risk.**

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers or counterparty or counterparties, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets and other instruments, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

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**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. The Fund's hedging strategy does not seek to mitigate credit risk.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, the Underlying Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund, the Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund or the Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund or the Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund and the Underlying Fund have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent,

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such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund or Underlying Fund, issuers in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, the Index Provider, hedging counterparties to the Fund or Underlying Fund, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income and potentially in the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments.**

**Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund or Underlying Fund.**

**Hedging Risk. When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.**

The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of rising inflation rates on the performance of investment-grade bonds by investing in inflation hedging instruments. An inflation swap is a contract in which one party pays a floating rate linked to an inflation index on a notional amount and the other party pays a fixed rate. The positions are not intended to mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk or certain other factors influencing the price of investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact on the bonds' return than rising or falling inflation rates. There is no guarantee that the Fund's positions in inflating hedging instruments will completely eliminate the inflation risk of the long positions in investment-grade bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, but inflation does not, investors may be better off in a long–only investment-grade investment than with an investment in the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor in risk-averse, flight-to-quality environments and in deflationary environments. Furthermore, the Fund may be more volatile than a long-only investment in investment-grade bonds. The Fund may contain a significant allocation to callable investment-grade corporate bonds, which are subject to call risk (see Call Risk); callable bonds may have lower sensitivity to interest rate declines than non-callable bonds or U.S. Treasury futures. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund's positions in inflation hedging instruments might be expected to mitigate the effects of

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such rises. Moreover, to the extent that inflation risk has been priced into the investment-grade bonds owned by the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund will underperform the Underlying Fund even during inflationary periods. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into positions in inflation hedging instruments. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences, as noted in the Taxes section of the Prospectus.

**High Portfolio Turnover Risk. High portfolio turnover (considered by the Fund to mean higher than 100% annually) may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund or Underlying Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities. These effects of higher than normal portfolio turnover may adversely affect Fund performance.**

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund or the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates that do not benefit from the hedges entered into by the Fund. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds. Hedges entered into by the Fund may not be effective to hedge inflationary risk and, in this case, the income of the Fund may fall because both the securities of the Fund drop in value and the value of the futures and swaps held by the Fund declines.**

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new**

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to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market value, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund or Underlying Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies

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and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. The returns of CPI swaps and other inflation-linked instruments that may be used by the Fund to hedge inflation risk reflect a specified index of inflation measured by the CPI. There can be no assurance that the CPI or other inflation index used will accurately measure either the actual rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by the Fund. As a result, the Fund's inflation-hedging strategy may not perform as expected. CPI swaps may be riskier than other types of investments because they may be more sensitive to changes in economic or market conditions. CPI swaps create leverage because they rely on future payments, which may cause the Fund's NAV and returns to be more volatile than they would be if the Fund had not used swaps. CPI swaps also expose the Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the swap counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations. The Fund's hedging strategy is not customized to particular bonds or investment instruments. As a result, there may be a mismatch between the CPI swaps (and other inflation-linked instruments) and the bonds held by the Underlying Fund that are being hedged. If this were the case, the Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the bonds, and the present value of the Fund's portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.**

**Inflation Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate many of the adverse impacts of inflation on investment-grade bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund and their issuers primarily through the use of swaps linked to the CPI. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services, and measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. CPI swaps will not mitigate inflation risk regarding distributions made by the Fund itself.**

By entering into a CPI swap, the Fund effectively turns the inflation component of the bonds held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund from fixed rates into floating rates. The Fund will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform if inflation is lower than the expected rate being hedged. The Fund will benefit from a CPI swap if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) during the time period in which the Fund holds the swap is the same or greater than the level of inflation expected for that period. However, if actual inflation (as measured by the CPI) is less than the rate of inflation expected for that period, the Fund generally will lose money on the CPI swap and underperform the Underlying Fund as a result of having entered into the CPI swap.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure**

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investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments to decline significantly, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. To the extent such rises are linked to increases in inflation, the inflation hedging instruments used by the Fund are designed to off-set such decreases in value. Even if the hedging strategy of the Fund performs as intended, however, an increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

The Fund seeks to mitigate inflation risk, to the extent that increases are tied to inflation, by using inflation hedging instruments; such positions should increase in value in rising inflationary environments and should decrease in value in falling inflationary environments, thereby mitigating potential gains and losses in the Underlying Fund arising from changing rates of inflation. The Fund does not attempt to

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mitigate credit risk, interest rate risk generally or other factors, which may have a greater influence on returns of the Underlying Fund than inflation risk. Because the Fund's inflationary hedge is reset on a periodic basis, inflation risk can develop intra-period. Furthermore, while the Fund is designed to hedge the inflation rate exposure of the Underlying Fund, it is possible that a degree of exposure may remain even at the time of rebalance.

**Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, adjusted for the impact of changes in the rate of inflation. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund. For example, the Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Fund.**

An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Fund, as well as taxable gains from transactions in shares of the Underlying Fund by the Fund.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund and the Underlying Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to**

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changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities and other instruments with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities and other instruments with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates will not have the same impact on all types of securities and other instruments.

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders. If the Fund purchases shares of the Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to NAV, the Fund may incur losses.*

Secondary market trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject

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to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

*Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the respective Fund's and the Underlying Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund or Underlying Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume*

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and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.

**Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with these particular issuers or counterparties or to a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence affecting these issuers or counterparties.**

**Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the applicable Underlying Index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, the applicable Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. The Fund may also be exposed to passive investment risk through its investment in the Underlying Fund.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt**

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levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or the Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If the Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset or may have other adverse consequences. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could**

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be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the IRS. Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

**U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. The Underlying Fund invests in securities backed by pools of mortgages issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, including . While securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and there can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to its agencies or sponsored entities where it is not obligated to do so. Bonds or debentures that do not carry the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to more credit risk than securities that are supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. To the extent that the U.S. government has provided support to a U.S. agency or sponsored entity in the past, there can be no assurance that the U.S. government will provide support in the future if it is not obligated to do so. If a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity that is the issuer of securities in which the Underlying Fund invests is unable to meet**

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its obligations or ceases to exist and no plan is made for repayment of securities, the performance of the Fund will be adversely affected.

MBS represent interests in "pools" of mortgages and, due to the nature of these loans they represent, are subject to prepayment and extension risk. Prepayment risk is the risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of mortgages and other fixed-income securities may be able to repay principal prior to the security's maturity. This may cause the Fund to have to reinvest in securities with a lower yield or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.

MBS are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, certain MBS will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in income and potentially in the value of the investment.

Because of prepayment and extension risks, MBS react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain MBS. These securities are also subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage loans, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

The Underlying Fund seeks to obtain exposure to the fixed-rate portion of U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities primarily through TBA securities, or TBA transactions. TBAs refer to a commonly used mechanism for the forward settlement of U.S. agency MBS, and not to a separate type of MBS. Default or bankruptcy of a counterparty to a TBA transaction would expose the Fund to possible losses because of adverse market action, expenses or delays in connection with the purchase or sale of the pools of mortgage pass-through securities specified in the TBA transaction.

The Underlying Fund intends to invest cash pending settlement of TBA transactions in money market instruments, repurchase agreements, or other high quality, liquid short-term instruments, including money market funds advised by BFA. The Underlying Fund will pay its *pro rata* share of fees and expenses of any money market fund that it may invest in, in addition to the Underlying Fund's own fees and expenses.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary over certain periods.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund and the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security, instrument or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may**

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change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies either directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements**

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between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively

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impact the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

**Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in an issuer, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are: (i) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by the Fund and the price of the futures contract; (ii) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (iii) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (iv) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (v) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. Although the Fund primarily seeks to redeem shares of the Fund on an in-kind basis, if the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be**

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impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers.**

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In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings compared to the performance of the Underlying Index. This may increase the risk of the Fund being underinvested to the Underlying Index and increase the risk of tracking error.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

**U.S. Agency Debt Risk. Unsecured bonds or debentures issued by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities help finance U.S. governmental policies and public missions, but may be backed only by the general creditworthiness and reputation of the U.S. government agency or government sponsored entity and not the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. For example, debt issued by the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") and the Federal Home Loan Banks provides financing, credit, and/or liquidity to the housing and mortgage markets, and is not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. In addition, debt issued by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides electricity generation and flood control in parts of the Southeast region of the U.S., and the Federal Farm Credit Banks, which provide credit and related services to the agricultural sector, is not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Ginnie Mae securities and certain foreign government debt issuances guaranteed by the U.S. government, including certain issuances by Iraq and Israel, are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.**

Bonds or debentures that do not carry the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to more credit risk than securities that are supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. If a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity that is the issuer of securities in which the Underlying Fund invests is unable to meet its obligations or ceases to exist and no plan is made for repayment of securities, the performance of the Underlying Fund will be adversely affected. There can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to any

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of these U.S. governmental agencies or sponsored entities if it is not obligated to do so. In 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under the conservatorship of the U.S. government, which provided financial support to the U.S. government-sponsored entities. However, there can be no assurance that such past U.S. government support will result in support in the future. Any actual or potential disruption to a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity, or the financial condition or credit of the U.S. government, could cause the value of U.S. agency debt to decline.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"). The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies

#### Overview
The Fund allocates and reallocates its assets among direct investments in securities and other instruments, and in investments in the Underlying Fund consistent with the allocation and reallocation of securities in the Underlying Index as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund intends to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the inflation hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in inflation swaps (*i.e*., contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments based on a notional reference amount while receiving floating-rate payments on the same notional reference amount determined from an inflation index).

In addition, the Fund may borrow, lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions, and may invest the collateral in certain short-term instruments, either directly or through one or more money market funds, as described in greater detail in the Fund's SAI.

The Fund invests, through the Underlying Fund, in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade securities and debt instruments, which are subject to additional risks, as described in this Prospectus and in the Fund's SAI.

#### The Underlying Fund
The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is related to the performance of the Underlying Fund, as adjusted through the impact of inflation swaps and other inflation hedging instruments. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests subject to the Fund's inflation hedges. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

The Underlying Fund, the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, commenced investment operations on September 22, 2003. The Underlying Fund seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which measures the

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performance of the total U.S. investment-grade (as determined by Bloomberg Index Services Limited) bond market. "Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index" is a trademark of Bloomberg and its licensors and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by BFA or its affiliates.

In managing the Underlying Fund, BFA uses a representative sampling index strategy. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to a specified benchmark index. Securities selected for the Underlying Fund are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the applicable underlying index. The Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in its underlying index and may hold certain securities that are not included in its underlying index.

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.13% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.03%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in AGG, after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating

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expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund and the Underlying Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

Karen Uyehara has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Uyehara was a portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Company (WAMCO). Ms. Uyehara has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

#### Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective

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directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by

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BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

BlackRock and its Affiliates may benefit from the Fund using a BlackRock index by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock and its Affiliates are not obligated to license indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. The Fund cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock or its Affiliates will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "AGIH."

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Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit

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registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets, which includes the value of the Underlying Fund shares in which the Fund invests, less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use

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matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

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Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's

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cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Underlying Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Underlying Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S.") (and 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of the year consists of securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, or, at the close of each quarter, shares of the Underlying Fund), the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of such Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to

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U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units partially or solely for cash.

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Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance since inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total return in the table represents the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout the period)

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF** |
|  | **Period From<br>06/22/22<sup>(a)</sup><br>to 10/31/22** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized loss<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.24) |
| Net decrease from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.05) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(d)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.19) |
| **Net asset value, end of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$23.96 |
| **Total Return<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.21)%<sup>(f)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(g)</sup>** |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.13%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.09%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |
| Net assets, end of period (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2396 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(i)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. |
| <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Index Provider

The Underlying Index was created and is sponsored by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. The Index Provider or one or more of its affiliates has entered into a license agreement with the Fund pursuant to which the Fund uses the Underlying Index at no charge.

The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider will also act as calculation agent for the Underlying Index. The Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent non-public information related to the Underlying Index, such as pending changes to the Underlying Index, from being used or disseminated in an improper manner, including to affiliates of the Fund. The Fund is not entitled to obtain non-public information about the Underlying Index prior to dissemination of such changes. Furthermore, the Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent improper use and dissemination of non-public information about the Fund's portfolio strategies.

The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of the Fund or its shareholders into consideration in establishing and maintaining the Underlying Index. The Index Provider does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or performance of the Underlying Index or the data included therein and shall have no liability in connection with the Underlying Index or Underlying Index calculation.

Disclaimers

**The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC. BlackRock Index Services, LLC makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in funds generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general stock market performance. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is the licensor of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and of the Underlying Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BlackRock Index Services, LLC without regard to the issuer of the Fund or the Fund. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation to take the needs of the issuer of the Fund or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation or liability to owners of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.**

**ALTHOUGH BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC CONSIDERS RELIABLE,**

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**BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, LICENSEE'S CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN IN CONNECTION WITH THE RIGHTS LICENSED HEREUNDER OR FOR ANY OTHER USE. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual Report to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free)Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-AGIH-0323

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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| ![](g371946img506481c71.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF \| LQDH \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_e2770132-a6db-4b6f-90cf-b5ea9fcda9b7_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_19)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_25)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_25)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| [Management](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_26)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_29)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| [Distribution](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_38)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;37 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_39)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;38 |
| [Index Provider](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_40)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;39 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_dd969a1a-ce74-4e12-af42-d269f46835a7_40)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;39 |

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> INTEREST RATE HEDGED CORPORATE BOND ETF

Ticker: LQDH Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the interest rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade corporate bonds.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF ("LQD" or the "Underlying Fund"), after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.10% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | **Acquired Fund Fees<br>and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses<br>After<br>Fee Waiver** |
| 0.30% |  | 0.00% | 0.14% | 0.44% | (0.20)% | 0.24% |

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<sup>1</sup> The amount rounded to 0.00%.

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $25 | $77 | $160 | $470 |

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**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 20% of the average value of its portfolio. To the extent the Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond Index (the "Underlying Index"), which is designed to minimize the interest rate risk exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds, represented in

the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider")). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index includes approximately 12 components (including the Underlying Fund), and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 2,542 components. The Fund invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds primarily through its investment in the Underlying Fund and/or through direct investment in bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund. To be included in the Underlying Fund, bonds must have: (i) at least three years to maturity; and (ii) at least three years and 6 months to maturity for new index insertions. The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate). The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure (*i.e.*, sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the

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Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index and/or bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.

The Fund may also invest in other interest rate futures contracts, including but not limited to, U.S. Treasuries, Eurodollar and Federal Funds futures. The Fund's interest rate swap and futures positions are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of investment-grade corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates.

The CFTC has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures,

options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's use or potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return

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variability, duration (*i.e.*, a security's price sensitivity to a change in interest rates), maturity or credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.

The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that an underlying fund is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.** 

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's

net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this prospectus (the "Prospectus")) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.***

#### Call Risk . During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Underlying Fund may

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"call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.***

***Consumer Staples Sector Risk. The consumer staples sector may be affected by, among other things, marketing campaigns, changes in consumer demands, government regulations and changes in commodity prices.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or***

the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.***

***Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty***

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risk for over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as

documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Financials Sector Risk. Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.***

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of interest rates on the performance of investment-grade bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury and other futures and***

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interest rate swaps. The Fund's Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates. There is no guarantee that the Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions will completely eliminate the interest rate risk of the long positions in investment-grade bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, long–only investment-grade bond investments will perform better than the Fund's investments. In certain falling interest rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long investment-grade bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions.

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid***

investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Fund's index are substituted, or the Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may***

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have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate***

risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps***

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are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

***Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund may invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance may be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.***

As the Fund's allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to **Management Risk**, **Market Risk**, and **Market Trading Risk**, among other risks.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may***

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also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S AND THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

#### Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by
U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.

***Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

#### Risk of Investing in Developed Countries . The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's investment in

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developed country issuers may subject the Fund to legal, regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries. Developed countries tend to represent a significant portion of the global economy and have generally experienced slower economic growth than some less developed countries. Certain developed countries have experienced security concerns, such as war, terrorism and strained international relations. Incidents involving a country's or region's security may cause uncertainty in its markets and may adversely affect its economy and the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments. In addition, developed countries may be adversely impacted by changes to the economic conditions of certain key trading partners, regulatory burdens, debt burdens and the price or availability of certain commodities.

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.***

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.***

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the***

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Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or***

existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. **INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.***

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#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 and 5 years and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower. Prior to December 1, 2021, the Fund was an actively managed ETF. The performance information below prior to December 1, 2021 is based on the performance of the Fund when it was actively managed by BFA using an investment strategy substantially similar to the methodology of the Underlying Index.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946lqdh.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 8.68% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -12.96% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Five Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 5/27/2014)** |  |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-1.33% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.82% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.84% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-2.81% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.58% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.62% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-0.80% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.89% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.88% |
| **Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;-17.91% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.33% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.95% |
| **BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond Index<sup>2</sup>(Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-1.99% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.57% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.14% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> Effective December 1, 2021, the fund is no longer actively managed and the Fund's new Underlying Index is the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond Index. The inception date of the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond Index is October 29, 2021.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2014 and 2021, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index, which was created and is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial market and seeks to track the performance of an interest rate hedged index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the

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underlying index.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields,**

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which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a "commodity pool " and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's**

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income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. The Fund's hedging strategy does not seek to mitigate credit risk.

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, the Underlying Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund, the Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund or the Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund or the Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund and the Underlying Fund have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund or Underlying Fund, issuers in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, the Index Provider, hedging counterparties to the Fund or Underlying Fund, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the**

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characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's

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or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

**Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund or Underlying Fund.**

**Hedging Risk. When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.**

The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of rising interest rates on the performance of investment-grade bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury futures and interest rate swaps. The Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or certain other factors influencing the price of investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than rising or falling interest rates. There is no guarantee that the futures and interest rate swap positions will achieve the targeted reduction in the interest rate risk of the long positions in investment-grade bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, investors may be better off in a long–only investment-grade investment than with an investment in the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor in risk-averse, flight-to-quality environments when it is common for investment-grade bonds to decline in value. Furthermore, the Fund may be more volatile than a long-only investment in investment-grade bonds. The Fund may contain a significant allocation to callable investment-grade bonds, which are subject to call risk and prepayment risk (see Call Risk and Prepayment Risk); callable bonds may have lower sensitivity to interest rate declines than non-callable bonds or U.S. Treasury futures. In certain falling interest rate

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environments, this could result in disproportionately larger losses in the futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long investment-grade bond position attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into futures and interest rate swap positions. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences, as noted in the Taxes section of the Prospectus.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.**

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund or the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its**

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portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds. Hedges entered into by the Fund may not be effective to hedge interest rate risk and, in this case, the income of the Fund may fall because both the securities of the Fund drop in value and the value of the futures and swaps held by the Fund decline.

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.**

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market value, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such

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portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund or Underlying Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments to decline**

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significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps consist of an exchange between counterparties of their rights to receive interest payments based on a reference interest rate and typically involve the payment by one counterparty of a fixed rate in respect of a defined notional amount in exchange for receipt of a floating rate on the same notional amount, each having the same payment dates and payable in the same currency. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. The Fund's use of interest rate swaps requires it to post collateral, which may restrict the Fund's ability to otherwise invest such collateral and involves additional costs to the Fund. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due**

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to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

**Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund may invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance may be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund. For example, the Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Fund.**

An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Fund, as well as taxable gains from transactions by the Fund in shares of the Underlying Fund.

As the Fund's allocation to the Underlying Fund changes from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its**

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shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund and the Underlying Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.**

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange*

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where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders. If the Fund purchases shares of the Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to its NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to its NAV, the Fund may incur losses.*

Secondary market trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

*Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund each trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the respective Fund's and the Underlying Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of each of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING***

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**FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund or Underlying Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.**

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the**

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payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.

**Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the applicable Underlying Index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, the applicable Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. The Fund may also be exposed to passive investment risk through its investment in the Underlying Fund.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund or the Underlying Fund to regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement**

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expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or the Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may**

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adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the IRS. Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund and the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security, instrument or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the**

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Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies either directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Communication Services Sector Risk. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.**

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The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

**Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclical industry depend heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

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**Energy Sector Risk. The success of companies inthe energy sector may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by companies in the energy sector may decline for the following reasons, among others: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions; war or other geopolitical conflicts; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Companies in this sector may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of these companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of companies in this sector. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, cyber incident, political strife or natural disasters. Any such event could have serious consequences for the general population of the affected area and could have an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio and the performance of the Fund. Energy companies can be significantly affected by the supply of, and demand for, specific products (*e.g.*, oil and natural gas) and services, exploration and production spending, government subsidization, world events and general economic conditions. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than other companies to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in energy markets or in the global economy.**

In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contracts (those with the nearest expiration date) falling below zero for a period of time. Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. In March 2022, the U.S. announced that it would ban imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia. The effect of the U.S. ban and any similar bans by other countries, as well as the extent and duration of the Russian military action, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels,**

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as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

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Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. As part of the phase-out of the use of LIBOR, the rate's administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited ("IBA"), discontinued two USD LIBOR settings immediately after publication on December 31, 2021. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR, and IBA previously announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. While the FCA is requiring the IBA to publish certain LIBOR settings, potentially to include USD settings, on a "synthetic" basis, the "synthetic" methodology is not based on panel bank contributions and is not intended to be representative of the interest rates in the underlying market. The Fund may have investments linked to other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA"), which may also cease to be published. Various financial industry groups continue planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there are challenges to converting certain securities and transactions to a new reference rate, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), which is intended to replace USD LIBOR.**

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For example, at times, SOFR has proven to be more volatile than the 3-month USD LIBOR. Working groups and regulators in other countries have suggested other alternatives for their markets, including the Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate ("SONIA") in England.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. The transition process might lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets for, and reduce the effectiveness of new hedges placed against, instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR. While some existing LIBOR-based instruments may contemplate a scenario where LIBOR is no longer available by providing for an alternative rate-setting methodology, there may be significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of any such alternative methodologies to replicate LIBOR. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Global regulators have advised market participants to cease entering into new contracts using LIBOR as a reference rate, and it is possible that investments in LIBOR-based instruments could invite regulatory scrutiny. In addition, a liquid market for newly issued instruments that use a reference rate other than LIBOR still may be developing. There may also be challenges for the Fund to enter into hedging transactions against such newly issued instruments until a market for such hedging transactions develops. All of the aforementioned may adversely affect the Fund's performance or NAV.

**Technology Sector Risk. Technology companies, including information technology companies, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on a company's profit margins. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and other intellectual property rights. A technology company's loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the company's profitability. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings compared to the performance of the Underlying Index. This**

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may increase the risk of the Fund being underinvested to the Underlying Index and increase the risk of tracking error.

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"). The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies

#### Overview
The Fund allocates and reallocates its assets among direct investments in securities and other instruments and in investments in the Underlying Fund consistent with the allocation and reallocation of securities in the Underlying Index as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund intends to invest a substantial portion of its assets in one underlying fund, the Underlying Fund, and/or direct investment in bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate).

In addition, the Fund may borrow, may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions, and may invest the collateral in certain short-term instruments, either directly or through one or more money market funds, as described in greater detail in the Fund's SAI.

The Fund invests, through the Underlying Fund and/or through direct investment in bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund, in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate securities and debt instruments, which are subject to additional risks, as described in this Prospectus and in the Fund's SAI.

#### The Underlying Fund
The Fund may invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance may be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests. An investment in the

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Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

The Underlying Fund seeks to track the performance of the Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index includes liquid, U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds for sale in the U.S., as determined by the index provider. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid Investment Grade Index is a trademark of and is maintained by Markit Indices Limited ("Markit") and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by BFA or its affiliates. Markit makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding the advisability of investing in the Underlying Fund.

In managing the Underlying Fund, BFA uses a representative sampling index strategy. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to a specified benchmark index. Securities selected for the Underlying Fund are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the applicable underlying index. The Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in its underlying index and may hold certain securities that are not included in its underlying index.

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.30% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.14%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total

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annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in LQD, after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.10% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2014.

Karen Uyehara has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Uyehara was a portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Company (WAMCO). Ms. Uyehara has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

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**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.**

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could

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sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

BlackRock and its Affiliates may benefit from the Fund using a BlackRock index by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock and its Affiliates are not obligated to license indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. The Fund cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock or its Affiliates will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may**

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engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "LQDH."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the

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"Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets, which includes the value of the Underlying Fund shares in which the Fund invests, less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

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The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

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#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

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You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Underlying Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Underlying Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S.") (and 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of the year consists of securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, or, at the close of each quarter, shares of the Underlying Fund), the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

To the extent that the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of such Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information

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regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and

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an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

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Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance for the past five years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

---

| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$96.12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$91.84 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$93.50 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$95.79 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$96.62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(a)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.61 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.23 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.38 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.35 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6.79) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.68 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.69) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.97) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.16) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.91 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.69 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.38 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.00 |
| **Distributions<sup>(c)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;From net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.63) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.35) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.83) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;From net realized gain | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| Total distributions | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.63) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.35) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.83) |
| **Net asset value, end of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$89.66 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$96.12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$91.84 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$93.50 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$95.79 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.37)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.46% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.79% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.63% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.08% |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.30% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.30% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.30% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.30% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.30% |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.83% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.33% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.64% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.59% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.27% |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of year (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$744181 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$716090 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$450004 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$126232 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$215530 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(f)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Index Provider

The Underlying Index was created and is sponsored by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. The Index Provider or one or more of its affiliates has entered into a license agreement with the Fund pursuant to which the Fund uses the Underlying Index at no charge.

The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider will also act as calculation agent for the Underlying Index. The Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent non-public information related to the Underlying Index, such as pending changes to the Underlying Index, from being used or disseminated in an improper manner, including to affiliates of the Fund. The Fund is not entitled to obtain non-public information about the Underlying Index prior to dissemination of such changes. Furthermore, the Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent improper use and dissemination of non-public information about the Fund's portfolio strategies.

The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of the Fund or its shareholders into consideration in establishing and maintaining the Underlying Index. The Index Provider does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or performance of the Underlying Index or the data included therein and shall have no liability in connection with the Underlying Index or Underlying Index calculation.

Disclaimers

**The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC. BlackRock Index Services, LLC makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in funds generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general stock market performance. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is the licensor of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and of the Underlying Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BlackRock Index Services, LLC without regard to the issuer of the Fund or the Fund. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation to take the needs of the issuer of the Fund or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation or liability to owners of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.**

**ALTHOUGH BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC CONSIDERS RELIABLE,**

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**BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, LICENSEE'S CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN IN CONNECTION WITH THE RIGHTS LICENSED HEREUNDER OR FOR ANY OTHER USE. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-LQDH-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946img9b57e8002.gif)

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946imgc74a5c801.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF \| HYGH \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_ea7a77cb-3c62-4cb3-8cd7-6b17dd8743d9_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_20)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_27)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_27)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| [Management](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_28)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_31)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| [Distribution](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_39)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;38 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_40)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;39 |
| [Index Provider](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_41)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_ea95c08d-88af-4b9a-9cc1-f12d5e91943a_41)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> INTEREST RATE HEDGED HIGH YIELD BOND ETF

Ticker: HYGH Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the interest rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF ("HYG" or the "Underlying Fund"), after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | **Acquired Fund Fees<br>and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses<br>After<br>Fee Waiver** |
| 0.65% |  | 0.00% | 0.46% | 1.11% | (0.60)% | 0.51% |

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<sup>1</sup> The amount rounded to 0.00%.

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $52 | $164 | $358 | $1115 |

---

**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 10% of the average value of its portfolio. To the extent the Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond Index (the "Underlying Index"), which is designed to minimize the interest rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds (which are considered below

investment-grade), represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider")). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index includes approximately 12 components, and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 1,222 components. The Fund invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds primarily through its investment in the Underlying Fund. To be included in the Underlying Fund, bonds must have: (i) an original maturity date of less than 15 years; (ii) at least one year to maturity; and (iii) at least one year and 6 months to maturity for new index insertions. The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate). The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure (*i.e.*, sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed

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number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.

The Fund may also invest in other interest rate futures contracts, including but not limited to, U.S. Treasuries, Eurodollar and Federal Funds futures. The Fund's interest rate swap and futures positions are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of high yield corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates.

The CFTC has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such

instruments. Due to the Fund's use or potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration (*i.e.*, a security's price sensitivity to a change in interest rates), maturity or credit ratings and

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yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.

The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that an underlying fund is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.** 

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective.

The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this prospectus (the "Prospectus")) may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.***

***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

#### Call Risk . During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable

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bond held by the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

***Communication Services Sector Risk. Companies in the communications sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals and changing consumer tastes and interests.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.***

***Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. Consumer cyclical companies rely heavily on business cycles and economic conditions. Consumer cyclical companies may be adversely affected by domestic and international economic downturns, changes in exchange and interest rates, competition, consumers' disposable income and preferences, social trends and marketing campaigns.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers,***

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market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

***Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying***

Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of interest rates on the performance of high yield bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury and other futures and interest rate swaps. The Fund's Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of high yield bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates. There is no guarantee that the***

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Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions will completely eliminate the interest rate risk of the long positions in high yield bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, long–only high yield bond investments will perform better than the Fund's investments. In certain falling interest rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long high yield bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions.

***High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (commonly referred to as "junk bonds," which may include those bonds rated below "BBB-" by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, Inc. ("Fitch") or below "Baa3" by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's")), or are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default.***

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market***

conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Fund's index are substituted, or the Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance***

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with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

#### Interest Rate Risk . During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the
Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a***

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timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

***Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.***

As the Fund's allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to **Management Risk**, **Market Risk**, and **Market Trading Risk**, among other risks.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some***

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circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S AND THE UNDERLYING***

#### FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV .
***Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

***Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund will invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Privately issued securities are securities that have not been registered under the 1933 Act and as a result may be subject to legal restrictions on resale. Privately***

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issued securities are generally not traded on established markets. As a result of the absence of a public trading market, privately issued securities may be deemed to be illiquid investments, may be more difficult to value than publicly traded securities and may be subject to wide fluctuations in value. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to the Fund.

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.***

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of***

any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and***

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may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying***

Index does not. **INDEX EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS ("ETFs") THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.***

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#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 and 5 years and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower. Prior to December 1, 2021, the Fund was an actively managed ETF. The performance information below prior to December 1, 2021 is based on the performance of the Fund when it was actively managed by BFA using an investment strategy substantially similar to the methodology of the Underlying Index.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946hygh.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 6.60% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -14.20% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Five Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 5/27/2014)** |  |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-0.98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.99% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.77% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-3.41% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.91% | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.62% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-0.60% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.39% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.13% |
| **Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid High Yield Index (Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;-10.73% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.97% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.74% |
| **BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond Index<sup>2</sup>(Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-2.31% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.91% | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.02% |

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> Effective December 1, 2021, the fund is no longer actively managed and the Fund's new Underlying Index is the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond Index. The inception date of the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond Index is October 29, 2021.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2014 and 2021, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index, which was created and is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial market and seeks to track the performance of an interest rate hedged index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the

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underlying index.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor**

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BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a "commodity pool " and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Communication Services Sector Risk. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.**

The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected

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by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Consumer Cyclical Industry Risk. The success of consumer cyclical companies is tied closely to the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, interest rates, competition, consumer confidence, changes in demographics and preferences. Companies in the consumer cyclical industry depend heavily on**

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disposable household income and consumer spending, and may be strongly affected by social trends and marketing campaigns. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. The Fund's hedging strategy does not seek to mitigate credit risk.**

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, the Underlying Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund, the Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund or the Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs

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may be incurred by the Fund or the Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund and the Underlying Fund have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund or Underlying Fund, issuers in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, the Index Provider, hedging counterparties to the Fund or Underlying Fund, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.**

**Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business**

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operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund or Underlying Fund.

**Hedging Risk. When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.**

The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of rising interest rates on the performance of high yield bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury futures and interest rate swaps. The Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or certain other factors influencing the price of high yield bonds, which may have a greater impact than rising or falling interest rates. There is no guarantee that the futures and interest rate swap positions will achieve the targeted reduction in the interest rate risk of the long positions in high yield bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, investors may be better off in a long–only high yield investment than with an investment in the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor in risk-averse, flight-to-quality environments when it is common for high yield bonds to decline in value. Furthermore, the Fund may be more volatile than a long-only investment in high yield bonds. The Fund may contain a significant allocation to callable high yield bonds, which are subject to call risk and prepayment risk (see Call Risk and Prepayment Risk); callable bonds may have lower sensitivity to interest rate declines than non-callable bonds or U.S. Treasury futures. In certain falling interest rate environments, this could result in disproportionately larger losses in the futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long high yield bond position attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into futures and interest rate swap positions. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences, as noted in the Taxes section of the Prospectus.

**High Yield Securities Risk. Securities that are rated below investment-grade (commonly referred to as "junk bonds," which may include those bonds rated below "BBB-" by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch, or below "Baa3" by Moody's), or are unrated, may be deemed speculative, may involve greater levels of risk than higher-rated securities of similar maturity and may be more likely to default.**

The major risks of high yield securities investments include:

■ High yield securities may be issued by less creditworthy issuers. Issuers of high yield securities may have a larger amount of outstanding debt relative to their assets than issuers of investment-grade bonds. In the event of an issuer's bankruptcy, claims of other creditors may have priority over the claims of high yield securities holders, leaving few or no assets available to repay high yield securities holders.

■ Prices of high yield securities are subject to extreme price fluctuations. Adverse changes in an issuer's industry and general economic conditions may have a greater

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | impact on the prices of high yield securities than on other higher rated fixed-income securities. The credit rating of a high yield security does not necessarily address its market value risk. Ratings and market value may change from time to time, positively or negatively, to reflect new developments regarding the issuer. |
| ■ | Issuers of high yield securities may be unable to meet their interest or principal payment obligations because of an economic downturn, specific issuer developments, or the unavailability of additional financing. |
| ■ | High yield securities frequently have redemption features that permit an issuer to repurchase the security from the Underlying Fund before it matures. If the issuer redeems high yield securities held by the Underlying Fund, the Underlying Fund may have to invest the proceeds in bonds with lower yields and may lose income. |
| ■ | High yield securities may be less liquid than higher rated fixed-income securities, even under normal economic conditions. There are fewer dealers in the high yield securities market, and there may be significant differences in the prices quoted for high yield securities by the dealers. Because high yield securities may be less liquid than higher rated fixed-income securities, judgment may play a greater role in valuing certain of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities than is the case with securities trading in a more liquid market. |
| ■ | The Fund or the Underlying Fund may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms with a defaulting issuer. |

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**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the**

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Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund or the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds. Hedges entered into by the Fund may not be effective to hedge interest rate risk and, in this case, the income of the Fund may fall because both the securities of the Fund drop in value and the value of the futures and swaps held by the Fund decline.**

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.**

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Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market value, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund or Underlying Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

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An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.**

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

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**Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps consist of an exchange between counterparties of their rights to receive interest payments based on a reference interest rate and typically involve the payment by one counterparty of a fixed rate in respect of a defined notional amount in exchange for receipt of a floating rate on the same notional amount, each having the same payment dates and payable in the same currency. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. The Fund's use of interest rate swaps requires it to post collateral, which may restrict the Fund's ability to otherwise invest such collateral and involves additional costs to the Fund. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.**

**Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund. For example, the Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Fund.**

An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Fund, as well as taxable gains from transactions in shares of the Underlying Fund by the Fund.

As the Fund's allocation to the Underlying Fund changes from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to**

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decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.**

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund and the Underlying Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not**

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specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders. If the Fund purchases shares of the Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to its NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to its NAV, the Fund may incur losses.*

Secondary market trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

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Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

*Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund each trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the respective Fund's and the Underlying Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of each of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund or Underlying Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.*

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be*

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regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.

**Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the applicable Underlying Index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, the applicable Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. The Fund may also be exposed to passive investment risk through its investment in the Underlying Fund.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Underlying Fund will invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the 1933 Act. Privately issued securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market or economic conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Underlying Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. At times, it also may be more difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund's NAV due to the absence of an active trading market. There can be no assurance that a privately issued security that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund and the Underlying Fund, and its value may decline as a result.**

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material**

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adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or the Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of**

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taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the IRS. Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund and the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security, instrument or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index. Authorized Participants**

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who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies either directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Capital Goods Industry Risk. Companies in the capital goods group of industries include aerospace and defense, building products, construction and engineering, and other manufacturers of capital intensive products. Companies in the capital goods industry may be affected by fluctuations in the business cycle and by other factors affecting manufacturing demands. The capital goods industry depends heavily on corporate spending. Companies in the capital goods industry may perform well during times of economic expansion, but as economic conditions worsen, the demand for capital goods may decrease. Many capital goods are sold internationally, and companies in this industry may be affected by market conditions in other countries and regions.**

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Consumer Services Industry Risk. The success of firms in the consumer services industry and certain retailers (including food and beverage, general retailers, media, and travel and leisure companies) is tied closely to the performance of the domestic and international economies, interest rates, exchange rates and consumer confidence. The consumer services industry depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Companies in the consumer services industry may be subject to severe competition, which may also have an adverse impact on their profitability. Companies in the consumer services industry are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. Changes in consumer demographics and preferences in the countries in which the issuers of securities held by the Fund the Underlying Fund are located and in the countries to which they export their products may affect the success of consumer products.**

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**Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Energy Sector Risk. The success of companies inthe energy sector may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by companies in the energy sector may decline for the following reasons, among others: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions; war or other geopolitical conflicts; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Companies in this sector may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of these companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of companies in this sector. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, cyber incident, political strife or natural disasters. Any such event could have serious consequences for the general population of the affected area and could have an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio and the performance of the Fund. Energy companies can be significantly affected by the supply of, and demand for, specific products (*e.g.*, oil and natural gas) and services, exploration and production spending, government subsidization, world events and general economic conditions. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than other companies to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in energy markets or in the global economy.**

In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contracts (those with the nearest expiration date) falling below zero for a period of time. Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. In March 2022, the U.S. announced that it would ban imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia. The effect

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of the U.S. ban and any similar bans by other countries, as well as the extent and duration of the Russian military action, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.**

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit

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are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more

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severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. As part of the phase-out of the use of LIBOR, the rate's administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited ("IBA"), discontinued two USD LIBOR settings immediately after publication on December 31, 2021. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR, and IBA previously announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. While the FCA is requiring the IBA to publish certain LIBOR settings, potentially to include USD settings, on a "synthetic" basis, the "synthetic" methodology is not based on panel bank contributions and is not intended to be representative of the interest rates in the underlying market. The Fund may have investments linked to other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA"), which may also cease to be published. Various financial industry groups continue planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there are challenges to converting certain securities and transactions to a new reference rate, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), which is intended to replace USD LIBOR. For example, at times, SOFR has proven to be more volatile than the 3-month USD LIBOR. Working groups and regulators in other countries have suggested other alternatives for their markets, including the Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate ("SONIA") in England.**

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Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. The transition process might lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets for, and reduce the effectiveness of new hedges placed against, instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR. While some existing LIBOR-based instruments may contemplate a scenario where LIBOR is no longer available by providing for an alternative rate-setting methodology, there may be significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of any such alternative methodologies to replicate LIBOR. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Global regulators have advised market participants to cease entering into new contracts using LIBOR as a reference rate, and it is possible that investments in LIBOR-based instruments could invite regulatory scrutiny. In addition, a liquid market for newly issued instruments that use a reference rate other than LIBOR still may be developing. There may also be challenges for the Fund to enter into hedging transactions against such newly issued instruments until a market for such hedging transactions develops. All of the aforementioned may adversely affect the Fund's performance or NAV.

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund or the Underlying Fund to regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas**

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and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.

**Technology Sector Risk. Technology companies, including information technology companies, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on a company's profit margins. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and other intellectual property rights. A technology company's loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the company's profitability. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings compared to the performance of the Underlying Index. This may increase the risk of the Fund being underinvested to the Underlying Index and increase the risk of tracking error.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

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Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"). The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies

#### Overview
The Fund allocates and reallocates its assets among direct investments in securities and other instruments and in investments in the Underlying Fund consistent with the allocation and reallocation of securities in the Underlying Index as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund intends to invest a substantial portion of its assets in one underlying fund, the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate).

In addition, the Fund may borrow, lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions, and may invest the collateral in certain short-term instruments, either directly or through one or more money market funds, as described in greater detail in the Fund's SAI.

The Fund invests, through the Underlying Fund, in U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate securities and debt instruments, which are subject to additional risks, as described in this Prospectus and in the Fund's SAI.

#### The Underlying Fund
The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

The Underlying Fund seeks to track the performance of the Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid High Yield Index. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid High Yield Index includes liquid, U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds for sale in the U.S., as determined by the index provider. The Markit iBoxx<sup>®</sup> USD Liquid High Yield Index is a trademark of and is maintained by Markit Indices Limited ("Markit") and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by BFA or its affiliates. Markit makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding the advisability of investing in the Underlying Fund.

In managing the Underlying Fund, BFA uses a representative sampling index strategy. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to a specified benchmark index. Securities selected for the Underlying Fund are

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expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the applicable underlying index. The Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in its underlying index and may hold certain securities that are not included in its underlying index.

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.65% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.05%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.46%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in HYG, after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of

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such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2014.

Karen Uyehara has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Uyehara was a portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Company (WAMCO). Ms. Uyehara has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or**

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one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

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Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

BlackRock and its Affiliates may benefit from the Fund using a BlackRock index by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock and its Affiliates are not obligated to license indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. The Fund cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock or its Affiliates will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "HYGH."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the

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bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the

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Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets, which includes the value of the Underlying Fund shares in which the Fund invests, less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt

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obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

*Dividend Reinvestment Service. No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the Trust. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment*

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Service for use by beneficial owners of the Fund for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their broker to determine the availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the Fund purchased in the secondary market.

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Underlying Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding and other taxes

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imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Underlying Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S.") (and 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of the year consists of securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, or, at the close of each quarter, shares of the Underlying Fund), the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of such Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the

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name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

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The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

**Householding. Householding is an option available to certain Fund investors. Householding is a method of delivery, based on the preference of the individual investor, in which a single copy of certain shareholder documents can be delivered to investors who share the same address, even if their accounts are registered under**

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different names. Please contact your broker-dealer if you are interested in enrolling in householding and receiving a single copy of prospectuses and other shareholder documents, or if you are currently enrolled in householding and wish to change your householding status.

Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance for the past five years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$87.69 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$83.10 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$87.86 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$90.47 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$91.78 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(a)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.50 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.81 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.31 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.51 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.98 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.92) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.53) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.92) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.46) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.42) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.96 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.22) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.59 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.52 |
| **Distributions<sup>(c)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;From net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.51) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.83) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Return of capital | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.03) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.02) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| Total distributions | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3.54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5.20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4.83) |
| **Net asset value, end of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$82.91 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$87.69 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$83.10 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$87.86 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$90.47 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.43)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9.70% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.32)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.00% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.93% |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.65% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.65% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.65% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.65% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.65% |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.32% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4.37% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.12% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.22% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.46% |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of year (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$111928 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$135920 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$62325 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$114212 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$416178 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(f)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0%<sup>(g)</sup> |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(g)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(g)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(g)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(g)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. | <sup>(g)</sup> Rounds to less than 1%. |

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Index Provider

The Underlying Index was created and is sponsored by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. The Index Provider or one or more of its affiliates has entered into a license agreement with the Fund pursuant to which the Fund uses the Underlying Index at no charge.

The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider will also act as calculation agent for the Underlying Index. The Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent non-public information related to the Underlying Index, such as pending changes to the Underlying Index, from being used or disseminated in an improper manner, including to affiliates of the Fund. The Fund is not entitled to obtain non-public information about the Underlying Index prior to dissemination of such changes. Furthermore, the Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent improper use and dissemination of non-public information about the Fund's portfolio strategies.

The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of the Fund or its shareholders into consideration in establishing and maintaining the Underlying Index. The Index Provider does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or performance of the Underlying Index or the data included therein and shall have no liability in connection with the Underlying Index or Underlying Index calculation.

Disclaimers

**The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC. BlackRock Index Services, LLC makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in funds generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general stock market performance. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is the licensor of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and of the Underlying Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BlackRock Index Services, LLC without regard to the issuer of the Fund or the Fund. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation to take the needs of the issuer of the Fund or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation or liability to owners of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.**

**ALTHOUGH BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC CONSIDERS RELIABLE,**

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**BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, LICENSEE'S CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN IN CONNECTION WITH THE RIGHTS LICENSED HEREUNDER OR FOR ANY OTHER USE. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-HYGH-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946img537c9d5b2.gif)

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| ![](g371946img58b3be701.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF \| IGBH \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_c0929443-df3f-4d1d-9e78-f5a734d30bbd_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_21)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_30)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_30)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| [Management](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_31)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_34)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Distribution](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_42)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;42 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_43)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;43 |
| [Index Provider](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_44)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_cbbd2178-3378-48bd-a0b0-40dc3f3f899e_44)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> INTEREST RATE HEDGED LONG-TERM CORPORATE BOND ETF

Ticker: IGBH Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the interest rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade corporate bonds with remaining maturities greater than ten years.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF ("IGLB" or the "Underlying Fund"), after taking into account any fee waivers by IGLB, plus 0.10% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)<sup>1</sup>** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)<sup>1</sup>** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)<sup>1</sup>** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)<sup>1</sup>** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)<sup>1</sup>** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)<sup>1</sup>** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br>(ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br>percentage of the value of your investments)<sup>1</sup>** |
| **Management<br>Fees** | **Distribution and<br>Service (12b-1)<br>Fees** | **Other<br>Expenses <sup>2</sup>** | **Acquired Fund Fees<br>and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br>Fund<br>Operating<br>Expenses<br>After<br>Fee Waiver** |
| 0.35% |  | 0.00% | 0.04% | 0.39% | (0.25)% | 0.14% |

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<sup>1</sup> The expense information in the table has been restated to reflect current fees.

<sup>2</sup> The amount rounded to 0.00%.

**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** | **5 Years** | **10 Years** |
| $14 | $45 | $110 | $387 |

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Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund's performance. During the most recent fiscal year, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 42% of the average value of its portfolio. To the extent the Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond Index (the "Underlying Index"), which is designed to minimize the interest rate exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds with remaining maturities greater than ten years, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider")). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index includes approximately 12 components (including the Underlying Fund), and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 3,418 components. The

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Fund invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds primarily through its investment in the Underlying Fund and/or through direct investment in bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund. The bonds in which the Underlying Fund invests generally have at least ten years until maturity at the time of investment. Under normal circumstances, the Fund and the Underlying Fund seek to maintain a weighted average maturity that is greater than ten years. Weighted average maturity is a U.S. dollar-weighted average of the remaining term to maturity of the securities in the Underlying Fund's portfolio.

The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate). The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure (*i.e.*, sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any

borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index and/or bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.

The Fund may also invest in other interest rate futures contracts, including but not limited to, U.S. Treasuries, Eurodollar and Federal Funds futures. The Fund's interest rate swap and futures positions are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of investment-grade corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates.

The CFTC has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's use or potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does

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not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration (*i.e.*, a security's price sensitivity to a change in interest rates), maturity or credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.

The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of any collateral received).

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person

of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that an underlying fund is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.** 

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

#### Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption

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transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.,* on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened for exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that have lower trading volumes.

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain***

swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.***

***Consumer Staples Sector Risk. The consumer staples sector may be affected by, among other things, marketing campaigns, changes in consumer demands, government regulations and changes in commodity prices.***

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions,***

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negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

***Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make***

derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

***Financials Sector Risk. Performance of companies in the financials sector may be adversely impacted by many factors, including, among others, changes in government regulations, economic conditions, and interest rates, credit rating downgrades, and decreased liquidity in credit markets. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages***

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in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. The impact of changes in capital requirements and recent or future regulation of any individual financial company, or of the financials sector as a whole, cannot be predicted. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent and have caused significant losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of interest rates on the performance of investment-grade corporate bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury and other futures and interest rate swaps. The Fund's Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of investment-grade corporate bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates. There is no guarantee that the Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions will completely eliminate the interest rate risk of the long positions in investment-grade corporate bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, long–***

only investment-grade bond investments will perform better than the Fund's investments. In certain falling interest rate environments, the Fund's

hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long investment-grade corporate bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions.

***Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to***

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the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Fund's index are substituted, or the Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.***

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

***Interest Rate Risk. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or***

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the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference***

benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

***Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund may invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance may be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.***

As the Fund's allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to **Management Risk**, **Market Risk**, and **Market Trading Risk**, among other risks.

***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.***

#### Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized

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Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.***

#### Market Risk . The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over
short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV.

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S AND THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers carry different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, regulatory and economic differences, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service***

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providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

***Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in Russian securities involves significant risks, including legal, regulatory, currency and economic risks that are specific to Russia. In addition, investing in Russian securities involves risks associated with the settlement of portfolio transactions and loss of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's ownership rights in its portfolio securities as a result of the system of share registration and custody in Russia. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals and Russian corporate and banking entities. A number of jurisdictions may also institute broader sanctions on Russia. Recently, Russia has issued a number of countersanctions, some of***

which restrict the distribution of profits by limited liability companies (*e.g.*, dividends), and prohibit Russian persons from entering into transactions with designated persons from "unfriendly states" as well as the export of raw materials or other products from Russia to certain sanctioned persons. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies, or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian companies in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally. Russian companies may be unable to pay dividends and, if they pay dividends, the Fund or Underlying Fund may be unable to receive them. As a result of sanctions, the Fund is currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in its portfolio, while the Underlying Index has

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removed Russian securities. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or the Fund's ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.

***Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. The ability of foreign investors (such as the Fund or Underlying Fund) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. The economy of Saudi Arabia is dominated by petroleum exports. A sustained decrease in petroleum prices could have a negative impact on all aspects of the economy. Investments in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries that may negatively affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments. Such heightened risks may include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. There remains the possibility that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia, and there is no assurance of political stability in Saudi Arabia.***

***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities***

to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.***

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.***

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather***

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than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing***

differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. **BFA EXPECTS THAT THE FUND WILL EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN IS TYPICAL FOR SIMILAR INDEX ETFs.**

***Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the***

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Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would

have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
The bar chart and table that follow show how the Fund has performed on a calendar year basis and provide some indication of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing how the Fund's average annual returns for 1 and 5 years and since inception compare with those of the Underlying Index and of a relevant broad-based securities index. The performance information in the chart and table assumes that all dividends and distributions have been reinvested in the Fund. Past performance (before and after taxes) does not necessarily indicate how the Fund will perform in the future. If BFA had not waived certain Fund fees during certain periods, the Fund's returns would have been lower. Prior to December 1, 2021, the Fund was an actively managed ETF. The performance information below prior to December 1, 2021 is based on the performance of the Fund when it was actively managed by BFA using an investment strategy substantially similar to the methodology of the Underlying Index.

#### Year by Year Returns (Years Ended December 31)
![](g371946igbh.jpg)

The best calendar quarter return during the periods shown above was 9.31% in the 2nd quarter of 2020; the worst was -17.23% in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Updated performance information, including the Fund's current NAV, may be obtained by visiting our website at www.iShares.com or by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) (toll free).

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#### Average Annual Total Returns

#### (for the periods ended December 31, 2022)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**One Year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Five Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Since Fund<br>Inception** |
| **(Inception Date: 7/22/2015)** |  |  |  |
| Return Before Taxes<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-2.98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.18% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.40% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-4.48% | &nbsp;&nbsp;-0.26% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.02% |
| Return After Taxes on Distributions and Sale of Fund Shares<sup>1</sup><br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-1.78% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.32% | &nbsp;&nbsp;1.26% |
| **ICE BofA 10+ Year US Corporate Index<sup>2</sup>(Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;-25.32% | &nbsp;&nbsp;-0.92% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.20% |
| **BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond Index<sup>3</sup>(Index returns do not reflect deductions for fees, expenses, or taxes)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-3.85% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.54% | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.25% |

---

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<sup>1</sup> After-tax returns in the table above are calculated using the historical highest individual U.S. federal marginal income tax rates and do not reflect the impact of state or local taxes. Actual after-tax returns depend on an investor's tax situation and may differ from those shown, and after-tax returns shown are not relevant to tax-exempt investors or investors who hold shares through tax-deferred arrangements, such as 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts ("IRAs"). Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares are calculated assuming that an investor has sufficient capital gains of the same character from other investments to offset any capital losses from the sale of Fund shares. As a result, Fund returns after taxes on distributions and sales of Fund shares may exceed Fund returns before taxes and/or returns after taxes on distributions.

<sup>2</sup> Index returns reflect the performance of the 4pm pricing variant of the ICE BofA 10+ Year US Corporate Index.

<sup>3</sup> Effective December 1, 2021, the fund is no longer actively managed and the Fund's new Underlying Index is the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond Index. The inception date of the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond Index is October 29, 2021.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2015 and 2021, respectively.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an IRA, in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index, which was created and is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial market and seeks to track the performance of an interest rate hedged index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the

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underlying index.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields,**

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which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Consumer Staples Sector Risk. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be affected by the regulation of various product components and production methods, marketing campaigns and changes in the global economy, consumer spending and consumer demand. Tobacco and tobacco-related companies, in particular, may be adversely affected by new laws, regulations and litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced by unpredictable factors. These companies may be subject to severe competition, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's**

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income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. The Fund's hedging strategy does not seek to mitigate credit risk.

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, the Underlying Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund, the Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund or the Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund or the Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund and the Underlying Fund have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund or Underlying Fund, issuers in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, the Index Provider, hedging counterparties to the Fund or Underlying Fund, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the**

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characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues, systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's

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or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund.

**Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund or Underlying Fund.**

**Hedging Risk. When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.**

The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of rising interest rates on the performance of investment-grade bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury futures and interest rate swaps. The Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or certain other factors influencing the price of investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than rising or falling interest rates. There is no guarantee that the futures and interest rate swap positions will achieve the targeted reduction in the interest rate risk of the long positions in investment-grade corporate bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, investors may be better off in a long–only investment-grade investment than with an investment in the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor in risk-averse, flight-to-quality environments when it is common for investment-grade bonds to decline in value. Furthermore, the Fund may be more volatile than a long-only investment in investment-grade bonds. The Fund may contain a significant allocation to callable investment-grade bonds, which are subject to call risk and prepayment risk (see Call Risk and Prepayment Risk); callable bonds may have lower sensitivity to interest rate declines than non-callable bonds or U.S. Treasury futures. In certain falling

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interest rate environments, this could result in disproportionately larger losses in the futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long investment-grade bond position attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into futures and interest rate swap positions. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences, as noted in the Taxes section of the Prospectus.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.**

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund or the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its**

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portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds. Hedges entered into by the Fund may not be effective to hedge interest rate risk and, in this case, the income of the Fund may fall because both the securities of the Fund drop in value and the value of the futures and swaps held by the Fund decline.

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. In addition, there may be heightened risks associated with the adequacy and reliability of the information the Index Provider uses given the Fund's exposure to emerging markets, as certain emerging markets may have less information available or less regulatory oversight. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.**

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance due to changes in market value, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index

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constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund or Underlying Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a**

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one year duration. To the extent the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps consist of an exchange between counterparties of their rights to receive interest payments based on a reference interest rate and typically involve the payment by one counterparty of a fixed rate in respect of a defined notional amount in exchange for receipt of a floating rate on the same notional amount, each having the same payment dates and payable in the same currency. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. The Fund's use of interest rate swaps requires it to post collateral, which may restrict the Fund's ability to**

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otherwise invest such collateral and involves additional costs to the Fund. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

**Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund may invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance may be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund. For example, the Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Fund.**

An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Fund, as well as taxable gains from transactions by the Fund in shares of the Underlying Fund.

As the Fund's allocation to the Underlying Fund changes from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may**

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negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund and the Underlying Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities with longer-term maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.**

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#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders. If the Fund purchases shares of the Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to its NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to its NAV, the Fund may incur losses.*

Secondary market trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

*Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund each trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above or below the respective Fund's and the Underlying Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and*

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fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of each of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund or Underlying Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries,**

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uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.

**Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the applicable Underlying Index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, the applicable Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. The Fund may also be exposed to passive investment risk through its investment in the Underlying Fund.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in Russian securities involves significant risks, in addition to those described under "Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets" and "Non-U.S. Issuers Risk," that are not typically associated with investing in U.S. securities, including:**

■ The risk of delays in settling portfolio transactions and the risk of loss arising out of the system of share registration and custody used in Russia;

■ Risks in connection with the maintenance of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio securities and cash with foreign sub-custodians and securities depositories, including the risk that appropriate sub-custody arrangements will not be available to the Fund or the Underlying Fund;

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■ The risk that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ownership rights in portfolio securities could be lost through fraud or negligence because ownership in shares of Russian companies is recorded by the companies themselves and by registrars, rather than by a central registration system;

■ The risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may not be able to pursue claims on behalf of its shareholders because of the system of share registration and custody, and because Russian banking institutions and registrars are not guaranteed by the Russian government; and

■ The risk that various responses by other nation-states to alleged Russian cyber activity will impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests.

*Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

*Russia Sanctions. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries (collectively, the "Sanctioning Bodies") have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals, including politicians, and Russian corporate and banking entities, including banning Russia from global payments systems that facilitate cross-border payments. The Sanctioning Bodies, or others, could also institute broader sanctions on Russia. These sanctions, or even the threat of further sanctions, may result in the decline of the value and liquidity of Russian securities, a weakening of the ruble or other adverse consequences to the Russian economy. These sanctions could also result in the immediate freeze of Russian securities and/or funds invested in prohibited assets, impairing the ability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities and/or assets.*

The sanctions against certain Russian issuers include prohibitions on transacting in or dealing in issuances of debt or equity of such issuers. Compliance with each of these sanctions has and may continue to impair the ability of the Fund or the Underlying Fund to buy, sell, hold, receive or deliver the affected securities or other securities of such issuers. If it becomes impracticable or unlawful for the Fund or the Underlying Fund to hold securities subject to, or otherwise affected by, sanctions (collectively, "affected securities"), or if deemed appropriate by BFA, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may prohibit in-kind deposits of the affected securities in connection with creation transactions and instead require a cash deposit, which may also increase the

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Underlying Fund's transaction costs. The Fund may also be legally required to freeze assets in a blocked account.

Sanctions have resulted in Russia taking counter measures or retaliatory actions, which has impaired the value and liquidity of Russian securities. These retaliatory measures include the immediate freeze of Russian assets held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Due to the freeze of these assets, including depositary receipts, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may need to liquidate non-restricted assets in order to satisfy any Fund redemption orders. The liquidation of Fund assets during this time may also result in the Fund or the Underlying Fund receiving substantially lower prices for its securities. Russia may implement additional retaliatory measures, which may further impair the value and liquidity of Russian securities and the ability of the Fund or the Underlying Fund to receive dividend payments. Recently, Russia has issued a number of countersanctions, some of which restrict the distribution of profits by limited liability companies (*e.g.*, dividends), and prohibits Russian persons from entering into transactions with designated persons from "unfriendly states" as well as the export of raw materials or other products from Russia to certain sanctioned persons. Russian companies may be unable to pay dividends and, if they pay dividends, the Fund may be unable to receive them.

These sanctions, the decision by Russia to suspend trading on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and prohibit non-resident investors from executing security sales, and other events have led to changes in the Underlying Index of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's Index Provider has removed Russian securities from the Underlying Index. To the extent that the Fund or the Underlying Fund rebalances its portfolio and trades in non-Russian securities to seek to track the investment results of the Underlying Index, this may result in transaction costs and increased tracking error. The Underlying Fund is currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in its portfolio, while the Underlying Index has removed Russian securities. This disparity will also lead to increased tracking error. The inability of the Fund to trade in Russian securities may adversely affect the Fund's ability to meet its investment objective. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or the Fund's ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.

Also, if an affected security is included in the Underlying Fund's Underlying Index, the Fund may, where practicable, seek to eliminate its holdings of the affected security by employing or augmenting its representative sampling strategy to seek to track the investment results of its Underlying Index. The use of (or increased use of) a representative sampling strategy may increase the Fund's tracking error risk. If the affected securities constitute a significant percentage of the Underlying Fund's Underlying Index, the Fund may not be able to effectively implement a representative sampling strategy, which may result in significant tracking error between the Fund's performance and the performance of its Underlying Index.

**Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. The ability of foreign investors (such as the Fund and Underlying Fund) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. In addition, the Saudi Arabian government places investment limitations on**

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the ownership of Saudi Arabian issuers by foreign investors, including a limitation on the Fund's and Underlying Fund's ownership of any single issuer listed on the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange, which may prevent the Fund and Underlying Fund from investing in accordance with its strategy and contribute to tracking error against the Underlying Index. Saudi Arabia is highly reliant on income from the sale of petroleum and trade with other countries involved in the sale of petroleum, and its economy is therefore vulnerable to changes in foreign currency values and the market for petroleum. As global demand for petroleum fluctuates, Saudi Arabia may be significantly impacted. Like most Middle Eastern governments, the government of Saudi Arabia exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. Although liberalization in the wider economy is underway, in many areas it has lagged significantly: restrictions on foreign ownership persist, and the government has an ownership stake in many key industries. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Saudi Arabia is governed by an absolute monarchy. Saudi Arabia has historically experienced strained relations with economic partners worldwide, including other countries in the Middle East due to geopolitical events. Governmental actions in the future could have a significant effect on economic conditions in Saudi Arabia, which could affect private sector companies and the Fund and Underlying Fund, as well as the value of securities in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio. Any economic sanctions on Saudi Arabian individuals or Saudi Arabian corporate entities, or even the threat of sanctions, may result in the decline of the value and liquidity of Saudi Arabian securities, a weakening of the Saudi riyal or other adverse consequences to the Saudi Arabian economy. In addition, Saudi Arabia's economy relies heavily on cheap, foreign labor, and changes in the availability of this labor supply could have an adverse effect on the economy.

Investments in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in more developed countries that may negatively affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments. Such heightened risks may include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. Although the political situation in Saudi Arabia is largely stable, Saudi Arabia has historically experienced political instability, and there remains the possibility that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia. Political instability in the larger Middle East region has caused significant disruptions to many industries. Continued political and social unrest in these areas may negatively affect the value of securities in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio.

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to**

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maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*, the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.**

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or the Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the IRS. Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as**

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"wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. BFA EXPECTS THAT THE FUND WILL EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN IS TYPICAL FOR SIMILAR INDEX ETFs.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund and the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security, instrument or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.**

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A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies either directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Communication Services Sector Risk. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.**

The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in

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the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

**Custody Risk. Custody risk refers to the risks inherent in the process of clearing and settling trades, as well as the holding of securities by local banks, agents and depositories. Low trading volumes and volatile prices in less developed markets may make trades harder to complete and settle, and governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that may not be subject to independent evaluation. Local agents are held only to the standards of care of their local markets. In general, the less developed a country's securities markets are, the higher the degree of custody risk.**

**Energy Sector Risk. The success of companies inthe energy sector may be cyclical and highly dependent on energy prices. The market value of securities issued by companies in the energy sector may decline for the following reasons, among others: changes in the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, and capital expenditures on exploration and production of energy sources; exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, and tax treatment; the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions; war or other geopolitical conflicts; and energy conservation efforts, increased competition and technological advances. Companies in this sector may be subject to substantial government regulation and contractual fixed pricing, which may increase the cost of doing business and limit the earnings of these companies. A significant portion of the revenues of these companies may depend on a relatively small number of customers, including governmental entities and utilities. As a**

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result, governmental budget constraints may have a material adverse effect on the stock prices of companies in this sector. Energy companies may also operate in, or engage in transactions involving, countries with less developed regulatory regimes or a history of expropriation, nationalization or other adverse policies. Energy companies also face a significant risk of liability from accidents resulting in injury or loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental problems, equipment malfunctions or mishandling of materials and a risk of loss from terrorism, cyber incident, political strife or natural disasters. Any such event could have serious consequences for the general population of the affected area and could have an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio and the performance of the Fund. Energy companies can be significantly affected by the supply of, and demand for, specific products (*e.g.*, oil and natural gas) and services, exploration and production spending, government subsidization, world events and general economic conditions. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than other companies to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in energy markets or in the global economy.

In the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets resulted in the market price of the front month WTI crude oil futures contracts (those with the nearest expiration date) falling below zero for a period of time. Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. In March 2022, the U.S. announced that it would ban imports of oil, natural gas and coal from Russia. The effect of the U.S. ban and any similar bans by other countries, as well as the extent and duration of the Russian military action, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of the Fund.

**European Economic Risk. The Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") of the European Union (the "EU") requires compliance by member states that are members of the eurozone with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates and debt levels, as well as fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe, including those countries that are not members of the eurozone. Additionally, European countries outside of the eurozone may present economic risks that are independent of the indirect effects that eurozone policies have on them. In particular, the United Kingdom's (the "U.K.") economy may be affected by global economic, industrial and financial shifts. Changes in imports or exports, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro (the common currency of eurozone countries), the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. The European financial markets have historically experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns**

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or government debt levels in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. These events have affected and may in the future adversely affect the exchange rate of the euro and may significantly affect European countries.

Responses to financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest, may limit future growth and economic recovery or may have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The U.K. left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. The U.K. and EU reached an agreement on the terms of their future trading relationship effective January 1, 2021, which principally relates to the trading of goods rather than services, including financial services. Further discussions are to be held between the U.K. and the EU in relation to matters not covered by the trade agreement, such as financial services. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face risks associated with the potential uncertainty and consequences that may follow Brexit, including with respect to volatility in exchange rates and interest rates. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets. Brexit has also led to legal uncertainty and could lead to politically divergent national laws and regulations as a new relationship between the U.K. and EU is defined and the U.K. determines which EU laws to replace or replicate. Any of these effects could adversely affect any of the companies to which the Fund has exposure and any other assets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests. The political, economic and legal consequences of Brexit are not yet fully known. In the short term, financial markets may experience heightened volatility, particularly those in the U.K. and Europe, but possibly worldwide. The U.K. and Europe may be less stable than they have been in recent years, and investments in the U.K. and the EU may be difficult to value or subject to greater or more frequent volatility. In the longer term, there is likely to be a period of significant political, regulatory and commercial uncertainty as the U.K. continues to negotiate the terms of its future trading relationships.

Secessionist movements, such as the Catalan movement in Spain and the independence movement in Scotland, as well as governmental or other responses to such movements, may also create instability and uncertainty in the region. In addition, the national politics of countries in the EU have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies. The governments of EU countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region could also impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.

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*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors globally.*

**Healthcare Sector Risk. The profitability of companies in the healthcare sector may be adversely affected by the following factors, among others: extensive government regulations, restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient services, changes in the demand for medical products and services, a limited number of products, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. Many healthcare companies are heavily dependent on patent protection. The expiration of a company's patents may adversely affect that company's profitability. Many healthcare companies are subject to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims. Healthcare companies are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices and, in fact, may result in price discounting. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allows for the negotiation of prescription drug prices on behalf of Medicare recipients, which may result in reduced prescription prices. This could reduce some healthcare companies' overall profitability. Many new products in the healthcare sector may be subject to regulatory approvals. The process of obtaining such approvals may be long and costly, and such efforts ultimately may be unsuccessful. Companies in the healthcare sector may be thinly capitalized and may be susceptible to product obsolescence. In addition, a number of legislative proposals concerning healthcare have been considered by the U.S. Congress in recent years. It is unclear what proposals will ultimately be enacted, if any, and what effect they may have on companies in the healthcare sector.**

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. As part of the phase-out of the use of LIBOR, the rate's administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited ("IBA"), discontinued two USD LIBOR settings immediately after publication on December 31, 2021. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR, and IBA**

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previously announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. While the FCA is requiring the IBA to publish certain LIBOR settings, potentially to include USD settings, on a "synthetic" basis, the "synthetic" methodology is not based on panel bank contributions and is not intended to be representative of the interest rates in the underlying market. The Fund may have investments linked to other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA"), which may also cease to be published. Various financial industry groups continue planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there are challenges to converting certain securities and transactions to a new reference rate, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), which is intended to replace USD LIBOR. For example, at times, SOFR has proven to be more volatile than the 3-month USD LIBOR. Working groups and regulators in other countries have suggested other alternatives for their markets, including the Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate ("SONIA") in England.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. The transition process might lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets for, and reduce the effectiveness of new hedges placed against, instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR. While some existing LIBOR-based instruments may contemplate a scenario where LIBOR is no longer available by providing for an alternative rate-setting methodology, there may be significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of any such alternative methodologies to replicate LIBOR. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Global regulators have advised market participants to cease entering into new contracts using LIBOR as a reference rate, and it is possible that investments in LIBOR-based instruments could invite regulatory scrutiny. In addition, a liquid market for newly issued instruments that use a reference rate other than LIBOR still may be developing. There may also be challenges for the Fund to enter into hedging transactions against such newly issued instruments until a market for such hedging transactions develops. All of the aforementioned may adversely affect the Fund's performance or NAV.

**Privately Issued Securities Risk. The Underlying Fund will invest in privately issued securities, including those that are normally purchased pursuant to Rule 144A or Regulation S under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Privately issued securities typically may be resold only to qualified institutional buyers, or in a privately negotiated transaction, or to a limited number of purchasers, or in limited quantities after they have been held for a specified period of time and other conditions are met for an exemption from registration. Because there may be relatively few potential purchasers for such securities, especially under adverse market or economic conditions or in the event of adverse changes in the financial condition of the issuer, the Underlying Fund may find it more difficult to sell such securities when it may be advisable to do so or it may be able to sell such securities only at prices lower than if such securities were more widely held and traded. At times, it also may be more difficult to determine the fair value of such securities for purposes of computing the Fund's NAV due to the absence of an active trading market. There can be no assurance that a privately issued security that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will**

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continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund and the Underlying Fund, and its value may decline as a result.

**Privatization Risk. Some countries in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests have privatized, or have begun the process of privatizing, certain entities and industries. Newly privatized companies may face strong competition from government-sponsored competitors that have not been privatized. In some instances, investors in newly privatized entities have suffered losses due to the inability of the newly privatized entities to adjust quickly to a competitive environment or changing regulatory and legal standards or, in some cases, due to re-nationalization of such privatized entities. There is no assurance that similar losses will not recur.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Investment in developed country issuers may subject the Fund or the Underlying Fund to regulatory, political, currency, security, economic and other risks associated with developed countries.Developed countries generally tend to rely on services sectors (*e.g.,* the financial services sector) as the primary means of economic growth. A prolonged slowdown in one or more services sectors is likely to have a negative impact on economies of certain developed countries, although economies of individual developed countries can be impacted by slowdowns in other sectors. In the past, certain developed countries have been targets of terrorism, and some geographic areas in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have experienced strained international relations due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, defense concerns and other security concerns. These situations may cause uncertainty in the financial markets in these countries or geographic areas and may adversely affect the performance of the issuers to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. Heavy regulation of certain markets, including labor and product markets, may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Many developed countries are heavily indebted and face rising healthcare and retirement expenses. In addition, price fluctuations of certain commodities and regulations impacting the import of commodities may negatively affect developed country economies.**

**Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets. Investments in emerging market issuers are subject to a greater risk of loss than investments in issuers located or operating in more developed markets. This is due to, among other things, the potential for greater market volatility, lower trading volume, higher levels of inflation, social, political or economic instability, greater risk of a market shutdown and more governmental limitations on foreign investments in emerging market countries than are typically found in more developed markets.**

Some countries in which the Fund may invest may experience economic instability, including instability resulting from substantial rates of inflation or significant devaluations of their currency, or economic recessions, which would have a negative effect on the economies and securities markets of their economies. Some of these countries may also impose restrictions on the exchange or export of currency or adverse currency exchange rates and may be characterized by a lack of available currency hedging instruments.

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Disparities of wealth, the pace and success of democratization and ethnic, religious and racial disaffection, among other factors, may exacerbate social unrest, violence and labor unrest in some of the countries in which the Fund may invest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses.

Companies in many emerging markets are not subject to the same degree of regulatory requirements, accounting standards or auditor oversight as companies in more developed countries, and as a result, information about the securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests may be less reliable or complete. Moreover, emerging markets often have less reliable securities valuations and greater risks associated with custody of securities than developed markets. There may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against companies and shareholders may have limited legal remedies. The Fund is not actively managed and does not select investments based on investor protection considerations.

In addition, emerging markets often have greater risk of capital controls through such measures as taxes or interest rate control than developed markets. Certain emerging market countries may also lack the infrastructure necessary to attract large amounts of foreign trade and investment. Chronic structural public sector deficits in some countries in which the Fund may invest may adversely impact securities held by the Fund.

Local securities markets in emerging market countries may trade a small number of securities and may be unable to respond effectively to changes in trading volume, potentially making prompt liquidation of holdings difficult or impossible at times. Settlement procedures in emerging market countries are frequently less developed and reliable than those in the U.S. (and other developed countries). In addition, significant delays may occur in certain markets in registering the transfer of securities. Settlement or registration problems may make it more difficult for the Fund to value its portfolio securities and could have an adverse effect on the Fund in seeking to achieve its investment objective.

Investing in emerging market countries involves a higher risk of loss due to expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and on repatriation of capital invested in certain emerging market countries. As a result, investments in certain countries in which the Fund may invest may be subject to loss due to expropriation or nationalization of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and repatriation of capital.

**Technology Sector Risk. Technology companies, including information technology companies, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on a company's profit margins. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face obsolescence due to rapid technological developments, frequent new product introduction, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and other intellectual property**

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rights. A technology company's loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the company's profitability. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors.

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the Fund's portfolio holdings compared to the performance of the Underlying Index. This may increase the risk of the Fund being underinvested to the Underlying Index and increase the risk of tracking error.**

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

**Utilities Sector Risk. Companies in the utilities sector may be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates, domestic and international competition, and governmental limitations on rates charged to consumers. The value of regulated utility debt securities (and, to a lesser extent, equity securities) tends to have an inverse relationship to the movement of interest rates. Deregulation may subject utility companies to greater competition and may adversely affect their profitability. As deregulation allows utility companies to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business, utility companies may engage in riskier ventures. In addition, deregulation may eliminate restrictions on the profits of certain utility companies, but may also subject these companies to greater risk of loss. Companies in the utilities industry may have difficulty obtaining an adequate return on invested capital, raising capital, or financing large construction projects during periods of inflation or unsettled capital markets; face restrictions on operations and increased cost and delays attributable to environmental considerations and regulation; find that existing plants, equipment or products have been rendered obsolete by technological innovations; or be subject to increased costs because of the scarcity of certain fuels or the effects of man-made or natural disasters. Existing and future regulations or legislation may make it difficult for utility companies to operate profitably. Government regulators monitor and control utility revenues and costs, and therefore may limit utility profits. There is**

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no assurance that regulatory authorities will grant rate increases in the future or that such increases will be adequate to permit the payment of coupon payments on bonds issued by a utility company. Energy conservation and changes in climate policy may also have a significant adverse impact on the revenues and expenses of utility companies.

Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"). The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies

#### Overview
The Fund allocates and reallocates its assets among direct investments in securities and other instruments and in investments in the Underlying Fund consistent with the allocation and reallocation of securities in the Underlying Index as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund intends to invest a substantial portion of its assets in one underlying fund, the Underlying Fund, and/or direct investment in bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate).

In addition, the Fund may borrow, may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions, and may invest the collateral in certain short-term instruments, either directly or through one or more money market funds, as described in greater detail in the Fund's SAI.

The Fund invests, through the Underlying Fund and/or through direct investment in bonds included in the underlying index of the Underlying Fund, in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate securities and debt instruments, which are subject to additional risks, as described in this Prospectus and in the Fund's SAI.

#### The Underlying Fund
The Fund may invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance may be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

The Underlying Fund seeks to track the investment results of the ICE BofA 10+ Year US Corporate Index, which measures the performance of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds that have a remaining maturity of greater than or equal to ten years. The ICE BofA 10+ Year US Corporate Index is a trademark of and is maintained by ICE Data Indices, LLC ("ICE Data") and has been licensed for use for

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certain purposes by BFA or its affiliates. ICE Data makes no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, regarding the advisability of investing in the Underlying Fund.

In managing the Underlying Fund, BFA uses a representative sampling index strategy. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to a specified benchmark index. Securities selected for the Underlying Fund are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market capitalization and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of the applicable underlying index. The Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in its underlying index and may hold certain securities that are not included in its underlying index.

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.35% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.06%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in IGLB, after taking into account any fee waivers by IGLB, plus 0.10% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

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BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2015.

Karen Uyehara has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Uyehara was a portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Company (WAMCO). Ms. Uyehara has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2021.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment**

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management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter, adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

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The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

BlackRock and its Affiliates may benefit from the Fund using a BlackRock index by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock and its Affiliates are not obligated to license indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. The Fund cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock or its Affiliates will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "IGBH."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other

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charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and

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conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets, which includes the value of the Underlying Fund shares in which the Fund invests, less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such

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securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

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

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

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Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Underlying Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the Underlying Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S.") (and 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of the year consists of securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, or, at the close of each quarter, shares of the Underlying Fund), the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

To the extent that the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of such Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with

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similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

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The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

**Householding. Householding is an option available to certain Fund investors. Householding is a method of delivery, based on the preference of the individual investor, in which a single copy of certain shareholder documents can be delivered to investors who share the same address, even if their accounts are registered under**

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different names. Please contact your broker-dealer if you are interested in enrolling in householding and receiving a single copy of prospectuses and other shareholder documents, or if you are currently enrolled in householding and wish to change your householding status.

Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance for the past five years. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total returns in the table represent the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout each period)

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF** | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF** |
|  | **Year Ended<br> 10/31/22** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/21** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/20** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/19** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Year Ended<br> 10/31/18** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.33 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$23.48 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.31 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.76 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.98 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(a)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.77 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.68 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.52 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.98 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.01 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized gain (loss)<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2.66) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.66 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.70) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.01) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.32) |
| Net increase (decrease) from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.89) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.34 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.03) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.69 |
| **Distributions<sup>(c)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;From net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.65) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.96) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.91) |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;From net realized gain | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.03) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.45) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Return of capital | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.01) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;— |
| Total distributions | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.87) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.49) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.65) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1.42) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.91) |
| **Net asset value, end of year** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$22.57 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.33 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$23.48 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$24.31 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.76 |
| **Total Return<sup>(d)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(7.59)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10.01% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.69)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.03)% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.66% |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.35% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.35% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.35% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.35% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.35% |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.18% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.69% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.22% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3.86% |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |  |  |  |  |
| Net assets, end of year (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$102710 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$830793 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$557715 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$59558 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$57954 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(f)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;42% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;14% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;18% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(b)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(c)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(d)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(e)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(f)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Index Provider

The Underlying Index was created and is sponsored by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. The Index Provider or one or more of its affiliates has entered into a license agreement with the Fund pursuant to which the Fund uses the Underlying Index at no charge.

The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider will also act as calculation agent for the Underlying Index. The Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent non-public information related to the Underlying Index, such as pending changes to the Underlying Index, from being used or disseminated in an improper manner, including to affiliates of the Fund. The Fund is not entitled to obtain non-public information about the Underlying Index prior to dissemination of such changes. Furthermore, the Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent improper use and dissemination of non-public information about the Fund's portfolio strategies.

The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of the Fund or its shareholders into consideration in establishing and maintaining the Underlying Index. The Index Provider does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or performance of the Underlying Index or the data included therein and shall have no liability in connection with the Underlying Index or Underlying Index calculation.

Disclaimers

**The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC. BlackRock Index Services, LLC makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in funds generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general stock market performance. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is the licensor of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and of the Underlying Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BlackRock Index Services, LLC without regard to the issuer of the Fund or the Fund. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation to take the needs of the issuer of the Fund or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation or liability to owners of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.**

**ALTHOUGH BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC CONSIDERS RELIABLE,**

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**BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, LICENSEE'S CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN IN CONNECTION WITH THE RIGHTS LICENSED HEREUNDER OR FOR ANY OTHER USE. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual and Semi-Annual Reports to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI, Semi-Annual or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free) Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-IGBH-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946imgc6df8c762.gif)

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| ![](g371946ishares2019sm.jpg) | &nbsp;&nbsp;March 1, 2023 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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|:---|:---|
| ![](g371946imgbc5026c71.jpg) | 2023 Prospectus |

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#### iShares U.S. ETF Trust
• iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF \| AGRH \| NYSE ARCA

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") have not approved or disapproved these securities or passed upon the adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

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**Table of Contents**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| [Fund Overview](#xx_6d2c5128-198f-43d4-a9dd-0b655cebbca6_1)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;S-1 |
| [More Information About the Fund](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_2)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Risks](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_3)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| [A Further Discussion of Other Risks](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_18)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_23)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_23)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [Management](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_24)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| [Shareholder Information](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_27)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| [Distribution](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_35)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Financial Highlights](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_36)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| [Index Provider](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_37)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| [Disclaimers](#xx_aed0b0cd-31c5-4dc4-9dbf-acb00272f35f_37)<br>| &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |

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iSHARES<sup>®</sup> INTEREST RATE HEDGED U.S. AGGREGATE BOND ETF

Ticker: AGRH Stock Exchange: NYSE Arca

#### Investment Objective
The iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (the "Fund") seeks to track the investment results of an index designed to mitigate the interest rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds.

#### Fees and Expenses
The following table describes the fees and expenses that you will incur if you buy, hold and sell shares of the Fund. The investment advisory agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust") and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") (the "Investment Advisory Agreement") provides that BFA will pay all operating expenses of the Fund, except: (i) the management fees, (ii) interest expenses, (iii) taxes, (iv) expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, (v) distribution fees or expenses, and (vi) litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses. The Fund may incur "Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses." Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. The impact of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses is included in the total returns of the Fund. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses are not included in the calculation of the ratio of expenses to average net assets shown in the *Financial Highlights* section of the Fund's prospectus (the "Prospectus"). BFA, the investment adviser to the Fund, has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF ("AGG" or the "Underlying Fund"), after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA.

**You may pay other fees, such as brokerage commissions and other fees to financial intermediaries, which are not reflected in the tables and examples below.**

---

| | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** | **Annual Fund Operating Expenses<br> (ongoing expenses that you pay each year as a<br> percentage of the value of your investments)** |
| **Management<br> Fees** | **Distribution and<br> Service (12b-1)<br> Fees** | **Other<br> Expenses** | **Acquired Fund Fees<br> and Expenses** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses** | **Fee Waiver** | **Total Annual<br> Fund<br> Operating<br> Expenses<br> After<br> Fee Waiver** |
| 0.13% |  |  | 0.03% | 0.16% | (0.03)% | 0.13% |

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**Example. This Example is intended to help you compare the cost of owning shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other funds. The Example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then sell all of your shares at the end of those periods. The Example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund's operating expenses remain the same. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions, your costs would be:**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **1 Year** | **3 Years** |
| $13 | $42 |

---

**Portfolio Turnover. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may pay transaction costs, such as commissions, when it buys and sells securities (or "turns over" its portfolio). A higher portfolio turnover rate for the Fund or the Underlying Fund may indicate higher transaction costs and may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to incur increased expenses. These costs, which are not reflected in the Annual Fund Operating Expenses or in the Example (except costs to the Underlying Fund included as part of Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses), affect the Fund's performance. From inception (June 22, 2022) to the most recent fiscal year end, the Fund's portfolio turnover rate was 14% of the average value of its portfolio. To the extent the Underlying Fund incurs costs from high portfolio turnover, such costs may have a negative effect on the performance of the Fund.**

#### Principal Investment Strategies
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index (the "Underlying Index"), which is designed to minimize the interest rate risk exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-

grade bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider")). As of October 31, 2022, the Underlying Index includes approximately 12 components, and the Underlying Fund includes approximately 9,268 components. The Fund invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds primarily through its investment in the Underlying Fund. To be included in the Underlying Fund, securities must have $300 million or more of outstanding face value and must have at least one year remaining to maturity, with the exception of amortizing securities such as mortgage-backed securities ("MBS") and asset-backed securities ("ABS"), which have lower thresholds as defined by the Underlying Fund's index provider. The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e*., contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate). The different maturities and weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's

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duration exposure (*i.e*., sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index. Cash and cash equivalent investments associated with a derivative position will be treated as part of that position for the purposes of calculating the percentage of investments included in the Underlying Index. The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index before fees and expenses of the Fund.

The Fund may also invest in other interest rate futures contracts, including but not limited to, U.S. Treasuries, Eurodollar and Federal Funds futures. The Fund's interest rate swap and futures positions are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates.

The CFTC has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests

more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's use or potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a commodity pool operator ("CPO") with respect to the Fund under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

BFA uses a "passive" or indexing approach to try to achieve the Fund's investment objective. Unlike many investment companies, the Fund does not try to "beat" the index it tracks and does not seek temporary defensive positions when markets decline or appear overvalued.

Indexing may eliminate the chance that the Fund will substantially outperform the Underlying Index but also may reduce some of the risks of active management, such as poor security selection. Indexing seeks to achieve lower costs and better after-tax performance by aiming to keep portfolio turnover low in comparison to actively managed investment companies.

BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy to manage the Fund and the Underlying Fund. "Representative sampling" is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities and/or other instruments that collectively have an investment profile similar to that of an applicable underlying index. The securities and/or other instruments selected are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and

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industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration (*i.e.*, a security's price sensitivity to a change in interest rates), maturity or credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to those of an applicable underlying index. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments in the applicable Underlying Index.

The Fund may lend securities representing up to one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received).

The Underlying Index is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA, the Fund's investment adviser. The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index.

**Industry Concentration Policy. The Fund will concentrate its investments (*i.e.*, hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to approximately the same extent that the Underlying Index is concentrated. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities) and repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.** 

#### Summary of Principal Risks
As with any investment, you could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund's performance could trail that of other investments. The Fund is subject to certain risks, including the

principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's net asset value per share ("NAV"), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

***Asset Class Risk. Securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to the general financial markets, a particular financial market or other asset classes.***

***Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant (as defined in the Creations and Redemptions section of this Prospectus), a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.***

***Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (i.e., on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step***

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forward to create or redeem, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting.

***Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.***

***Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.***

***Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a commodity pool and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association ("NFA"). The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.***

***Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in***

the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector, market segment or asset class.

***Credit Risk. Debt issuers and other counterparties may be unable or unwilling to make timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor their obligations. Changes in an issuer's credit rating or the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may also adversely affect the value of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment in that issuer. The degree of credit risk depends on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation.***

***Cybersecurity Risk. Failures or breaches of the electronic systems of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor, or other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests have the ability to cause disruptions, negatively impact the Fund's business operations and/or potentially result in financial losses to the Fund and its shareholders. While the Fund has established business continuity plans and risk management systems seeking to address system breaches or failures, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems of the Fund's Index Provider and other service providers, market makers, Authorized Participants, hedging counterparties to the Fund or issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.***

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***Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income and potentially in the value of the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investments.***

***Geographic Risk. A natural disaster could occur in a geographic region in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, which could adversely affect the economy or the business operations of companies in the specific geographic region, causing an adverse impact on the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments in, or which are exposed to, the affected region.***

***Hedging Risk. The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of interest rates on the performance of investment-grade bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury and other futures and interest rate swaps. The Fund's Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or other factors influencing the price of investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than interest rates. There is no guarantee that the Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions will completely eliminate the interest rate risk of the long positions in investment-grade bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, long–only investment-grade bond investments will perform better than the Fund's investments. In certain falling interest rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in the Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long investment-grade bond***

positions attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into Treasury and other futures and interest rate swap positions.

***High Portfolio Turnover Risk. High portfolio turnover (considered by the Fund to mean higher than 100% annually) may result in increased transaction costs to the Fund or an Underlying Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities.***

***Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline when yields fall. This decline can occur because the Underlying Fund may subsequently invest in lower-yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, bonds in the Underlying Fund's index are substituted, or the Underlying Fund otherwise needs to purchase additional bonds.***

***Index-Related Risk. There is no guarantee that the Fund's investment results will have a high degree of correlation to those of the Underlying Index or that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. Market disruptions and regulatory restrictions could have an adverse effect on the Fund's ability to adjust its exposure to the required levels in order to track the Underlying Index. Errors in index data, index computations or the construction of the Underlying Index in accordance with its methodology may occur from***

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time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, which may have an adverse impact on the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider. Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition.

***Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may result in travel restrictions, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, business closures, lower consumer demand, layoffs, ratings downgrades, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts. Markets may experience temporary closures, extreme volatility, severe losses, reduced liquidity and increased trading costs. Such events may adversely affect the Fund and its investments and may impact the Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities or cause elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.***

#### Interest Rate Risk . During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive
returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are low and the market prices for portfolio securities have increased, the Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. An increase in interest rates will generally cause the value of securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund to decline, may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and may adversely affect the liquidity of certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. The historically low interest rate environment in recent years heightens the risks associated with rising interest rates.

***Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally, including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could***

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result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to over-the-counter ("OTC") swaps are not subject to these risks. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

***Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities and instruments in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.***

As the Fund's allocations to the Underlying Fund change from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

Through its investment in the Underlying Fund, the Fund is exposed to

#### Management Risk , Market Risk , and Market Trading Risk , among other risks.
***Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual instruments to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Changes in the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities or counterparty on other instruments may cause the value of the securities or instruments to decline.***

***Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares, or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares could require the Fund to dispose of assets to meet the redemption requests, which can accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or capital gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such year. In some circumstances, the Fund may hold a relatively large proportion of its assets***

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in cash in anticipation of large redemptions, diluting its investment returns. These large redemptions may also force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or have a material effect on the market price of the Fund shares.

***Management Risk. As the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index, it is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.***

***Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV.***

***Market Trading Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund face numerous market trading risks, including the potential lack of an active market for their shares, losses from trading in secondary markets, periods of high volatility and disruptions in the creation/redemption process. ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S AND THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV.***

***Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund's performance may depend on the performance of a small number of issuers and counterparties.***

***Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.***

***Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed, and BFA generally does not attempt to take defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets.***

***Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.***

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***Risk of Investing in the U.S. Certain changes in the U.S. economy, such as when the U.S. economy weakens or when its financial markets decline, may have an adverse effect on the securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure.***

***Risk of Swap Agreements. A swap is a two-party contract that generally obligates each counterparty to exchange periodic payments based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount and to exchange collateral to secure the obligations of each counterparty. Swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk, credit risk and pricing risk. Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses.***

***Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or Underlying Fund.***

***Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. Any resulting***

liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.

***Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS"). Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and***

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may result in distributions to Fund shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

***Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS ("ETFs") THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT***

#### WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.
***U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. The Underlying Fund invests in MBS issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, some of which may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. MBS represent interests in "pools" of mortgages and are subject to interest rate, prepayment, and extension risk. MBS react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds, and the prices of MBS may reflect adverse economic and market conditions. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain MBS. MBS are also subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage loans, particularly during periods of economic downturn. Default or bankruptcy of a counterparty to a to-be-announced ("TBA") transaction would expose the Fund to possible losses.***

***U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics and may provide relatively lower returns than those of other securities. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline.***

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Valuation Risk. The price the Fund or the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. In addition, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem

Fund shares on days when the Fund or the Underlying Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

#### Performance Information
As of the date of this Prospectus, the Fund does not have a full calendar year of performance information to report.

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#### Management

#### Investment Adviser. BlackRock Fund Advisors.
**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara (the "Portfolio Managers") are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. Each Portfolio Manager supervises a portfolio management team. Mr. Mauro and Ms. Uyehara have been Portfolio Managers of the Fund since 2022.**

#### Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares
The Fund is an ETF. Individual shares of the Fund may only be bought and sold in the secondary market through a broker-dealer. Because ETF shares trade at market prices rather than at NAV, shares may trade at a price greater than NAV (a premium) or less than NAV (a discount). An investor may incur costs attributable to the difference between the highest price a buyer is willing to pay to purchase shares of the Fund (bid) and the lowest price a seller is willing to accept for shares of the Fund (ask) when buying or selling shares in the secondary market (the "bid-ask spread").

#### Tax Information
The Fund intends to make distributions that may be taxable to you as ordinary income or capital gains, unless you are investing through a tax-deferred arrangement such as a 401(k) plan or an individual retirement account ("IRA"), in which case, your distributions generally will be taxed when withdrawn.

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

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More Information About the Fund

This Prospectus contains important information about investing in the Fund. Please read this Prospectus carefully before you make any investment decisions. Additional information regarding the Fund is available at www.iShares.com.

BFA is the investment adviser to the Fund. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca"). The market price for a share of the Fund may be different from the Fund's most recent NAV.

ETFs are funds that trade like other publicly-traded securities. The Fund is designed to track an index, which was created and is sponsored by the Index Provider, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. Similar to shares of an index mutual fund, each share of the Fund represents an ownership interest in an underlying portfolio of securities and other instruments intended to track a market index. Unlike shares of a mutual fund, which can be bought and redeemed from the issuing fund by all shareholders at a price based on NAV, shares of the Fund may be purchased or redeemed directly from the Fund at NAV solely by Authorized Participants and only in aggregations of a specified number of shares ("Creation Units"). Also unlike shares of a mutual fund, shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange and trade in the secondary market at market prices that change throughout the day.

The Fund invests in a particular segment of the financial market and seeks to track the performance of an interest rate hedged index that is not representative of the market as a whole. The Fund is designed to be used as part of broader asset allocation strategies. Accordingly, an investment in the Fund should not constitute a complete investment program.

An index is a financial calculation, based on a grouping of financial instruments, and is not an investment product, while the Fund is an actual investment portfolio. The performance of the Fund and the Underlying Index may vary for a number of reasons, including transaction costs, non-U.S. currency valuations, asset valuations, corporate actions (such as mergers and spin-offs), timing variances and differences between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index resulting from the Fund's use of representative sampling or from legal restrictions (such as diversification requirements) that apply to the Fund but not to the Underlying Index. From time to time, the Index Provider may make changes to the methodology or other adjustments to the Underlying Index. Unless otherwise determined by BFA, any such change or adjustment will be reflected in the calculation of the Underlying Index performance on a going-forward basis after the effective date of such change or adjustment. Therefore, the Underlying Index performance shown for periods prior to the effective date of any such change or adjustment will generally not be recalculated or restated to reflect such change or adjustment.

Because the Fund uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, it can be expected to have a larger tracking error than if it used a replication indexing strategy. "Replication" is an indexing strategy in which a fund invests in substantially all of the securities in its underlying index in approximately the same proportions as in the

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underlying index.

An investment in the Fund is not a bank deposit and it is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency, BFA or any of its affiliates.

The Fund's investment objective and the Underlying Index may be changed without shareholder approval.

A Further Discussion of Principal Risks

The Fund is subject to various risks, including the principal risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the Fund's NAV, trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective. The Fund may be exposed to these risks directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. You could lose all or part of your investment in the Fund, and the Fund could underperform other investments. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor. The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com*.

**Asset Class Risk. The securities and other assets in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio may underperform in comparison to other securities or indexes that track other issuers, countries, groups of countries, regions, industries, groups of industries, markets, market segments, asset classes or sectors. Various types of securities may experience cycles of outperformance and underperformance in comparison to the general financial markets depending upon a number of factors including, among other things, inflation, interest rates, productivity, global demand for local products or resources, and regulation and governmental controls. This may cause the Fund to underperform other investment vehicles that invest in different asset classes.**

**Assets Under Management (AUM) Risk. From time to time, an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, or a fund may invest in the Fund and hold its investment for a specific period of time to allow the Fund to achieve size or scale. There can be no assurance that any such entity would not redeem its investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained at such levels, which could negatively impact the Fund.**

**Authorized Participant Concentration Risk. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund, and none of those Authorized Participants is obligated to engage in creation and/or redemption transactions. The Fund has a limited number of institutions that may act as Authorized Participants on an agency basis (*i.e.*, on behalf of other market participants). To the extent that Authorized Participants exit the business or are unable to proceed with creation or redemption orders with respect to the Fund and no other Authorized Participant is able to step forward to create or redeem Creation Units, Fund shares may be more likely to trade at a premium or discount to NAV and possibly face trading halts or delisting. Authorized Participant concentration risk may be heightened because ETFs, such as the Fund, that invest in securities issued by non-U.S. issuers or other securities or instruments that are less widely traded often involve greater**

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settlement and operational issues and capital costs for Authorized Participants, which may limit the availability of Authorized Participants.

**Calculation Methodology Risk. The Index Provider relies on various sources of information to assess the criteria of components of the Underlying Index, including information that may be based on assumptions and estimates. Neither the Fund nor BFA can offer assurances that the Index Provider's calculation methodology or sources of information will provide an accurate assessment of included components.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Underlying Fund may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and the Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Commodity Regulatory Risk. The Fund is deemed a "commodity pool" and BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA. BFA is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC. BFA is also subject to regulation by the NFA. The regulatory requirements governing the use of commodity futures, options on commodity futures, certain swaps or certain other investments could change at any time.**

The CFTC and the U.S. commodities exchanges impose limits referred to as "speculative position limits" on the maximum net long or net short speculative positions that any person may hold or control in any particular futures contracts (or options thereon) traded on U.S. commodities exchanges. CFTC rules impose position limits on certain futures contracts (and options thereon) and physical commodity swaps that are "economically equivalent" to such contracts. As a result of these position limits, the size or duration of positions available to the Fund may be severely limited.

**Concentration Risk. The Fund may be susceptible to an increased risk of loss, including losses due to adverse events that affect the Fund's investments more than the market as a whole, to the extent that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments are concentrated in the securities and/or other assets of a particular issuer or issuers, representing a particular country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, project types, group of project types, sector, market segment or asset class. The Fund may be more adversely affected by the underperformance of those securities and/or other assets, may experience increased price volatility and may be more susceptible to adverse economic, market, political or regulatory occurrences affecting those securities and/or other assets than a fund that does not concentrate its investments.**

**Credit Risk. Credit risk is the risk that the issuer or guarantor of a debt instrument or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or loan of portfolio securities will be unable or unwilling to make its timely interest and/or principal payments when due or otherwise honor its obligations. There are varying degrees of credit risk, depending on an issuer's or counterparty's financial condition and on the terms of an obligation, which may be reflected in the issuer's or counterparty's credit rating. There is the chance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's portfolio holdings**

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will have their credit ratings downgraded or will default (*i.e.,* fail to make scheduled interest or principal payments), or that the market's perception of an issuer's creditworthiness may worsen, potentially reducing the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income level or share price, which may adversely affect the value of the Fund. The Fund's hedging strategy does not seek to mitigate credit risk.

**Cybersecurity Risk. The Fund, the Underlying Fund, Authorized Participants, service providers and the relevant listing exchange are susceptible to operational, information security and related "cyber" risks both directly and through their service providers. Similar types of cybersecurity risks are also present for issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest, which could result in material adverse consequences for such issuers and may cause the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investment in such issuers to lose value. In general, cyber incidents can result from deliberate attacks or unintentional events. Cyber incidents include, but are not limited to, gaining unauthorized access to digital systems (*e.g.*, through "hacking" or malicious software coding) for purposes of misappropriating assets or sensitive information, corrupting data, or causing operational disruption. Cyberattacks may also be carried out in a manner that does not require gaining unauthorized access, such as causing denial-of-service attacks on websites (*i.e.*, efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users). Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing.** 

Cybersecurity failures by, or breaches of, the systems of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's adviser, distributor and other service providers (including, but not limited to, index and benchmark providers, fund accountants, custodians, transfer agents and administrators), market makers, Authorized Participants or the issuers of securities in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invest have the ability to cause disruptions and impact business operations, potentially resulting in: financial losses, interference with the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to calculate its NAV, disclosure of confidential trading information, impediments to trading, submission of erroneous trades or erroneous creation or redemption orders, the inability of the Fund, the Underlying Fund or their service providers to transact business, violations of applicable privacy and other laws, regulatory fines, penalties, reputational damage, reimbursement or other compensation costs, or additional compliance costs. In addition, cyberattacks may render records of Fund assets and transactions, shareholder ownership of Fund shares, and other data integral to the functioning of the Fund or the Underlying Fund inaccessible, inaccurate or incomplete. Substantial costs may be incurred by the Fund or the Underlying Fund in order to resolve or prevent cyber incidents in the future. While the Fund and the Underlying Fund have established business continuity plans in the event of, and risk management systems to prevent, such cyber incidents, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems, including the possibility that certain risks have not been identified, that prevention and remediation efforts will not be successful or that cyberattacks will go undetected. Furthermore, the Fund cannot control the cybersecurity plans and systems put in place by service providers to the Fund or Underlying Fund, issuers in which the Fund or Underlying Fund invests, the Index Provider, hedging counterparties to the Fund or Underlying Fund, market makers or Authorized Participants. The Fund and its

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shareholders could be negatively impacted as a result.

**Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income and potentially in the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments.**

**Geographic Risk. Some of the companies in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests are located in parts of the world that have historically been prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, droughts, floods, hurricanes or tsunamis, and are economically sensitive to environmental events. Any such event may adversely impact the economies of these geographic areas or business operations of companies in these geographic areas, causing an adverse impact on the value of the Fund or Underlying Fund.**

**Hedging Risk. When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.**

The Fund seeks to mitigate the potential impact of rising interest rates on the performance of investment-grade bonds by entering into positions in U.S. Treasury futures and interest rate swaps. The Treasury and other futures positions and interest rate swaps are not intended to mitigate credit risk or certain other factors influencing the price of investment-grade bonds, which may have a greater impact than rising or falling interest rates. There is no guarantee that the futures and interest rate swap positions will achieve the targeted reduction in the interest rate risk of the long positions in investment-grade bonds. In addition, when interest rates fall, investors may be better off in a long–only investment-grade investment than with an investment in the Fund. Performance of the Fund could be particularly poor in risk-averse, flight-to-quality environments when it is common for investment-grade bonds to decline in value. Furthermore, the Fund may be more volatile than a long-only investment in investment-grade bonds. The Fund may contain a significant allocation to callable investment-grade corporate bonds, which are subject to call risk (see Call Risk); callable bonds may have lower sensitivity to interest rate declines than non-callable bonds or U.S. Treasury futures. In certain falling interest rate environments, this could result in disproportionately larger losses in the futures and interest rate swap positions as compared to gains in the long investment-grade bond position attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's futures and interest rate swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into futures and interest rate swap positions. The use of hedging may result in certain adverse tax consequences, as noted in the Taxes section of the Prospectus.

#### High Portfolio Turnover Risk. High portfolio turnover (considered by the Fund to mean higher than 100% annually) may result in increased transaction costs to the

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Fund or Underlying Fund, including brokerage commissions, dealer mark-ups and other transaction costs on the sale of the securities and on reinvestment in other securities. These effects of higher than normal portfolio turnover may adversely affect Fund performance.

**Income Risk. The Fund's income may decline if yields fall because the Fund or the Underlying Fund may hold a significant portion of short duration securities and/or securities that have floating or variable interest rates. The Fund's income may decline because the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests in lower yielding bonds as bonds in its portfolio mature, are near maturity or are called, or when the Fund or the Underlying Fund needs to purchase additional bonds. Hedges entered into by the Fund may not be effective to hedge interest rate risk and, in this case, the income of the Fund may fall because both the securities of the Fund drop in value and the value of the futures and swaps held by the Fund decline.**

**Index-Related Risk. The Fund seeks to achieve a return that corresponds generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Underlying Index as published by the Index Provider. There is no assurance that the Index Provider or any agents that may act on its behalf will compile the Underlying Index accurately, or that the Underlying Index will be determined, composed or calculated accurately. While the Index Provider provides descriptions of what the Underlying Index is designed to achieve, neither the Index Provider nor its agents provide any warranty or accept any liability in relation to the quality, accuracy or completeness of the Underlying Index or its related data, and they do not guarantee that the Underlying Index will be in line with the Index Provider's methodology. BFA's mandate as described in this Prospectus is to manage the Fund consistently with the Underlying Index provided by the Index Provider to BFA. BFA does not provide any warranty or guarantee against the Index Provider's or any agent's errors. Errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data used to compile the Underlying Index may occur from time to time and may not be identified and corrected by the Index Provider for a period of time or at all, particularly where the indices are less commonly used as benchmarks by funds or managers. Such errors may negatively or positively impact the Fund and its shareholders. For example, during a period where the Underlying Index contains incorrect constituents, the Fund would have market exposure to such constituents and would be underexposed to the Underlying Index's other constituents. Shareholders should understand that any gains from Index Provider errors will be kept by the Fund and its shareholders and any losses or costs resulting from Index Provider errors will be borne by the Fund and its shareholders. Because the Index Provider is relatively new to the creation of securities indexes, there may be a greater risk that index errors will not be detected as quickly as they might be in the case of an index maintained by a long-standing index provider.**

Unusual market conditions or other unforeseen circumstances (such as natural disasters, political unrest or war) may impact the Index Provider or a third-party data provider, and could cause the Index Provider to postpone a scheduled rebalance to the Underlying Index. This could cause the Underlying Index to vary from its normal or expected composition. The postponement of a scheduled rebalance could mean that constituents of the Underlying Index that would otherwise be removed at rebalance

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due to changes in market value, issuer credit ratings, or other reasons may remain, causing the performance and constituents of the Underlying Index to vary from those expected under normal conditions. Apart from scheduled rebalances, the Index Provider or its agents may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to the Underlying Index due to reaching certain weighting constraints, unusual market conditions or corporate events or, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. When the Underlying Index is rebalanced and the Fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to attempt to increase the correlation between the Fund's portfolio and the Underlying Index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the Fund and its shareholders. Therefore, errors and additional ad hoc rebalances carried out by the Index Provider or its agents to the Underlying Index may increase the costs to and the tracking error risk of the Fund.

**Infectious Illness Risk. A widespread outbreak of an infectious illness, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, may adversely affect the economies of many nations and the global economy and may impact individual issuers and capital markets in ways that cannot be foreseen.**

An infectious illness outbreak may result in travel restrictions, closed international borders, disruption of healthcare services, prolonged quarantines, cancellations, supply chain disruptions, lower consumer demand, temporary and permanent closures of businesses, layoffs, defaults and other significant economic, social and political impacts, as well as general concern and uncertainty.

An infectious illness outbreak may result in extreme volatility, severe losses, credit deterioration of issuers, and disruptions in markets, which could adversely impact the Fund and its investments, including impairing any hedging activity.

Certain local markets may be subject to closures. Any suspension of trading in markets in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests will have an impact on the Fund or Underlying Fund and its investments and will impact the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's ability to purchase or sell securities in such markets. Market or economic disruptions could result in elevated tracking error and increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV. Additionally, an outbreak could impair the operations of the Fund's service providers, including BFA, which could adversely impact the Fund.

Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world may respond to an outbreak and any resulting economic disruptions with a variety of fiscal and monetary policy changes, including direct capital infusions into companies and other issuers, new monetary policy tools, and changes in interest rates. A reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of such policies, is likely to increase market volatility, which could adversely affect the Fund's investments.

An outbreak may exacerbate other pre-existing political, social and economic risks in certain countries or globally, which could adversely affect the Fund and its investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's NAV.

Despite the development of vaccines, the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects cannot be predicted with certainty.

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**Interest Rate Risk. If interest rates rise, the value of fixed-income securities or other instruments held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund would likely decrease. A measure investors commonly use to determine this price sensitivity is called duration. Fixed-income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to interest rate changes, usually making their prices more volatile than those of securities with shorter durations. For example, if a bond has a duration of five years and interest rates rise, the price of the bond will likely decline by a greater percentage than if the bond had a one year duration. To the extent the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in fixed-income securities with longer duration, rising interest rates may cause the value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments to decline significantly, which would adversely affect the value of the Fund. An increase in interest rates may lead to heightened volatility in the fixed-income markets and adversely affect certain investments, including those held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Because rates on certain floating rate debt securities typically reset only periodically, changes in prevailing interest rates (and particularly sudden and significant changes) can be expected to cause some fluctuations in the net asset value of the Underlying Fund to the extent that it invests in floating rate debt securities. In addition, decreases in fixed income dealer market-making capacity may lead to lower trading volume, heightened volatility, wider bid-ask spreads and less transparent pricing in certain fixed-income markets.**

The historically low interest rate environment in recent years was created in part by the world's major central banks keeping their overnight policy interest rates at, near or below zero percent and implementing monetary policy facilities, such as asset purchase programs, to anchor longer-term interest rates below historical levels. During periods of very low or negative interest rates, the Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns or pay dividends to Fund shareholders. Certain countries have recently experienced negative interest rates on certain fixed-income instruments. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, result in heightened market volatility and detract from the Fund's performance to the extent the Fund is exposed to such interest rates. Additionally, under certain market conditions in which interest rates are set at low levels and the market prices of portfolio securities have increased, the Fund or the Underlying Fund may have a very low or even negative yield. A low or negative yield would cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to lose money in certain conditions and over certain time periods. Central banks may increase their short-term policy rates or begin phasing out, or "tapering," accommodative monetary policy facilities in the future. The timing, coordination, magnitude and effect of such policy changes on various markets are uncertain, and such changes in monetary policy may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Interest Rate Swap Risk. Interest rate swaps consist of an exchange between counterparties of their rights to receive interest payments based on a reference interest rate and typically involve the payment by one counterparty of a fixed rate in respect of a defined notional amount in exchange for receipt of a floating rate on the same notional amount, each having the same payment dates and payable in the same currency. Interest rate swaps are subject to risks applicable to swaps generally,**

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including the risk that a counterparty fails to meet its obligations and the risk that the Fund is not able to liquidate such swap in a timely manner or at all, which could result in losses to the Fund. Because the Fund invests in swaps that are subject to central clearing, these swaps are subject to the risk that a central clearinghouse will go into bankruptcy or become non-operational, and sometimes involve increased transaction costs. Counterparties to OTC swaps are not subject to these risks. The Fund's use of interest rate swaps requires it to post collateral, which may restrict the Fund's ability to otherwise invest such collateral and involves additional costs to the Fund. An interest rate swap may fail to perform as intended and may not offset adverse changes in interest rates fully or at all. An interest rate swap may also reduce the Fund's gains due to favorable changes in interest rates and result in losses to the Fund. Counterparties to interest rate swaps are subject to manipulation in the marketplace of the reference benchmark rate, which may affect the utility of the swap as a hedge.

**Investment in the Underlying Fund Risk. The Fund expects to invest a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is likely to be directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests based on their market valuations. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund. For example, the Fund indirectly pays a portion of the expenses (including operating expenses and management fees) incurred by the Underlying Fund.**

An investor in the Fund may receive taxable gains from portfolio transactions by the Underlying Fund, as well as taxable gains from transactions in shares of the Underlying Fund by the Fund.

As the Fund's allocation to the Underlying Fund changes from time to time, or to the extent that the expense ratio of the Underlying Fund changes, the weighted average operating expenses borne by the Fund may increase or decrease.

**Issuer Risk. The performance of the Fund depends on the performance of individual securities to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund has exposure. The Fund may be adversely affected if an issuer of underlying securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund is unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due. Any issuer of these securities may perform poorly, causing the value of its securities to decline. Poor performance may be caused by poor management decisions, competitive pressures, changes in technology, expiration of patent protection, disruptions in supply, labor problems or shortages, corporate restructurings, fraudulent disclosures, credit deterioration of the issuer or other factors. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of an issuer of those securities may cause the value of the securities to decline. An issuer may also be subject to risks associated with the countries, states and regions in which the issuer resides, invests, sells products, or otherwise conducts operations.**

**Large Shareholder and Large-Scale Redemption Risk. Certain shareholders, including an Authorized Participant, a third-party investor, the Fund's adviser or an affiliate of the Fund's adviser, a market maker, or another entity, may from time to time own or manage a substantial amount of Fund shares or may invest in the Fund and hold their investment for a limited period of time. These shareholders may also pledge**

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or loan Fund shares (to secure financing or otherwise), which may result in the shares becoming concentrated in another party. There can be no assurance that any large shareholder or large group of shareholders would not redeem their investment or that the size of the Fund would be maintained. Redemptions of a large number of Fund shares by these shareholders may adversely affect the Fund's liquidity and net assets. To the extent the Fund permits redemptions in cash, these redemptions may force the Fund to sell portfolio securities when it might not otherwise do so, which may negatively impact the Fund's NAV, have a material effect on the market price of the Shares and increase the Fund's brokerage costs and/or accelerate the realization of taxable income and/or gains and cause the Fund to make taxable distributions to its shareholders earlier than the Fund otherwise would have. In addition, under certain circumstances, non-redeeming shareholders may be treated as receiving a disproportionately large taxable distribution during or with respect to such tax year. The Fund also may be required to sell its more liquid Fund investments to meet a large redemption, in which case the Fund's remaining assets may be less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to price. To the extent these large shareholders transact in shares on the secondary market, such transactions may account for a large percentage of the trading volume for the shares of the Fund and may, therefore, have a material upward or downward effect on the market price of the Fund shares. In addition, large purchases of Fund shares may adversely affect the Fund's performance to the extent that the Fund is delayed in investing new cash and is required to maintain a larger cash position than it ordinarily would, diluting its investment returns.

**Management Risk. Because BFA uses a representative sampling indexing strategy, the Fund will not fully replicate the Underlying Index and may hold securities not included in the Underlying Index. As a result, the Fund is subject to the risk that BFA's investment strategy, the implementation of which is subject to a number of constraints, may not produce the intended results. The Fund is also subject to the risk that the investment strategy of the Underlying Fund may not produce the intended results.**

**Market Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund could lose money over short periods due to short-term market movements and over longer periods during more prolonged market downturns. Market risk arises mainly from uncertainty about future values of financial instruments and may be influenced by price, currency and interest rate movements. It represents the potential loss the Fund and the Underlying Fund may suffer through holding financial instruments in the face of market movements or uncertainty. The value of a security, asset, or other instrument may decline due to changes in general market conditions, economic trends or events that are not specifically related to the issuer of the security or other asset, or factors that affect a particular issuer or issuers, country, group of countries, region, market, industry, group of industries, sector or asset class. Local, regional or global events such as war, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issues, recessions, or other events could have a significant impact on the Fund, the Underlying Fund and their investments and could result in increased premiums or discounts to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV. During a general market downturn, multiple asset classes may be negatively affected. Fixed-income securities with short-term maturities are generally less sensitive to such changes than are fixed-income securities with longer-term**

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maturities. Changes in market conditions and interest rates generally do not have the same impact on all types of securities and instruments.

#### Market Trading Risk.
*Absence of Active Market. Although shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are listed for trading on one or more stock exchanges, there can be no assurance that an active trading market for such shares will develop or be maintained by market makers or Authorized Participants.*

*Risk of Secondary Listings. The Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may be listed or traded on U.S. and non-U.S. stock exchanges other than the U.S. stock exchange where the Fund's primary listing is maintained, and may otherwise be made available to non-U.S. investors through funds or structured investment vehicles similar to depositary receipts. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to trade on any such stock exchange or in any market or that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares will continue to meet the requirements for listing or trading on any exchange or in any market. The Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares may be less actively traded in certain markets than in others, and investors are subject to the execution and settlement risks and market standards of the market where they or their broker direct their trades for execution. Certain information available to investors who trade Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a U.S. stock exchange during regular U.S. market hours may not be available to investors who trade in other markets, which may result in secondary market prices in such markets being less efficient.*

*Secondary Market Trading Risk. Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund may trade in the secondary market at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund does not accept orders to purchase or redeem shares. At such times, shares may trade in the secondary market with more significant premiums or discounts than might be experienced at times when the Fund or the Underlying Fund accepts purchase and redemption orders. If the Fund purchases shares of the Underlying Fund at a time when the market price of Underlying Fund shares is at a premium to its NAV or sells Underlying Fund shares when their market price is at a discount to its NAV, the Fund may incur losses.*

Secondary market trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares may be halted by a stock exchange because of market conditions or for other reasons. In addition, trading in Fund or Underlying Fund shares on a stock exchange or in any market may be subject to trading halts caused by extraordinary market volatility pursuant to "circuit breaker" rules on the stock exchange or market.

Shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, similar to shares of other issuers listed on a stock exchange, may be sold short and are therefore subject to the risk of increased volatility and price decreases associated with being sold short. In addition, trading activity in derivative products based on the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lead to increased trading volume and volatility in the secondary market for the shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

*Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund May Trade at Prices Other Than NAV. Shares of the Fund and the Underlying Fund each trade on stock exchanges at prices at, above*

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or below the respective Fund's and the Underlying Fund's most recent NAV. The NAV of the Fund and the Underlying Fund are calculated at the end of each business day and fluctuate with changes in the market value of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's holdings. The trading price of each of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares fluctuates continuously throughout trading hours based on both market supply of and demand for their shares and the underlying value of their portfolio holdings or NAV. As a result, the trading prices of the Fund's and the Underlying Fund's shares may deviate significantly from NAV during periods of market volatility, including during periods of significant redemption requests or other unusual market conditions. **ANY OF THESE FACTORS, AMONG OTHERS, MAY LEAD TO THE FUND'S OR THE UNDERLYING FUND'S SHARES TRADING AT A PREMIUM OR DISCOUNT TO NAV**. However, because shares can be created and redeemed in Creation Units at NAV, BFA believes that large discounts or premiums to the NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund, as applicable, are not likely to be sustained over the long term (unlike shares of many closed-end funds, which frequently trade at appreciable discounts from, and sometimes at premiums to, their NAVs). While the creation/redemption feature is designed to make it more likely that the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares normally will trade on stock exchanges at prices close to the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's next calculated NAV, exchange prices are not expected to correlate exactly with their respective NAV due to timing reasons, supply and demand imbalances and other factors. In addition, disruptions to creations and redemptions, including disruptions at market makers, Authorized Participants, or other market participants, and during periods of significant market volatility, may result in trading prices for shares of the Fund or the Underlying Fund that differ significantly from their respective NAV. Authorized Participants may be less willing to create or redeem Fund or Underlying Fund shares if there is a lack of an active market for such shares or its underlying investments, which may contribute to the Fund's or Underlying Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to NAV.

*Costs of Buying or Selling Fund Shares. Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange involves two types of costs that apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you will likely incur a brokerage commission and other charges. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread"; that is, the difference between what investors are willing to pay for Fund shares (the "bid" price) and the price at which they are willing to sell Fund shares (the "ask" price). The spread, which varies over time for shares of the Fund based on trading volume and market liquidity, is generally narrower if the Fund has more trading volume and market liquidity and wider if the Fund has less trading volume and market liquidity. In addition, increased market volatility may cause wider spreads. There may also be regulatory and other charges that are incurred as a result of trading activity. Because of the costs inherent in buying or selling Fund shares, frequent trading may detract significantly from investment results and an investment in Fund shares may not be advisable for investors who anticipate regularly making small investments through a brokerage account.*

**Non-Diversification Risk. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." This means that, compared with other funds that are classified as "diversified," the Fund may invest a greater percentage of its assets in securities issued by or representing a small number**

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of issuers or in derivatives with a limited number of counterparties. As a result, the Fund may be more susceptible to the risks associated with these particular issuers or counterparties or to a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence affecting these issuers or counterparties.

**Operational Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are exposed to operational risks arising from a number of factors, including, but not limited to, human error, processing and communication errors, errors of the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's service providers, counterparties or other third parties, failed or inadequate processes and technology or systems failures. The Fund, the Underlying Fund and BFA seek to reduce these operational risks through controls and procedures. However, these measures do not address every possible risk and may be inadequate to address significant operational risks.**

**Passive Investment Risk. The Fund and the Underlying Fund are not actively managed and may be affected by a general decline in market segments related to the applicable Underlying Index. The Fund and the Underlying Fund invest in securities included in, or representative of, the applicable Underlying Index, regardless of their investment merits. BFA generally does not attempt to invest the Fund's assets in defensive positions under any market conditions, including declining markets. The Fund may also be exposed to passive investment risk through its investment in the Underlying Fund.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause the Fund or the Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Risk of Investing in the U.S. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations, inflation and/or an economic recession in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the U.S. economy and the securities listed on U.S. exchanges. Proposed and adopted policy and legislative changes in the U.S. are changing many aspects of financial, commercial, public health, environmental, and other regulation and may have a significant effect on U.S. markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities. Governmental agencies project that the U.S. will continue to maintain elevated public debt levels for the foreseeable future. Although elevated debt levels do not necessarily indicate or cause economic problems, elevated public debt service costs may constrain future economic growth.**

The U.S. has developed increasingly strained relations with a number of foreign countries. If relations with certain countries deteriorate, it could adversely affect U.S. issuers as well as non-U.S. issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The U.S. has also experienced increased internal unrest and discord, as well as significant challenges in managing and containing the outbreak of COVID-19. If these trends were to continue, it may have an adverse impact on the U.S. economy and the issuers in which the Fund or the Underlying Fund invests.

**Risk of Swap Agreements.Swaps can involve greater risks than direct investment in securities because swaps may be leveraged and are subject to counterparty risk (*e.g.*,**

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the risk of a counterparty defaulting on the obligation or bankruptcy), credit risk and pricing risk (*i.e.*, swaps may be difficult to value). Swaps may be subject to illiquidity risk, and it may not be possible for the Fund to liquidate a swap position at an advantageous time or price, which may result in significant losses. Certain standardized swaps are subject to mandatory central clearing. Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. All swaps require posting of collateral, which may restrict the ability of the Fund to invest the assets in different ways and which involve costs to the Fund. Swaps provide customized contractual terms, which may not, in all cases, provide the hedging or other intended benefits.

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund or the Underlying Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund or the Underlying Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund or the Underlying Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund or the Underlying Fund. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC"), the Fund's securities lending agent, will take into account the tax impact to shareholders of substitute payments for dividends when managing the Fund's securities lending program.**

**Small Fund Risk. When the Fund's size is small, the Fund may experience low trading volume and wide bid/ask spreads. In addition, the Fund may face the risk of being delisted if the Fund does not meet certain conditions of the listing exchange. If the Fund were to be required to delist from the listing exchange, the value of the Fund may rapidly decline and performance may be negatively impacted. Any resulting liquidation of the Fund could cause the Fund to incur elevated transaction costs for the Fund and negative tax consequences for its shareholders.**

**Tax Risk. The Fund invests in derivatives. The federal income tax treatment of a derivative may not be as favorable as a direct investment in an underlying asset. Derivatives may produce taxable income and taxable realized gain. Derivatives may adversely affect the timing, character and amount of income the Fund realizes from its investments. As a result, a larger portion of the Fund's distributions may be treated as ordinary income rather than as capital gains. In addition, certain derivatives are subject to mark-to-market or straddle provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. If such provisions are applicable, there could be an increase (or decrease) in the amount of taxable dividends paid by the Fund. Income from swaps is generally taxable. In addition, the tax treatment of certain derivatives, such as swaps, is unsettled and may be subject to future legislation, regulation or administrative pronouncements issued by the IRS. Because the Fund invests in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of the Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund. Each of these effects is caused by the Fund's investment in the Underlying Fund and may result in distributions to Fund**

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shareholders being of higher magnitude and less likely to qualify for lower capital gain tax rates than if the Fund were to invest directly in the securities and other instruments composing its portfolio.

**Tracking Error Risk. The Fund may be subject to "tracking error," which is the divergence of the Fund's performance from that of the Underlying Index. Tracking error may occur because of differences between the securities and other instruments held in the Fund's portfolio and those included in the Underlying Index, pricing differences (including, as applicable, differences between a security's price at the local market close and the Fund's or an Underlying Fund's valuation of a security at the time of calculation of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's NAV, respectively), transaction costs incurred by the Fund, the Fund's holding of uninvested cash, differences in timing of the accrual or the valuation of distributions, the requirements to maintain pass-through tax treatment, portfolio transactions carried out to minimize the distribution of capital gains to shareholders, acceptance of custom baskets, changes to the Underlying Index or the costs to the Fund of complying with various new or existing regulatory requirements, among other reasons. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions. Tracking error also may result because the Fund incurs fees and expenses, while the Underlying Index does not. INDEX ETFs THAT TRACK INDICES WITH SIGNIFICANT WEIGHT IN SWAP CONTRACTS MAY EXPERIENCE HIGHER TRACKING ERROR THAN OTHER INDEX ETFs THAT DO NOT TRACK SUCH INDICES.**

**U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. The Underlying Fund invests in securities backed by pools of mortgages issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, including . While securities guaranteed by Ginnie Mae are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and there can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to its agencies or sponsored entities where it is not obligated to do so. Bonds or debentures that do not carry the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to more credit risk than securities that are supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. To the extent that the U.S. government has provided support to a U.S. agency or sponsored entity in the past, there can be no assurance that the U.S. government will provide support in the future if it is not obligated to do so. If a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity that is the issuer of securities in which the Underlying Fund invests is unable to meet its obligations or ceases to exist and no plan is made for repayment of securities, the performance of the Fund will be adversely affected.**

MBS represent interests in "pools" of mortgages and, due to the nature of these loans they represent, are subject to prepayment and extension risk. Prepayment risk is the risk that, during periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of mortgages and other fixed-income securities may be able to repay principal prior to the security's maturity. This may cause the Fund to have to reinvest in securities with a lower yield or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's income or return potential.

MBS are also subject to extension risk, which is the risk that when interest rates rise, certain MBS will be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and

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the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in income and potentially in the value of the investment.

Because of prepayment and extension risks, MBS react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain MBS. These securities are also subject to the risk of default on the underlying mortgage loans, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

The Underlying Fund seeks to obtain exposure to the fixed-rate portion of U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities primarily through TBA securities, or TBA transactions. TBAs refer to a commonly used mechanism for the forward settlement of U.S. agency MBS, and not to a separate type of MBS. Default or bankruptcy of a counterparty to a TBA transaction would expose the Fund to possible losses because of adverse market action, expenses or delays in connection with the purchase or sale of the pools of mortgage pass-through securities specified in the TBA transaction.

The Underlying Fund intends to invest cash pending settlement of TBA transactions in money market instruments, repurchase agreements, or other high quality, liquid short-term instruments, including money market funds advised by BFA. The Underlying Fund will pay its *pro rata* share of fees and expenses of any money market fund that it may invest in, in addition to the Underlying Fund's own fees and expenses.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Underlying Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary over certain periods.**

**Valuation Risk. The price the Fund and the Underlying Fund could receive upon the sale of a security or unwind of a financial instrument or other asset may differ from the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's valuation of the security, instrument or other asset, particularly for securities or other instruments that trade in low volume or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair value methodology as a result of trade suspensions or for other reasons. Because non-U.S. exchanges may be open on days or during time periods when the Underlying Fund does not price its shares, the value of the securities or other instruments in the Underlying Fund's portfolio may change on days or during time periods when shareholders will not be able to purchase or sell the Fund's or the Underlying Fund's shares. In addition, for purposes of calculating the Fund's NAV, the value of assets denominated in non-U.S. currencies is translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates. This translation may result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index. Authorized Participants who purchase or redeem Fund shares on days when the Fund is holding fair-valued securities may receive fewer or more shares, or lower or higher redemption proceeds, than they would have received had the securities not been fair valued or been valued**

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using a different methodology. The ability to value investments may be impacted by technological issues or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

A Further Discussion of Other Risks

The Fund may also be subject to certain other risks associated with its investments and investment strategies either directly or indirectly through the Fund's investments in the Underlying Fund. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Close-Out Risk for Qualified Financial Contracts. Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require counterparties that are part of U.S. or foreign global systemically important banking organizations to include contractual restrictions on close-out and cross-default in agreements relating to qualified financial contracts. Qualified financial contracts include agreements relating to swaps, currency forwards and other derivatives as well as repurchase agreements and securities lending agreements. The restrictions prevent the Fund from closing out a qualified financial contract during a specified time period if the counterparty is subject to resolution proceedings and also prohibit the Fund from exercising default rights due to a receivership or similar proceeding of an affiliate of the counterparty. These requirements may increase credit risk and other risks to the Fund.**

**Derivatives Risk. The Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may reduce the Fund's or Underlying Fund's returns or increase volatility. Volatility is defined as the characteristic of a security, a currency, an index or a market to fluctuate significantly in price within a short time period. Derivatives may also be subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligation. Counterparty risk for OTC derivatives is generally higher than that for derivatives traded on an exchange or through a clearing house. A risk of the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives is that the fluctuations in their values may not correlate perfectly with the value of the underlying asset, the performance of the asset class to which the Fund or Underlying Fund seeks exposure or the performance of the overall markets. The possible lack of a liquid secondary market for derivatives and the resulting inability of the Fund or Underlying Fund to sell or otherwise close a derivatives position could expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to losses and could make derivatives more difficult for the Fund or Underlying Fund to value accurately. The Fund or Underlying Fund could also suffer losses related to its derivatives positions as a result of unanticipated market movements, or movements between the time of periodic reallocations of Fund or Underlying Fund assets, which losses are potentially unlimited. Certain derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage and may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. The impact of U.S. and global regulation of derivatives may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability of derivatives, may delay or restrict the exercise by the Fund or Underlying Fund of termination rights or remedies upon a counterparty default under derivatives held by the Fund or Underlying Fund (which could result in losses), or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. In addition, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's use of derivatives may expose the Fund or Underlying Fund to risks related to potential operational issues, such as documentation and settlement issues,**

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systems failures, inadequate controls and human error. Derivatives may also involve legal risks, including insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of a counterparty, and legality and enforceability of a contract.

**Financials Sector Risk. Companies in the financials sector of an economy are subject to extensive governmental regulation and intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge, the amount of capital they must maintain and, potentially, their size. The extent to which the Fund or the Underlying Fund may invest in a company that engages in securities-related activities or banking is limited by applicable law. Governmental regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by such regulation. Increased risk taking by banks may also result in greater overall risk in the U.S. and global financials sector. The impact of changes in capital requirements, or recent or future regulation in various countries, on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted.** 

Certain risks may impact the value of investments in the financials sector more severely than those of investments outside this sector, including the risks associated with companies that operate with substantial financial leverage. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk may result in significant negative impacts to companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Companies in the financials sector may also be adversely affected by increases in interest rates and loan losses, decreases in the availability of money or asset valuations, credit rating downgrades and adverse conditions in other related markets. Insurance companies, in particular, may be subject to severe price competition and/or rate regulation, which may have an adverse impact on their profitability. The financials sector is particularly sensitive to fluctuations in interest rates. The financials sector is also a target for cyberattacks, and may experience technology malfunctions and disruptions. Cybersecurity incidents and technology malfunctions and failures have become increasingly frequent in this sector and have reportedly caused losses to companies in this sector, which may negatively impact the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. Liquid investments may become illiquid after purchase by the Fund, particularly during periods of market turmoil. There can be no assurance that a security or instrument that is deemed to be liquid when purchased will continue to be liquid for as long as it is held by the Fund, and any security or instrument held by the Fund may**

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be deemed an illiquid investment pursuant to the Fund's liquidity risk management program. To the extent the Fund holds illiquid investments, the illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to transact at advantageous times or prices. An investment may be illiquid due to, among other things, the reduced number and capacity of traditional market participants to make a market in securities or instruments, the lack of an active market for such securities or instruments, capital controls, delays or limits on repatriation of local currency, or insolvency of local governments. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities or instruments with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have increased exposure to the risks associated with illiquid investments. Illiquid investments may be harder to value, especially in changing markets. If the Fund is forced to sell underlying investments at reduced prices or under unfavorable conditions to meet redemption requests or for other cash needs, the Fund may suffer a loss. This may be magnified in a rising interest rate environment or other circumstances where redemptions from the Fund may be greater than normal. Other market participants may be attempting to liquidate holdings at the same time as the Fund, causing increased supply of the Fund's underlying investments in the market and contributing to illiquid investments risk and downward pricing pressure. In addition, if the Fund is limited in its ability to sell illiquid investments during periods when shareholders are redeeming their shares, the Fund will need to sell liquid securities to meet redemption requests and illiquid securities will become a larger portion of the Fund's holdings. During periods of market volatility, liquidity in the market for the Fund's shares may be impacted by the liquidity in the market for the underlying securities or instruments held by the Fund, which could lead to the Fund's shares trading at a premium or discount to the Fund's NAV.

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. As part of the phase-out of the use of LIBOR, the rate's administrator, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited ("IBA"), discontinued two USD LIBOR settings immediately after publication on December 31, 2021. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR, and IBA previously announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. While the FCA is requiring the IBA to publish certain LIBOR settings, potentially to include USD settings, on a "synthetic" basis, the "synthetic" methodology is not based on panel bank contributions and is not intended to be representative of the interest rates in the underlying market. The Fund may have investments linked to other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA"), which may also cease to be published. Various financial industry groups continue planning for the transition away from LIBOR, but there are challenges to converting certain securities and transactions to a new reference rate, such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), which is intended to replace USD LIBOR. For example, at times, SOFR has proven to be more volatile than the 3-month USD**

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LIBOR. Working groups and regulators in other countries have suggested other alternatives for their markets, including the Sterling Overnight Interbank Average Rate ("SONIA") in England.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. The transition process might lead to increased volatility and illiquidity in markets for, and reduce the effectiveness of new hedges placed against, instruments whose terms currently include LIBOR. While some existing LIBOR-based instruments may contemplate a scenario where LIBOR is no longer available by providing for an alternative rate-setting methodology, there may be significant uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of any such alternative methodologies to replicate LIBOR. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Global regulators have advised market participants to cease entering into new contracts using LIBOR as a reference rate, and it is possible that investments in LIBOR-based instruments could invite regulatory scrutiny. In addition, a liquid market for newly issued instruments that use a reference rate other than LIBOR still may be developing. There may also be challenges for the Fund to enter into hedging transactions against such newly issued instruments until a market for such hedging transactions develops. All of the aforementioned may adversely affect the Fund's performance or NAV.

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Threshold/Underinvestment Risk. If certain aggregate and/or fund-level ownership thresholds are reached through transactions undertaken by BFA, its affiliates or the Fund, or as a result of third-party transactions or actions by an issuer or regulator, the ability of BFA and its affiliates on behalf of clients (including the Fund) to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. The capacity of the Fund to make investments in certain securities may be affected by the relevant threshold limits, and such limitations may have adverse effects on the liquidity and performance of the**

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Fund's portfolio holdings compared to the performance of the Underlying Index. This may increase the risk of the Fund being underinvested to the Underlying Index and increase the risk of tracking error.

For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate and/or fund-level amount invested or voted by BFA and its affiliates for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BFA and its affiliates, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

**U.S. Agency Debt Risk. Unsecured bonds or debentures issued by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities help finance U.S. governmental policies and public missions, but may be backed only by the general creditworthiness and reputation of the U.S. government agency or government sponsored entity and not the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. For example, debt issued by the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") and the Federal Home Loan Banks provides financing, credit, and/or liquidity to the housing and mortgage markets, and is not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. In addition, debt issued by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which provides electricity generation and flood control in parts of the Southeast region of the U.S., and the Federal Farm Credit Banks, which provide credit and related services to the agricultural sector, is not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Ginnie Mae securities and certain foreign government debt issuances guaranteed by the U.S. government, including certain issuances by Iraq and Israel, are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.**

Bonds or debentures that do not carry the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government are subject to more credit risk than securities that are supported by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. If a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity that is the issuer of securities in which the Underlying Fund invests is unable to meet its obligations or ceases to exist and no plan is made for repayment of securities, the performance of the Underlying Fund will be adversely affected. There can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to any of these U.S. governmental agencies or sponsored entities if it is not obligated to do so. In 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under the conservatorship of the U.S. government, which provided financial support to the U.S. government-sponsored entities. However, there can be no assurance that such past U.S. government support will result in support in the future. Any actual or potential disruption to a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity, or the financial condition or credit of the U.S. government, could cause the value of U.S. agency debt to decline.

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Portfolio Holdings Information

A description of the Trust's policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Fund's portfolio securities is available in the Fund's Statement of Additional Information ("SAI"). The Fund discloses its portfolio holdings daily at *www.iShares.com.* Fund fact sheets provide information regarding the Fund's top holdings and may be requested by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

A Further Discussion of Principal Investment Strategies

#### Overview
The Fund allocates and reallocates its assets among direct investments in securities and other instruments and in investments in the Underlying Fund consistent with the allocation and reallocation of securities in the Underlying Index as determined by the Index Provider. The Fund intends to invest a substantial portion of its assets in one underlying fund, the Underlying Fund. The Fund seeks to track the interest rate hedging component of the Underlying Index primarily through the use of positions in interest rate swaps (*i.e.*, contracts in which the Fund makes fixed-rate payments while receiving floating-rate payments based on a reference rate).

In addition, the Fund may borrow, may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and financial institutions, and may invest the collateral in certain short-term instruments, either directly or through one or more money market funds, as described in greater detail in the Fund's SAI.

The Fund invests, through the Underlying Fund, in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade securities and debt instruments, which are subject to additional risks, as described in this Prospectus and in the Fund's SAI.

#### The Underlying Fund
The Fund invests a substantial portion of its assets in the Underlying Fund, so the Fund's investment performance is directly related to the performance of the Underlying Fund. The Fund's NAV will change with changes in the value of the Underlying Fund and other securities in which the Fund invests. An investment in the Fund will entail more direct and indirect costs and expenses than a direct investment in the Underlying Fund.

The Underlying Fund seeks to track the performance of the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, which measures the performance of the total U.S. investment-grade (as determined by Bloomberg Index Services Limited) bond market. "Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index" is a trademark of Bloomberg and its licensors and has been licensed for use for certain purposes by BFA or its affiliates.

In managing the Underlying Fund, BFA uses a representative sampling index strategy. Representative sampling is an indexing strategy that involves investing in a representative sample of securities that collectively have an investment profile similar to a specified benchmark index. Securities selected for the Underlying Fund are expected to have, in the aggregate, investment characteristics (based on factors such as market value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as return variability, duration, maturity, credit ratings and yield) and liquidity measures similar to

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those of the applicable underlying index. The Underlying Fund may or may not hold all of the securities that are included in its underlying index and may hold certain securities that are not included in its underlying index.

Management

**Investment Adviser. As investment adviser, BFA has overall responsibility for the general management and administration of the Fund. BFA provides an investment program for the Fund and manages the investment of the Fund's assets. In managing the Fund, BFA may draw upon the trading, research and expertise of its asset management affiliates for portfolio decisions and management with respect to portfolio securities. In seeking to achieve the Fund's investment objective, BFA uses teams of portfolio managers, investment strategists and other investment specialists. This team approach brings together many disciplines and leverages BFA's extensive resources.**

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust (entered into on behalf of the Fund), BFA is responsible for substantially all expenses of the Fund, except the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, and litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Trustees who are not "interested persons" of the Trust).

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.13% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.03%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in AGG, after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. In addition, BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses in order to limit total annual fund operating expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

BFA is located at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. It is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. ("BlackRock"). As of December 31, 2022, BFA and its affiliates provided investment advisory services for assets in excess of $8.6 trillion. BFA and its affiliates trade and invest for their own accounts in the actual securities and types of securities in which the Fund may also invest, which may affect the price of such securities. BFA is considered a CPO with respect to the Fund under the CEA and is therefore subject to regulation by the SEC and the CFTC with respect to the Fund.

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A discussion regarding the basis for the approval by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board") of the Investment Advisory Agreement with BFA is available in the Fund's Annual Report for the period ended October 31.

From time to time, a manager, analyst, or other employee of BlackRock or its affiliates may express views regarding a particular asset class, company, security, industry, or market sector. The views expressed by any such person are the views of only that individual as of the time expressed and do not necessarily represent the views of BlackRock or any other person within the BlackRock organization. Any such views are subject to change at any time based upon market or other conditions and BlackRock disclaims any responsibility to update such views. These views may not be relied on as investment advice and may not be relied on as an indication of trading intent on behalf of the Fund.

**Portfolio Managers. James Mauro and Karen Uyehara are primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Fund. The Portfolio Managers are responsible for various functions related to portfolio management, including, but not limited to, developing and implementing the Fund's investment process and investment strategy, researching and reviewing investment strategy and overseeing members of their respective portfolio management teams who have more limited responsibilities.**

James Mauro has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a portfolio manager since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Mauro was a Vice President at State Street Global Advisors. Mr. Mauro has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

Karen Uyehara has been employed by BFA or its affiliates as a senior portfolio manager since 2010. Prior to that, Ms. Uyehara was a portfolio manager at Western Asset Management Company (WAMCO). Ms. Uyehara has been a Portfolio Manager of the Fund since 2022.

The Fund's SAI provides additional information about the Portfolio Managers' compensation, other accounts managed by the Portfolio Managers and the Portfolio Managers' ownership (if any) of shares in the Fund.

**Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent. State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is the administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.**

**Conflicts of Interest. The investment activities of BFA and its affiliates (including BlackRock and its subsidiaries (collectively, the "Affiliates")), and their respective directors, officers or employees, in the management of, or their interest in, their own accounts and other accounts they manage, may present conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA and its Affiliates provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that may follow investment programs similar to that of the Fund. BFA and its Affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of the Fund. BFA or one or more Affiliates act, or may act, as an investor, research provider, investment manager, commodity pool operator, commodity trading advisor, financier, underwriter,**

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adviser, trader, lender, index provider, agent and/or principal, and have other direct and indirect interests in securities, currencies, commodities, derivatives and other instruments in which the Fund may directly or indirectly invest. The Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies with which an Affiliate has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which an Affiliate provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. The Fund also may invest in securities of, or engage in other transactions with, companies for which an Affiliate provides or may in the future provide research coverage. An Affiliate may have business relationships with, and purchase or distribute or sell services or products from or to, distributors, consultants or others who recommend the Fund or who engage in transactions with or for the Fund, and may receive compensation for such services. BFA or one or more Affiliates may engage in proprietary trading and advise accounts and funds that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in and compete for transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and other instruments as the Fund. This may include transactions in securities issued by other open-end and closed-end investment companies (which may include investment companies that are affiliated with the Fund and BFA, to the extent permitted under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act")). The trading activities of BFA and these Affiliates are carried out without reference to positions held directly or indirectly by the Fund and may result in BFA or an Affiliate having positions in certain securities that are senior or junior to, or have interests different from or adverse to, the securities that are owned by the Fund.

Neither BlackRock nor any Affiliate is under any obligation to share any investment opportunity, idea or strategy with the Fund. As a result, an Affiliate may compete with the Fund for appropriate investment opportunities. The results of the Fund's investment activities, therefore, may differ from those of an Affiliate and of other accounts managed by BlackRock or an Affiliate, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more Affiliates and other accounts achieve profits on their trading for proprietary or other accounts. The opposite result is also possible.

In addition, the Fund may, from time to time, enter into transactions in which BFA or an Affiliate or its or their directors, officers, employees or clients have an adverse interest. Furthermore, transactions undertaken by clients advised or managed by BFA or its Affiliates may adversely impact the Fund. Transactions by one or more clients or by BFA or its Affiliates or their directors, officers or employees may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund.

The Fund's activities may be limited because of regulatory restrictions applicable to BFA or one or more Affiliates and/or their internal policies designed to comply with such restrictions.

Under a securities lending program approved by the Board, the Fund has retained BTC, an Affiliate of BFA, to serve as the securities lending agent for the Fund to the extent that the Fund participates in the securities lending program. For these services, the

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securities lending agent will receive a fee from the Fund, including a fee based on the returns earned on the Fund's investment of the cash received as collateral for the loaned securities. In addition, one or more Affiliates may be among the entities to which the Fund may lend its portfolio securities under the securities lending program.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. The price, availability, liquidity, and (in some cases) expense ratio of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by BlackRock and/or its advisory clients.

BlackRock and its Affiliates may benefit from the Fund using a BlackRock index by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock and its Affiliates are not obligated to license indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. The Fund cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock or its Affiliates will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The activities of BFA and its Affiliates and their respective directors, officers or employees may give rise to other conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. BFA has adopted policies and procedures designed to address these potential conflicts of interest. See the SAI for further information.

Shareholder Information

*Additional shareholder information, including how to buy and sell shares of the Fund, is available free of charge by calling toll-free: 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting our website at www.iShares.com.*

**Buying and Selling Shares. Shares of the Fund may be acquired or redeemed directly from the Fund only in Creation Units or multiples thereof, as discussed in the *Creations and Redemptions* section of this Prospectus. Only an Authorized Participant may engage in creation or redemption transactions directly with the Fund. Once created, shares of the Fund generally trade in the secondary market in amounts less than a Creation Unit.**

Shares of the Fund are listed on a national securities exchange for trading during the trading day. Shares can be bought and sold throughout the trading day like shares of other publicly-traded companies. The Trust does not impose any minimum investment for shares of the Fund purchased on an exchange or otherwise in the secondary market. The Fund's shares trade under the ticker symbol "AGRH."

Buying or selling Fund shares on an exchange or other secondary market involves two types of costs that may apply to all securities transactions. When buying or selling shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission and other charges. The commission is frequently a fixed amount and may be a significant proportional cost for investors seeking to buy or sell small amounts of shares. In addition, you may incur the cost of the "spread," that is, any difference between the bid price and the ask price. The spread varies over time for shares of the Fund based on the Fund's trading volume and market liquidity, and is generally lower if the Fund has high trading volume and market liquidity, and higher if the Fund has little trading

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volume and market liquidity (which is often the case for funds that are newly launched or small in size). The Fund's spread may also be impacted by the liquidity or illiquidity of the underlying securities held by the Fund, particularly for newly launched or smaller funds or in instances of significant volatility of the underlying securities.

The Fund does not impose restrictions on the frequency of purchases and redemptions of Fund shares directly with the Fund. The Board determined not to adopt policies and procedures designed to prevent or monitor for frequent purchases and redemptions of Fund shares because the Fund generally sells and redeems its shares directly through transactions that are in-kind and/or for cash, with a deadline for placing cash-related transactions no later than the close of the primary markets for the Fund's portfolio securities. However, the Fund has taken certain measures (*e.g*., imposing transaction fees on purchases and redemptions of Creation Units and reserving the right to reject purchases of Creation Units under certain circumstances) to minimize the potential consequences of frequent cash purchases and redemptions by Authorized Participants, such as increased tracking error, disruption of portfolio management, dilution to the Fund, and/or increased transaction costs. Further, the vast majority of trading in Fund shares occurs on the secondary market, which does not involve the Fund directly, and such trading is unlikely to cause many of the harmful effects of frequent cash purchases or redemptions of Fund shares.

The national securities exchange on which the Fund's shares are listed is open for trading Monday through Friday and is closed on weekends and the following holidays (or the days on which they are observed): New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. The Fund's primary listing exchange is NYSE Arca.

Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act generally restricts investments by investment companies, including foreign and unregistered investment companies, in the securities of other investment companies. For example, a registered investment company (the "Acquired Fund"), such as the Fund, may not knowingly sell or otherwise dispose of any security issued by the Acquired Fund to any investment company (the "Acquiring Fund") or any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund if, immediately after such sale or disposition: (i) more than 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and any company or companies controlled by the Acquiring Fund or (ii) more than 10% of the total outstanding voting stock of the Acquired Fund is owned by the Acquiring Fund and other investment companies and companies controlled by them. Although SEC rules may permit registered investment companies and unit investment trusts ("Investing Funds") that enter into an investment agreement with the Trust to invest in iShares funds beyond the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act subject to certain terms and conditions, the Fund does not permit such investments. Accordingly, Investing Funds must adhere to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1) of the 1940 Act when investing in the Fund. In addition, foreign investment companies are permitted to invest in the Fund only up to the limits set forth in Section 12(d)(1), subject to any applicable SEC no-action relief.

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**Book Entry. Shares of the Fund are held in book-entry form, which means that no stock certificates are issued. The Depository Trust Company ("DTC") or its nominee is the record owner of, and holds legal title to, all outstanding shares of the Fund.**

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

**Share Prices. The trading prices of the Fund's shares in the secondary market generally differ from the Fund's daily NAV and are affected by market forces such as the supply of and demand for ETF shares and underlying securities held by the Fund, economic conditions and other factors.**

**Determination of Net Asset Value. The NAV of the Fund normally is determined once daily Monday through Friday, generally as of the close of regular trading hours of the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern time) on each day that the NYSE is open for trading, based on prices at the time of closing, provided that any Fund assets or liabilities denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates on the date of valuation as quoted by one or more data service providers. The NAV of the Fund is calculated by dividing the value of the net assets of the Fund (*i.e.*, the value of its total assets, which includes the value of the Underlying Fund shares in which the Fund invests, less total liabilities) by the total number of outstanding shares of the Fund, generally rounded to the nearest cent.**

The value of the securities and other assets and liabilities held by the Fund is determined pursuant to BFA's valuation policies and procedures. BFA has been designated by the Board as the valuation designee for the Fund pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act.

The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with BFA's valuation policies and procedures. Pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller odd lot sizes. Odd lots often trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. An amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with sixty days or less remaining to maturity unless BFA determines in good faith that such method does not represent fair value.

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Generally, trading in non-U.S. securities and money market instruments is substantially completed each day at various times prior to the close of regular trading hours of the NYSE. The values of such securities used in computing the NAV of the Fund are determined as of such times.

When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, BFA will fair value the Fund's investments in accordance with its policies and procedures. BFA may conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its lack of trading or other reasons, if a market quotation differs significantly from recent price quotations or otherwise no longer appears to reflect fair value, where the security or other asset or liability is thinly traded, when there is a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation, or if the trading market on which a security is listed is suspended or closed and no appropriate alternative trading market is available. A "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, that the event is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of an asset or liability held by the Fund is the amount the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or the cost to extinguish that liability in an arm's-length transaction. Valuing the Fund's investments using fair value pricing will result in prices that may differ from current market valuations and that may not be the prices at which those investments could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used. Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used by the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

#### Dividends and Distributions
*General Policies. Dividends from net investment income, if any, generally are declared and paid at least once a year by the Fund. Distributions of net realized securities gains, if any, generally are declared and paid once a year, but the Trust may make distributions on a more frequent basis for the Fund. The Trust reserves the right to declare special distributions if, in its reasonable discretion, such action is necessary or advisable to preserve its status as a regulated investment company or to avoid imposition of income or excise taxes on undistributed income or realized gains.*

Dividends and other distributions on shares of the Fund are distributed on a *pro rata* basis to beneficial owners of such shares. Dividend payments are made through DTC participants and indirect participants to beneficial owners then of record with proceeds received from the Fund.

*Dividend Reinvestment Service. No dividend reinvestment service is provided by the Trust. Broker-dealers may make available the DTC book-entry Dividend Reinvestment Service for use by beneficial owners of the Fund for reinvestment of their dividend distributions. Beneficial owners should contact their broker to determine the*

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availability and costs of the service and the details of participation therein. Brokers may require beneficial owners to adhere to specific procedures and timetables. If this service is available and used, dividend distributions of both income and realized gains will be automatically reinvested in additional whole shares of the Fund purchased in the secondary market.

**Taxes. As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in this Prospectus is provided as general information, based on current law. There is no guarantee that shares of the Fund will receive certain regulatory or accounting treatment. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in Fund shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an IRA, in which case your distributions generally will be taxable when withdrawn, you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares.

**Taxes on Distributions. Distributions from the Fund's net investment income, including distributions of income from securities lending and distributions out of the Fund's net short-term capital gains, if any, are taxable to you as ordinary income. The Fund's distributions of net long-term capital gains, if any, in excess of net short-term capital losses are taxable as long-term capital gains, regardless of how long you have held the shares. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts. Distributions from the Fund are subject to a 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax on "net investment income," for individuals with incomes exceeding $200,000 ($250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts. In general, your distributions are subject to U.S. federal income tax for the year when they are paid. Certain distributions paid in January, however, may be treated as paid on December 31 of the prior year. Certain states and localities may exempt from tax distributions attributable to interest from U.S. federal government obligations.**

You may lose the ability to use foreign tax credits passed through by the Fund if your Fund shares are loaned out pursuant to a securities lending agreement.

If the Fund's distributions exceed current and accumulated earnings and profits, all or a portion of the distributions made in the taxable year may be recharacterized as a return of capital to shareholders. Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. A return of capital distribution generally will not be taxable but will reduce the shareholder's cost basis and will result in a higher capital gain or lower capital loss when those shares on which the distribution was received are sold. Once a shareholder's cost basis is reduced to zero, further distributions will be treated as capital gain, if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets.

Dividends, interest and capital gains earned by the Underlying Fund with respect to securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may give rise to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes. If more than 50% of the total assets of the

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Underlying Fund at the close of a year consists of non-U.S. stocks or securities (generally, for this purpose, depositary receipts, no matter where traded, of non-U.S. companies are treated as "non-U.S.") (and 50% of the total assets of the Fund at the close of the year consists of securities issued by non-U.S. issuers, or, at the close of each quarter, shares of the Underlying Fund), the Fund may "pass through" to you certain non-U.S. income taxes (including withholding taxes) paid by the Fund or the Underlying Fund. This means that you would be considered to have received as an additional dividend your share of such non-U.S. taxes, but you may be entitled to either a corresponding tax deduction in calculating your taxable income, or, subject to certain limitations, a credit in calculating your U.S. federal income tax.

For purposes of foreign tax credits for U.S. shareholders of the Fund, foreign capital gains taxes may not produce associated foreign source income, limiting the availability of such credits for U.S. persons.

Because the Fund is expected to invest in the Underlying Fund, the Fund's realized losses on sales of shares of such Underlying Fund may be indefinitely or permanently deferred as "wash sales." Distributions of short-term capital gains by the Underlying Fund will be recognized as ordinary income by the Fund and would not be offset by the Fund's capital loss carryforwards, if any. Capital loss carryforwards of the Underlying Fund, if any, would not offset net capital gains of the Fund.

If you are neither a resident nor a citizen of the U.S. or if you are a non-U.S. entity (other than a pass-through entity to the extent owned by U.S. persons), the Fund's ordinary income dividends (which include distributions of net short-term capital gains) will generally be subject to a 30% U.S. federal withholding tax, unless a lower treaty rate applies provided that withholding tax will generally not apply to any gain or income realized by a non-U.S. shareholder in respect of any distributions of long-term capital gains or upon the sale or other disposition of shares of the Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained, agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

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If you are a resident or a citizen of the U.S., by law, backup withholding at a 24% rate will apply to your distributions and proceeds if you have not provided a taxpayer identification number or social security number and made other required certifications.

**Taxes When Shares Are Sold. Currently, any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares is generally treated as a long-term gain or loss if the shares have been held for more than one year. Any capital gain or loss realized upon a sale of Fund shares held for one year or less is generally treated as short-term gain or loss, except that any capital loss on the sale of shares held for six months or less is treated as long-term capital loss to the extent that capital gain dividends were paid with respect to such shares. Any such capital gains, including from sales of Fund shares or from capital gain dividends, are included in "net investment income" for purposes of the 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax mentioned above.**

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

**Creations and Redemptions. Prior to trading in the secondary market, shares of the Fund are "created" at NAV by market makers, large investors and institutions only in block-size Creation Units or multiples thereof. Each "creator" or authorized participant (an "Authorized Participant") has entered into an agreement with the Fund's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), an affiliate of BFA. An Authorized Participant is a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units.**

A creation transaction, which is subject to acceptance by the Distributor and the Fund, generally takes place when an Authorized Participant deposits into the Fund a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "creation basket"), and an amount of cash (including any cash representing the value of substituted securities, assets or other positions), if any, which together approximate the holdings of the Fund in exchange for a specified number of Creation Units. Similarly, shares can be redeemed only in Creation Units, generally for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (a "redemption basket") held by the Fund and an amount of cash (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted). The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind. Except when aggregated in Creation Units, shares are not redeemable by the Fund. Creation and redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." More information regarding custom baskets is contained in the Fund's SAI.

The prices at which creations and redemptions occur are based on the next calculation of NAV after a creation or redemption order is received in an acceptable form under the authorized participant agreement.

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Only an Authorized Participant may create or redeem Creation Units with the Fund. Authorized Participants may create or redeem Creation Units for their own accounts or for customers, including, without limitation, affiliates of the Fund.

In the event of a system failure or other interruption, including disruptions at market makers or Authorized Participants, orders to purchase or redeem Creation Units either may not be executed according to the Fund's instructions or may not be executed at all, or the Fund may not be able to place or change orders.

To the extent the Fund engages in in-kind transactions, the Fund intends to comply with the U.S. federal securities laws in accepting securities for deposit and satisfying redemptions with redemption securities by, among other means, assuring that any securities accepted for deposit and any securities used to satisfy redemption requests will be sold in transactions that would be exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). Further, an Authorized Participant that is not a "qualified institutional buyer," as such term is defined in Rule 144A under the 1933 Act, will not be able to receive restricted securities eligible for resale under Rule 144A.

Creations and redemptions must be made through a firm that is either a member of the Continuous Net Settlement System of the National Securities Clearing Corporation or a DTC participant that has executed an agreement with the Distributor with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Unit aggregations. Information about the procedures regarding creation and redemption of Creation Units (including the cut-off times for receipt of creation and redemption orders) is included in the Fund's SAI.

Because new shares may be created and issued on an ongoing basis, at any point during the life of the Fund a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may be occurring. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters subject to the prospectus delivery and liability provisions of the 1933 Act. Any determination of whether one is an underwriter must take into account all the relevant facts and circumstances of each particular case.

Broker-dealers should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are participating in a distribution (as contrasted to ordinary secondary transactions), and thus dealing with shares that are part of an "unsold allotment" within the meaning of Section 4(a)(3)(C) of the 1933 Act, would be unable to take advantage of the prospectus delivery exemption provided by Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act. For delivery of prospectuses to exchange members, the prospectus delivery mechanism of Rule 153 under the 1933 Act is available only with respect to transactions on a national securities exchange.

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

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documents, or if you are currently enrolled in householding and wish to change your householding status.

Distribution

The Distributor or its agent distributes Creation Units for the Fund on an agency basis. The Distributor does not maintain a secondary market in shares of the Fund. The Distributor has no role in determining the policies of the Fund or the securities that are purchased or sold by the Fund. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

BFA or its affiliates make payments to broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks or other intermediaries (together, "intermediaries") related to marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems, data provision services, or their making shares of the Fund and certain other iShares funds available to their customers generally and in certain investment programs. Such payments, which may be significant to the intermediary, are not made by the Fund. Rather, such payments are made by BFA or its affiliates from their own resources, which come directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the iShares funds complex. Payments of this type are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments. A financial intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it recommends or makes available, or the level of services provided, to its customers based on the payments or other financial incentives it is eligible to receive. Therefore, such payments or other financial incentives offered or made to an intermediary create conflicts of interest between the intermediary and its customers and may cause the intermediary to recommend the Fund or other iShares funds over another investment. More information regarding these payments is contained in the Fund's SAI. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments his or her firm may receive from BFA or its affiliates.**

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Financial Highlights

The financial highlights table is intended to help investors understand the Fund's financial performance since inception. Certain information reflects financial results for a single share of the Fund. The total return in the table represents the rate that an investor would have earned (or lost) on an investment in the Fund, assuming reinvestment of all dividends and distributions. This information has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, whose report is included, along with the Fund's financial statements, in the Fund's Annual Report (available upon request).

#### Financial Highlights (For a share outstanding throughout the period)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | **iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF** |
|  | **Period From<br>06/22/22<sup>(a)</sup><br>to 10/31/22** |
| **Net asset value, beginning of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net investment income<sup>(b)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Net realized and unrealized loss<sup>(c)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.08) |
| Net increase from investment operations | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.09 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;Distributions from net investment income<sup>(d)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(0.11) |
| **Net asset value, end of period** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$25.17 |
| **Total Return<sup>(e)</sup>** |  |
| Based on net asset value | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.32%<sup>(f)</sup> |
| **Ratios to Average Net Assets<sup>(g)</sup>** |  |
| Total expenses | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.13%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Total expenses after fees waived | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0.10%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| Net investment income | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1.84%<sup>(h)</sup> |
| **Supplemental Data** |  |
| Net assets, end of period (000) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2517 |
| Portfolio turnover rate<sup>(i)</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;14% |
| <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. | <br><sup>(a)</sup> Commencement of operations. |
| <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. | <sup>(b)</sup> Based on average shares outstanding. |
| <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. | <sup>(c)</sup> The amounts reported for a share outstanding may not accord with the change in aggregate gains and losses in securities for the fiscal period due to the timing of capital share transactions in relation to the fluctuating market values of the Fund's underlying securities. |
| <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. | <sup>(d)</sup> Distributions for annual periods determined in accordance with U.S. federal income tax regulations. |
| <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. | <sup>(e)</sup> Where applicable, assumes the reinvestment of distributions. |
| <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. | <sup>(f)</sup> Not annualized. |
| <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. | <sup>(g)</sup> Excludes fees and expenses incurred indirectly as a result of investments in underlying funds. |
| <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. | <sup>(h)</sup> Annualized. |
| <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. | <sup>(i)</sup> Portfolio turnover rate excludes in-kind transactions. |

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Index Provider

The Underlying Index was created and is sponsored by BlackRock Index Services, LLC, an affiliated person of the Fund and of BFA. The Index Provider or one or more of its affiliates has entered into a license agreement with the Fund pursuant to which the Fund uses the Underlying Index at no charge.

The Index Provider determines the composition and relative weightings of the securities in the Underlying Index and publishes information regarding the market value of the Underlying Index. The Index Provider will also act as calculation agent for the Underlying Index. The Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent non-public information related to the Underlying Index, such as pending changes to the Underlying Index, from being used or disseminated in an improper manner, including to affiliates of the Fund. The Fund is not entitled to obtain non-public information about the Underlying Index prior to dissemination of such changes. Furthermore, the Index Provider and BFA have established policies and procedures designed to prevent improper use and dissemination of non-public information about the Fund's portfolio strategies.

The Index Provider has no obligation to take the needs of the Fund or its shareholders into consideration in establishing and maintaining the Underlying Index. The Index Provider does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or performance of the Underlying Index or the data included therein and shall have no liability in connection with the Underlying Index or Underlying Index calculation.

Disclaimers

**The Fund is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by BlackRock Index Services, LLC. BlackRock Index Services, LLC makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the advisability of investing in funds generally or in the Fund particularly or the ability of the Underlying Index to track general stock market performance. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is the licensor of certain trademarks, service marks and trade names of BlackRock Index Services, LLC and of the Underlying Index, which is determined, composed and calculated by BlackRock Index Services, LLC without regard to the issuer of the Fund or the Fund. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation to take the needs of the issuer of the Fund or the owners of the Fund into consideration in determining, composing or calculating the Underlying Index. BlackRock Index Services, LLC is not responsible for and has not participated in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued or in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. BlackRock Index Services, LLC has no obligation or liability to owners of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the Fund.**

**ALTHOUGH BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC SHALL OBTAIN INFORMATION FOR INCLUSION IN OR FOR USE IN THE CALCULATION OF THE INDEXES FROM SOURCES THAT BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC CONSIDERS RELIABLE,**

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**BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY AND/OR THE COMPLETENESS OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC DOES NOT MAKE ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AS TO RESULTS TO BE OBTAINED BY LICENSEE, LICENSEE'S CUSTOMERS AND COUNTERPARTIES, OWNERS OF THE FUND, OR ANY OTHER PERSON OR ENTITY FROM THE USE OF THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN IN CONNECTION WITH THE RIGHTS LICENSED HEREUNDER OR FOR ANY OTHER USE. BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC MAKES NO EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, AND BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HEREBY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WITH RESPECT TO THE INDEXES OR ANY DATA INCLUDED THEREIN. WITHOUT LIMITING ANY OF THE FOREGOING, IN NO EVENT SHALL BLACKROCK INDEX SERVICES, LLC HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY OTHER DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS) EVEN IF NOTIFIED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.**

**Shares of the Fund are not sponsored, endorsed or promoted by NYSE Arca. NYSE Arca makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, to the owners of the shares of the Fund or any member of the public regarding the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. NYSE Arca is not responsible for, nor has it participated in, the determination of the Fund's investments, nor in the determination of the timing of, prices of, or quantities of shares of the Fund to be issued, nor in the determination or calculation of the equation by which the shares are redeemable. NYSE Arca has no obligation or liability to owners of the shares of the Fund in connection with the administration, marketing or trading of the shares of the Fund.**

**Without limiting any of the foregoing, in no event shall NYSE Arca have any liability for any direct, indirect, special, punitive, consequential or any other damages (including lost profits) even if notified of the possibility of such damages.**

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Want to know more?

iShares.com &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\|&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1-800-474-2737

Information on the Fund's net asset value, market price, premiums and discounts, and bid-ask spreads can be found at www.iShares.com. Copies of the Prospectus, SAI and recent shareholder reports can be found on our website at www.iShares.com. For more information about the Fund, you may request a copy of the SAI. The SAI provides detailed information about the Fund and is incorporated by reference into this Prospectus. This means that the SAI, for legal purposes, is a part of this Prospectus.

Additional information about the Fund's investments is available in the Fund's Annual Report to shareholders. In the Fund's Annual Report, you will find a discussion of the market conditions and investment strategies that significantly affected the Fund's performance during the last fiscal year.

If you have any questions about the Trust or shares of the Fund or you wish to obtain the SAI or Annual Report free of charge, please:

Call: 1-800-iShares or 1-800-474-2737 (toll free)Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Eastern time) <br> Email: iSharesETFs@blackrock.com <br> Write: c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540

Reports and other information about the Fund are available on the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and copies of this information may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by electronic request at the following e-mail address: publicinfo@sec.gov.

*No person is authorized to give any information or to make any representations about the Fund and its shares not contained in this Prospectus and you should not rely on any other information. Read and keep this Prospectus for future reference.*©2023 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. **iSHARES<sup>®</sup>** and **BLACKROCK<sup>®</sup>**are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

Investment Company Act File No.: 811-22649

IS-P-AGRH-0323

![](g371946isharesbc2019sm.jpg)

![](g371946img330ece9b2.gif)

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## iShares<sup>®</sup> U.S. ETF Trust
Statement of Additional Information

Dated March 1, 2023

This Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the current prospectus (the "Prospectus") for the following series of iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust"):

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Ticker** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Listing Exchange** |
| iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF (the "Fund") | &nbsp;&nbsp;CMDY | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |

---

The Prospectus for the Fund is dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. The Financial Statements and Notes contained in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) and [Semi-Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522187742/d360218dncsrs.htm) of the Trust for the Fund are incorporated by reference into and are deemed to be part of this SAI. A copy of the Prospectus, Annual Report and Semi-Annual Report may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting *www.iShares.com*. The Fund's Prospectus is incorporated by reference into this SAI.

References to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act" or the "1940 Act"), or other applicable law, will include any rules promulgated thereunder and any guidance, interpretations or modifications by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), SEC staff or other authority with appropriate jurisdiction, including court interpretations, and exemptive, no action or other relief or permission from the SEC, SEC staff or other authority.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

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#### **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| [General Description of the Trust and the Fund](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Exchange Listing and Trading](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Investment Strategies and Risks](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Derivatives](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Diversification Status](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures and Options](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lending Portfolio Securities](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk Management](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Options on Futures Contracts](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulation Regarding Derivatives](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreements](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reverse Repurchase Agreements](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Swap Agreements](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Future Developments](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| [General Considerations and Risks](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodities Investment Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodity Forward Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Dividend-Paying Stock Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Illiquid Investments Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Replacement Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Money Market Instruments Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Issuers Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Operational Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Derivatives](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Swap Agreements](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Valuation Risk](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Developed Countries](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Europe](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |

---

i

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_bloom_8cdc86db-e0de-40ac-8e08-42c76f601d16_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Gold](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| [Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| [Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| [Investment Policies](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| [Continuous Offering](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| [Management](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Trustees and Officers](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Committees of the Board of Trustees](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_27) | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Conflicts of Interest](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| [Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Adviser](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Portfolio Managers](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_42) | &nbsp;&nbsp;42 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Codes of Ethics](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_44) | &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Anti-Money Laundering Requirements](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_44) | &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_44) | &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distributor](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_44) | &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_45) | &nbsp;&nbsp;45 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Payments by BFA and its Affiliates](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;46 |
| [Determination of Net Asset Value](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_48) | &nbsp;&nbsp;48 |
| [Brokerage Transactions](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_50) | &nbsp;&nbsp;50 |
| [Additional Information Concerning the Trust](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_53) | &nbsp;&nbsp;53 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shares](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_53) | &nbsp;&nbsp;53 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distribution of Shares](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| [Creation and Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[General](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fund Deposit](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Purchase Method](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Procedures for Creation of Creation Units](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Role of the Authorized Participant](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Purchase Orders](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |

---

ii

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_bloom_8cdc86db-e0de-40ac-8e08-42c76f601d16_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuance of a Creation Unit](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Creation Transactions](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Redemption Method](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Redemption Orders](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custom Baskets](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units](#xx_3cf1dd92-4fbe-4a9b-b68e-e21cf03953cf_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| [Taxes](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulated Investment Company Qualifications](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of RICs](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excise Tax](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Net Capital Loss Carryforwards](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of U.S. Shareholders](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sales of Shares](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Backup Withholding](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sections 351 and 362](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Certain Derivatives](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Qualified Dividend Income](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Corporate Dividends Received Deduction](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excess Inclusion Income](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reporting](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Other Taxes](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| [Financial Statements](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| [Miscellaneous Information](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Counsel](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shareholder Communications to the Board](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investors' Rights](#xx_9d067005-5f9d-46b5-b366-5f517090489b_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| [Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_144f3b77-16ed-435f-90b7-361ce5cfaff7_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-1 |
| [Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_144f3b77-16ed-435f-90b7-361ce5cfaff7_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-2 |
| [Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_9a3c66a8-a779-4280-9ff8-654d29f28685_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-13 |

---

iii

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_bloom_8cdc86db-e0de-40ac-8e08-42c76f601d16_sai_toc)

## General Description of the Trust and the Fund
The Trust currently consists of 16 investment series or portfolios. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on June 21, 2011 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. The offering of the Trust's shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This SAI relates solely to the Fund.

The Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., and generally seeks to track the investment results of the specific benchmark index identified in the Fund's Prospectus (the "Underlying Index").

The Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value per share ("NAV") only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each, a "Creation Unit"), generally in exchange for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) (the "Deposit Securities" or "Creation Basket"), together with the deposit of a specified cash payment (the "Cash Component"). Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca" or the "Listing Exchange"), a national securities exchange. Shares of the Fund are traded in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below the Fund's NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Units, and, generally, in exchange for portfolio securities and a Cash Amount (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units-Role of the Authorized Participant* section of this SAI). Creation Units typically are a specified number of shares, generally 50,000 or multiples thereof.

The Trust reserves the right to permit or require that creations and redemptions of shares are effected fully or partially in cash and reserves the right to permit or require the substitution of Deposit Securities in lieu of cash. Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities, subject to various conditions, including a requirement that the Authorized Participant maintain with the Trust collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to purchase Deposit Securities. See the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Transaction fees and other costs associated with creations or redemptions that include a cash portion may be higher than the transaction fees and other costs associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, conditions with respect to creations and redemptions of shares and fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of SEC rules and regulations applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.

## Exchange Listing and Trading
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the *Shareholder Information* section of the Fund's Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, that section of the Prospectus.

Shares of the Fund are listed for trading, and trade throughout the day, on the Listing Exchange and in other secondary markets. Shares of the Fund may also be listed on certain non-U.S. exchanges. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Listing Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of the Fund will continue to be met. The Listing Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of the Fund from listing if, among other things: (i) the Fund is no longer eligible to operate in reliance on Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act; (ii) any of the other listing requirements are not continuously maintained; or (iii) any event shall occur or condition shall exist that, in the opinion of the Listing Exchange, makes further dealings on the Listing Exchange inadvisable. The Listing Exchange will also remove shares of the Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Fund.

As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker, as well as other charges.

The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Fund in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Fund or an investor's equity interest in the Fund.

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_bloom_8cdc86db-e0de-40ac-8e08-42c76f601d16_sai_toc)

## Investment Strategies and Risks
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index, which measures the performance of 22 futures contracts across 20 physical agricultural, energy, precious metals and industrial metals commodities. The Fund operates as an index fund and is not actively managed. Adverse performance of an instrument in the Fund's portfolio will ordinarily not result in the elimination of the instrument from the Fund's portfolio.

In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Fund will primarily invest in exchange-traded futures contracts ("Index Futures") on the Underlying Index, and is expected to roll out of existing positions in Index Futures and establish new positions in Index Futures on an ongoing basis. If the price for the new futures contract is less than the price of the expiring contract, then the market for the commodity is said to be in "backwardation." In these markets, roll returns are positive, which is referred to as "positive carry." The term "contango" is used to describe a market in which the price for a new futures contract is more than the price of the expiring contract. In these markets, roll returns are negative, which is referred to as "negative carry." The Underlying Index seeks to employ a positive carry strategy that emphasizes commodities and futures contract months with the greatest degree of backwardation and lowest degree of contango, resulting in net gains through positive roll returns. Index Futures subsequently acquired by the Fund may have terms that differ from those of the Index Futures it currently holds and the purchase and sale of these Index Futures may incur transaction fees. The Fund also seeks to generate interest income and capital appreciation on the cash balances arising from its investment in futures contracts through a cash management strategy consisting of investments in cash and cash equivalents, short-term government obligations and short-term investment grade fixed-income securities (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments").

The Fund engages in representative sampling, which is investing in a sample of securities and/or other instruments selected by BFA to have a collective investment profile similar to that of the Fund's Underlying Index. Securities and/or other instruments selected have aggregate investment characteristics (based on market capitalization value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as yield, credit rating, maturity and duration) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Fund's Underlying Index. A fund that uses representative sampling generally does not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments that are in its underlying index.

The Fund will invest in financial instruments providing exposure to commodities and not in the physical commodities themselves. The Fund may also invest in exchange-traded commodity futures contracts similar to those found in the Underlying Index, as well as swaps and options on futures that correlate to the investment returns of commodities without investing directly in physical commodities and over-the-counter ("OTC") commodity-linked instruments like commodity-linked notes, swaps and forward contracts (together, the "Commodity Investments"). Investing in derivative contracts may have a leveraging effect on the Fund. Although the Fund may hold the same futures contracts under the same futures rolling schedule as those included in the Underlying Index, the Fund is not obligated to invest in any futures contracts included in, and does not seek to replicate the performance of, the Underlying Index.

The Fund seeks to gain exposure to Index Futures and other Commodity Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the 1940 Act. The Subsidiary invests solely in Commodity Investments and cash and cash equivalents. In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Commodity Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to broad commodities consistent with current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in Commodity Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets will be invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments, including repurchase agreements, money market instruments, U.S. government and agency securities, Treasury inflation-protected securities, sovereign debt obligations on non-U.S. countries and investment-grade corporate bonds. The Fund invests in Fixed-Income Investments for investment purposes and to provide sufficient assets to account for (or "cover") mark-to-market changes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's investments in derivatives.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options

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and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA"). Although the Fund does not seek leveraged returns, certain instruments used by the Fund may have a leveraging effect as described below.

Investments in the Subsidiary are expected to provide the Fund with exposure to investment returns of commodities within the limitations of Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, as discussed below. The Subsidiary is a company organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands, whose registered office is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KYI-1104, Cayman Islands. The Subsidiary's affairs are overseen by a board of directors, which is comprised of Shannon Ghia, Secretary of the Trust, and Rachel Aguirre, Assistant Secretary of the Trust. The Fund is the sole shareholder of the Subsidiary, and shares of the Subsidiary will not be sold or offered to other investors.

The Fund will gain exposure to the investment returns of commodities indirectly by investing in the Subsidiary. To the extent that BlackRock believes that such instruments provide suitable exposure to commodities, the Fund's investment in the Subsidiary will likely increase. BlackRock manages the assets of the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so.

BlackRock also provides certain administrative services for the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so. The Subsidiary has entered into a contract for the provision of custody, transfer agency, and accounting agent services with the same or with affiliates of the same service providers that provide those services to the Fund.

Generally, the Fund and the Subsidiary test for compliance with investment policies and restrictions, including asset segregation requirements, on a consolidated basis for 1940 Act purposes, calculated in accordance with SEC staff guidance, where applicable. For compliance with federal income tax requirements, the Fund and the Subsidiary expect to comply with the asset segregation requirements on a stand-alone basis, with instruments requiring physical settlement being classified on a market value rather than on a notional basis. The Subsidiary is also expected to comply with the other applicable 1940 Act requirements, including those related to custody and affiliated transactions.

The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Fund's Prospectus or this SAI, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. However, the Fund wholly owns and controls the Subsidiary, and the Fund and the Subsidiary are managed by BFA. The Trust's Board of Trustees has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. As noted above, the Subsidiary will be subject to the same investment restrictions and limitations, and follow the same compliance policies and procedures, as the Fund. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Fund's Prospectus and this SAI and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely suffer decreased investment returns.

The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues regulations or other guidance , or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

Moreover, changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or Subsidiary to operate as described in the Fund's Prospectus and this SAI and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely experience decreased investment returns.

**Borrowing. The Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet payments due from redemptions or to facilitate the settlement of securities or other transactions.**

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The purchase of securities or other assets while borrowings are outstanding may have the effect of leveraging the Fund. The incurrence of leverage increases the Fund's exposure to risk, and borrowed funds are subject to interest costs that will reduce net income. Purchasing securities while borrowings are outstanding creates special risks, such as the potential for greater volatility in the NAV of Fund shares and in the yield on the Fund's portfolio. In addition, the interest expenses from borrowings may exceed the income generated by the Fund's portfolio and, therefore, the amount available (if any) for distribution to shareholders as dividends may be reduced. BFA may determine to maintain outstanding borrowings if it expects that the benefits to the Fund's shareholders will outweigh the current reduced return.

Certain types of borrowings by the Fund must be made from a bank or may result in the Fund being subject to covenants in credit agreements relating to asset coverage, portfolio composition requirements and other matters. It is not anticipated that observance of such covenants would impede BFA's management of the Fund's portfolio in accordance with the Fund's investment objectives and policies. However, a breach of any such covenants not cured within the specified cure period may result in acceleration of outstanding indebtedness and require the Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

**Derivatives. The Fund will use instruments referred to as derivatives. Derivatives are financial instruments the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity (such as gold or oil), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500 Index or the prime lending rate). Derivatives allow the Fund to increase or decrease the level of risk to which the Fund is exposed more quickly and efficiently than transactions in other types of instruments. The Fund may use derivatives for hedging purposes. The Fund may also use derivatives for speculative purposes to seek to enhance returns or as a vehicle to obtain investment exposure to a security, commodity, currency, or index. The use of a derivative is speculative if the Fund is primarily seeking to achieve gains, rather than to offset the risk of other positions. When the Fund invests in a derivative for speculative purposes, the Fund will be fully exposed to the risks of loss of that derivative, which may sometimes be greater than the derivative's cost. Unless otherwise permitted, the Fund may not use any derivatives to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly.**

**Diversification Status. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." A non-diversified fund is a fund that is not limited by the 1940 Act with regard to the percentage of its assets that may be invested in the securities of a single issuer. The securities of a particular issuer (or securities of issuers in particular industries) may constitute a significant percentage of the investment portfolio of such a fund. This may adversely affect the fund's performance or subject the fund's shares to greater price volatility than that experienced by more diversified investment companies.**

The Fund intends to maintain the required level of diversification and otherwise conduct its operations so as to qualify as a RIC for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code, and to relieve the Fund of any liability for U.S. federal income tax to the extent that its earnings are distributed to shareholders, provided that the Fund satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. Compliance with the diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code may limit the investment flexibility of the Fund and may make it less likely that the Fund will meet its investment objective.

**Futures and Options. The Fund may invest in options and futures. The Fund may also purchase call options or write put options. A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security or asset at a specified price ("exercise price") within a specified period of time. A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security or asset at an exercise price within a specified period of time. The initial purchaser of a call option pays the "writer" a premium, which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised.**

**Lending Portfolio Securities. The Fund may lend portfolio securities to certain borrowers that BFA determines to be creditworthy, including borrowers affiliated with BFA. The borrowers provide collateral that is maintained in an amount at least equal to the current market value of the securities loaned. No securities loan shall be made on behalf of the Fund if, as a result, the aggregate value of all securities loans of the Fund exceeds one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received). The Fund may terminate a loan at any time and obtain the return of the securities loaned. The Fund receives, by way of substitute payment, the value of any interest or cash or non-cash distributions paid on the loaned securities that it would have otherwise received if the securities were not on loan.**

With respect to loans that are collateralized by cash, the borrower may be entitled to receive a fee based on the amount of cash collateral. The Fund is compensated by any positive difference between the amount earned on the reinvestment of cash collateral and the fee paid to the borrower. In the case of collateral other than cash, the Fund is compensated by a fee paid by the borrower equal to a percentage of the market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral received by the Fund for

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such loans, and uninvested cash, may be reinvested in certain short-term instruments either directly on behalf of the Fund or through one or more joint accounts or money market funds, including those affiliated with BFA; such investments are subject to investment risk.

The Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to an exemptive order from the SEC permitting it to lend portfolio securities to borrowers affiliated with the Fund and to retain an affiliate of the Fund to act as securities lending agent. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA. BTC administers the lending program in accordance with guidelines approved by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board," the trustees of which are the "Trustees"). JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan") serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.

Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including operational risk (i.e., the risk of losses resulting from problems in the settlement and accounting process), "gap" risk (i.e., the risk of a mismatch between the return on cash collateral reinvestments and the fees the Fund has agreed to pay a borrower), foreign exchange risk (i.e., the risk of a shortfall at default when a cash collateral investment is denominated in a currency other than the currency of the assets being loaned due to movements in foreign exchange rates), and credit, legal, counterparty and market risks (including the risk that market events could lead the Fund to recall loaned securities or to lend less or not at all, which could lead to reduced securities lending revenue). If a securities lending counterparty were to default, the Fund would be subject to the risk of a possible delay in receiving collateral or in recovering the loaned securities, or to a possible loss of rights in the collateral. In the event a borrower does not return the Fund's securities as agreed, the Fund's ability to participate in a corporate action event may be impacted, or the Fund may experience losses if the proceeds received from liquidating the collateral do not at least equal the value of the loaned security at the time the collateral is liquidated, plus the transaction costs incurred in purchasing replacement securities. This latter event could trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. The Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan. Substitute payments received by the Fund representing dividends paid on securities loaned out by the Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. BTC will take into account the tax effects on shareholders caused by this difference in connection with the Fund's securities lending program. Substitute payments received on tax-exempt securities loaned out will not be tax-exempt income. There could also be changes in the status of issuers under applicable laws and regulations, including tax regulations, that may impact the regulatory or tax treatment of loaned securities and could, for example, result in a delay in the payment of dividend equivalent payments owed to the Fund (as permitted by applicable law).

Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these requirements, as well as potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect the Fund's ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

**Liquidity Risk Management. Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act (the "Liquidity Rule") requires open-end funds, including exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") such as the Fund, to establish a liquidity risk management program (the "Liquidity Program") and enhance disclosures regarding fund liquidity. As required by the Liquidity Rule, the Fund has implemented a Liquidity Program, and the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust, has appointed BFA as the administrator of the Liquidity Program. Under the Liquidity Program, BFA assesses, manages, and periodically reviews the Fund's liquidity risk and classifies each investment held by the Fund as a "highly liquid investment," "moderately liquid investment," "less liquid investment" or "illiquid investment." The Liquidity Rule defines "liquidity risk" as the risk that the Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by the Fund without significant dilution of the remaining investors' interest in the Fund. The liquidity of the Fund's portfolio investments is determined based on relevant market, trading and investment-specific considerations under the Liquidity Program. There are exclusions from certain portions of the liquidity risk management program requirements for "in-kind" ETFs, as defined in the Liquidity Rule. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, the Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.**

**Options on Futures Contracts. The Fund may invest in options on futures contracts. An option on a futures contract, as contrasted with the direct investment in such a contract, gives the purchaser the right, in return for the premium paid, to assume a position in the underlying futures contract at a specified exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option. Upon exercise of an option, the delivery of the futures position by the writer of the option to the holder of the**

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option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated balance in the writer's futures margin account that represents the amount by which the market price of the futures contract exceeds (in the case of a call) or is less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option on the futures contract. The potential for loss related to the purchase of an option on a futures contract is limited to the premium paid for the option plus transaction costs. Because the value of the option is fixed at the point of sale, there are no daily cash payments by the purchaser to reflect changes in the value of the underlying contract; however, the value of the option changes daily and that change would be reflected in the NAV of the Fund. The potential for loss related to writing call options is unlimited. The potential for loss related to writing put options is limited to the agreed upon price per share, also known as the "strike price," less the premium received from writing the put.

**Regulation Regarding Derivatives. The CFTC subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if a fund that is advised by the investment adviser either (i) invests, directly or indirectly, more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps ("CFTC Derivatives") or (ii) markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC Derivatives above the prescribed levels, the Fund and the Subsidiary will each be considered a "commodity pool" under the CEA. Accordingly, BFA, the Fund's investment adviser, has registered as a commodity pool operator and is subject to CFTC regulation with respect to the Fund. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association.**

Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards, and NDFs, are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Swaps, NDFs and certain other derivatives traded in the OTC market are subject to variation margin and initial margin requirements. Implementation of the margining and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading, reporting and documentation of swaps and other derivatives have impacted and may continue to impact the costs to the Fund of trading these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in the Fund.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into Derivatives Transactions (as defined below) and certain other transactions notwithstanding the restrictions on the issuance of "senior securities" under Section 18 of the Investment Company Act. Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, among other things, prohibits open-end funds, including the Fund, from issuing or selling any "senior security," other than borrowing from a bank (subject to a requirement to maintain 300% "asset coverage").

Under Rule 18f-4, "Derivatives Transactions" include the following: (1) any swap, security-based swap (including a contract for differences), futures contract, forward contract, option (excluding purchased options), any combination of the foregoing, or any similar instrument, under which the Fund is or may be required to make any payment or delivery of cash or other assets during the life of the instrument or at maturity or early termination, whether as margin or settlement payment or otherwise; (2) any short sale borrowing; (3) reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g*., recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, and borrowed bonds), if the Fund elects to treat these transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4; and (4) when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g.,* firm and standby commitments, including to-be-announced ("TBA") commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities, unless the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision").

Unless the Fund is relying on the Limited Derivatives User Exception (as defined below), the Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to its Derivatives Transactions. Rule 18f-4, among other things, requires the Fund to adopt and implement a comprehensive written derivatives risk management program ("DRMP") and comply with a relative or absolute limit on Fund leverage risk calculated based on value-at-risk ("VaR"). The DRMP is administered by a "derivatives risk manager," who is appointed by the Board, including a majority of Independent Directors/Trustees, and periodically reviews the DRMP and reports to the Board.

Rule 18f-4 provides an exception from the DRMP, VaR limit and certain other requirements if the Fund's "derivatives exposure" (as defined in Rule 18f-4) is limited to 10% of its net assets (as calculated in accordance with Rule 18f-4) and the Fund adopts and implements written policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks (the "Limited Derivatives User Exception").

**Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price, thereby determining the yield during the purchaser's holding period. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be**

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collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price, and, in the event of a default by the seller, the Fund may suffer time delays and incur costs or losses in connection with the disposition of the collateral.

In any repurchase transaction, the collateral for a repurchase agreement may include: (i) cash items; (ii) obligations issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; or (iii) obligations that, at the time the repurchase agreement is entered into, are determined to (A) have exceptionally strong capacity to meet their financial obligations and (B) are sufficiently liquid such that they can be sold at approximately their carrying value in the ordinary course of business within seven days.

Repurchase agreements pose certain risks for the Fund, should it decide to utilize them. Such risks are not unique to the Fund, but are inherent in repurchase agreements. The Fund seeks to minimize such risks, but because of the inherent legal uncertainties involved in repurchase agreements, such risks cannot be eliminated. Lower quality collateral and collateral with a longer maturity may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality collateral and collateral with a shorter maturity. If the repurchase agreement counterparty were to default, lower quality collateral may be more difficult to liquidate than higher quality collateral. Should the counterparty default and the amount of collateral not be sufficient to cover the counterparty's repurchase obligation, the Fund would likely retain the status of an unsecured creditor of the counterparty (*i.e.*, the position the Fund would normally be in if it were to hold, pursuant to its investment policies, other unsecured debt securities of the defaulting counterparty) with respect to the amount of the shortfall. As an unsecured creditor, the Fund would be at risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.

**Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. Generally, the effect of such transactions is that the Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are advantageous only if the Fund has an opportunity to earn a rate of interest on the cash derived from these transactions that is greater than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required to be paid may not always be available, and the Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique only when BFA believes it will be advantageous to the Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any increase or decrease in the value of the Fund's assets. The use of reverse repurchase agreements is a form of leverage, and the proceeds obtained by the Fund through reverse repurchase agreements may be invested in additional securities.**

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.,* recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, borrowed bonds) notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that the Fund either (i) complies with the 300% asset coverage ratio with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treats such transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4. (See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.)

**Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments. The Fund may invest in short-term instruments, including money market instruments, on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity or for other reasons. Money market instruments are generally short-term investments that may include, but are not limited to: (i) shares of money market funds (including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA); (ii) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (including government-sponsored enterprises); (iii) negotiable certificates of deposit ("CDs"), bankers' acceptances, fixed-time deposits and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks (including non-U.S. branches) and similar institutions; (iv) commercial paper rated, at the date of purchase, "Prime-1" by Moody's<sup>®</sup> Investors Service, Inc., "F-1" by Fitch Ratings, Inc., or "A-1" by S&P Global, Inc., a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies ("S&P Global Ratings"), or if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by BFA; (v) non-convertible corporate debt securities (*e.g.*, bonds and debentures) with remaining maturities at the date of purchase of not more than 397 days and that have been determined to present minimal credit risks, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act; (vi) repurchase agreements; and (vii) short-term U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of non-U.S. banks (including U.S. branches) that, in the opinion of BFA, are of comparable quality to obligations of U.S. banks that may be purchased by the Fund. Any of these instruments may be purchased on a current or forward-settled basis. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Bankers' acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.**

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**Swap Agreements. Swap agreements are contracts between parties in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to the other party based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount. In return, the other party agrees to make periodic payments to the first party based on the return (or a differential in rate of return) earned or realized on the underlying investment or notional amount. Swap agreements will usually be performed on a net basis, with the Fund receiving or paying only the net amount of the two payments. The net amount of the excess, if any, of the Fund's obligations over its entitlements with respect to each swap is accrued on a daily basis.**

The Fund may enter into swap agreements, including commodity swaps, currency swaps, interest rate swaps, securities swaps and index swaps. The use of such swaps is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions. These transactions generally do not involve the delivery of securities or other underlying assets.

**Future Developments. The Board may, in the future, authorize the Fund to invest in securities contracts and investments, other than those listed in this SAI and in the Prospectus, provided they are consistent with the Fund's investment objective and do not violate any of its investment restrictions or policies.**

## General Considerations and Risks
A discussion of some of the principal risks associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the Prospectus.

An investment in the Fund should be made with an understanding that the value of the Fund's portfolio securities may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of stocks in general, and other factors that affect the market. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

Set forth below is more detailed information regarding the types of instruments in which the Fund may invest, strategies BFA may employ in pursuit of the Fund's investment objective and related risks.

**Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the NAV of Fund shares and in the return on the Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cause the Fund to incur interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce the Fund's return. Borrowing may cause the Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.**

**Commodities Investment Risk. Exposure to commodities markets may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The commodities markets have experienced periods of extreme volatility. Similar future market conditions may result in rapid and substantial valuation increases or decreases in the Fund's holdings.**

The commodities markets may fluctuate widely based on a variety of factors. Movements in commodity investment prices are outside of the Fund's control and may not be anticipated by BFA. Price movements may be influenced by, among other things: governmental, agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs and policies; changing market and economic conditions; market liquidity; weather and climate conditions, including droughts and floods; livestock disease; changing supply and demand relationships and levels of domestic production and imported commodities; changes in storage costs; the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems; energy conservation; the success of exploration projects; changes in international balances of payments and trade; domestic and foreign rates of inflation; currency devaluations and revaluations; domestic and foreign political and economic events; domestic and foreign interest rates and/or investor expectations concerning interest rates; foreign currency/exchange rates; domestic and foreign governmental regulation and taxation; war, acts of terrorism and other political upheaval and conflicts; governmental expropriation; investment and trading activities of mutual funds, hedge funds and commodities funds; and changes in philosophies and emotions of market participants. The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted. However, it is likely that current declines in trade relations between the U.S. and other countries and tariffs imposed by the U.S. on foreign products and by foreign countries on U.S. commodities will impact commodity prices.

The prices of commodities can also fluctuate widely due to supply and demand disruptions in major producing or consuming regions. Certain commodities or natural resources may be produced in a limited number of countries and may be controlled by a small number of producers or groups of producers. As a result, political, economic, regulatory and supply-related events in such countries could have a disproportionate impact on the prices of such commodities.

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A decrease in the production of a physical commodity or a decrease in the volume of such commodity available for transportation, mining, processing, storage or distribution may adversely impact the financial performance of a commodity or commodity-related company that devotes a portion of its business to that commodity. Production declines and volume decreases could be caused by various factors, including catastrophic events affecting production, depletion of resources, labor difficulties, environmental proceedings, increased regulations, equipment failures and unexpected maintenance problems, import supply disruption, governmental expropriation, political upheaval or conflicts or increased competition from alternative energy sources or commodity prices. Agricultural commodities may be adversely affected by weather or other natural phenomena, such as drought, floods and pests.

A sustained decline in demand for such commodities could also adversely affect the financial performance of commodity-related companies. Factors that could lead to a decline in demand include economic recession or other adverse economic conditions, higher taxes on commodities or increased governmental regulations, increases in fuel economy, consumer shifts to the use of alternative commodities or fuel sources, changes in commodity prices, or weather.

The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation in futures contract prices which may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be made beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices.

**Commodity Forward Risk. A commodity forward is a customized, non-standardized agreement that obligates one party to buy, and the other party to sell, a specific quantity of an underlying commodity for an agreed-upon price at a future date, usually for physical delivery. Commodity forwards that are settled by a cash payment at maturity are referred to as "non-deliverable forwards." Because commodity forwards do not trade on a centralized exchange, they are subject to a higher degree of default risk and, depending upon the underlying commodity, may be less liquid than futures contracts on the same referenced commodity. In addition, use of commodity forwards creates risk for the Fund because the contracts require the Fund to take or make delivery of a physical commodity, which involves additional cost as well as delivery risk. Unless the Fund were to close out a contract prior to maturity, any failure of the Fund to comply with the contract delivery obligations at maturity would cause the Fund to default, which could have adverse collateral consequences for investors.**

**Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of a commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. Therefore, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall economic conditions, in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular commodity or industry, such as production, disease, climate conditions, supply or demand, politics, geopolitics, changes in international balance of payments and trade, currency devaluations and revaluations, market liquidity, and economic and regulatory developments. The prices of commodity-related investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically and may or may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop. Commodity derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives can result in large amounts of financial leverage. Although the Fund will not borrow money in order to increase the amount of its trading, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit a high degree of leverage on the investment itself. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. Like other leveraged investments, any trade may result in losses in excess of the amount invested. These factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.**

**Dividend-Paying Stock Risk. Investing in dividend-paying stocks involves the risk that such stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform the broader market. Companies that issue dividend-paying stocks are not required to pay or continue paying dividends on such stocks. It is possible that issuers of the stocks held by the Fund will not declare dividends in the future or will reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends (including reducing or eliminating anticipated accelerations or increases in the payment of dividends) in the future.**

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**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The liquidity of an investment will be determined based on relevant market, trading and investment specific considerations as set out in the Liquidity Program as required by the Liquidity Rule. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount to comparable, more liquid investments and the Fund may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments in a timely fashion or at their expected prices. If illiquid investments exceed 15% of the Fund's net assets, the Liquidity Rule and the Liquidity Program will require that certain remedial actions be taken.**

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. All other LIBOR settings and certain other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA") ceased to be published after December 31, 2021. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement ("repo") market and has been used increasingly on a voluntary basis in new instruments and transactions. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate Act was signed into law in the U.S., providing a statutory fallback mechanism to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Federal Reserve Board and based on SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR without adequate fallback provisions. On December 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve Board adopted regulations implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate Act by identifying benchmark rates based on SOFR that will replace LIBOR in different categories of financial contracts after June 30, 2023.**

The regulations include provisions that (i) provide a safe harbor for selection or use of a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; (ii) clarify who may choose the replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; and (iii) ensure that contracts adopting a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board will not be interrupted or terminated following the replacement of LIBOR. These regulations apply only contracts governed by U.S. law, among other limitations. Similar legislation and regulations have been and may be further adopted in other jurisdictions.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Parties to contracts, securities or other instruments using LIBOR may disagree on transition rates or the application of applicable transition regulations, potentially resulting in uncertainty of performance and the possibility of litigation. The Fund may have instruments linked to other interbank offered rates and currencies that may also cease to be published in the future.

The effect of these changes on the Fund will vary based on, among other things, existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and the potential renegotiation of existing contracts. In many cases, if an instrument falls back to an alternative reference rate, including SOFR, the alternative reference rate will not perform the same as LIBOR because the alternative reference rate does not include a credit-sensitive component in the rate calculation. In the event of a credit crisis, floating rate instruments using certain alternative reference rates could perform differently than those instruments using a rate indexed to the interbank lending market.

**Money Market Instruments Risk. The Fund may hold money market instruments. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changes in interest rates or in the credit ratings of the investments, among other things. If a significant amount of a Fund's assets is invested in money market instruments, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than U.S. government money market funds and retail money market funds "float" their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.**

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**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Operational Risk. BFA and the Fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors such as processing errors or human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, or systems or technology failures, that could negatively impact the Fund. While service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, their methods of operational risk management may differ from the Fund's in the setting of priorities, the personnel and resources available or the effectiveness of relevant controls. BFA, through its monitoring and oversight of service providers, seeks to ensure that service providers take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors. However, it is not possible for BFA or the other Fund service providers to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.**

**Risk of Derivatives. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, such as a security, a commodity (such as gold or silver), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500<sup>®</sup> or the prime lending rate). The Fund may invest in commodity futures contracts, securities options and other derivatives. Compared to securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus the Fund's losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations. Derivatives generally involve the incurrence of leverage.**

When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds or is committed to purchase, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and in some cases, hedging can cause losses that are not offset by gains, and the Fund will recognize losses on both the investment and the hedge. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.

**Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. A position in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be closed only on the exchange on which the contract was made (or a linked exchange). While the Fund plans to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if the Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, a Fund may be required to deliver the instruments underlying the futures contracts it has sold.**

The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (e.g., selling uncovered bond index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Fund does not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor relative to the size of a required margin deposit.

Utilization of futures and options on futures by the Fund involves the risk of loss by the Fund of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom the Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option. The purchase of put or call options will be based upon predictions by BFA as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect.

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Because the futures market generally imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day's settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and subjecting the Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.

**Risk of Swap Agreements. The risk of loss with respect to swaps is generally limited to the net amount of payments that the Fund is contractually obligated to make. Swap agreements are subject to the risk that the swap counterparty will default on its obligations. If such a default occurs, the Fund will have contractual remedies pursuant to the agreements related to the transaction. However, such remedies may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could affect the Fund's rights as a creditor (*e.g.*, the Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it is contractually entitled to receive).**

The Fund is required to post and collect variation margin and initial margin (comprised of specified liquid securities subject to haircuts) in connection with trading of OTC swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps.

Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. Swaps entered into by the Fund through its Subsidiary are not expected to be centrally cleared and thus will expose the Fund to counter-party default risk and illiquidity risk, as liquidity depends on the willingness of counterparties to enter into, and the ability of counterparties to hedge the risks of, such contracts.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. Treasury securities may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Because U.S. government debt obligations are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, a downgrade could also result in higher interest rates for a range of borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial adverse effect on the U.S. and global economy.**

A high national debt level may increase market pressures to meet government funding needs, which may drive debt cost higher and lead the government to issue additional debt, thereby increasing refinancing risk. A high national debt also raises concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. If market participants determine that U.S. sovereign debt levels have become unsustainable, the value of the U.S. dollar could decline, thus increasing inflationary pressures, particularly with respect to services outsourced to non-U.S. providers and imported goods and constrain or prevent the U.S. government from implementing effective countercyclical fiscal policy in economic downturns. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period that shareholders own shares of the Fund. Notwithstanding that U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S., circumstances could arise that would prevent the timely payment of interest or principal, which would result in losses to the Fund.

**Valuation Risk. In certain circumstances, the Fund's securities may be valued using techniques other than market quotations. The value established for a security may be different from what would be produced through the use of another methodology or if the value had been priced using market quotations. Securities that are valued using methods other than market quotations, including "fair valued" securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their value from one day to the next than would be the case if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell a security for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund could incur a loss if a security is sold for less than its established value.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Many countries with developed markets have recently experienced significant economic pressures. These countries generally tend to rely on the services sectors (*e.g.*, the financial services sector) as the primary source of economic growth and may be susceptible to the risks of individual service sectors. For example, companies in the financial services sector are subject to governmental regulation and, recently, government intervention, which may**

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adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and amount of capital they must maintain. Dislocations in the financial sector and perceived or actual governmental influence over certain financial companies may lead to credit rating downgrades and, as a result, impact, among other things, revenue growth for such companies. If financial companies experience a prolonged decline in revenue growth, certain developed countries that rely heavily on financial companies as an economic driver may experience a correlative slowdown. Concerns have emerged with respect to the economic health of certain developed countries. These concerns primarily stem from heavy indebtedness of many developed countries and their perceived inability to continue to service high debt loads without simultaneously implementing stringent austerity measures. Such concerns have led to tremendous downward pressure on the economies of these countries. As a result, it is possible that interest rates on debt of certain developed countries may rise to levels that make it difficult for such countries to service such debt. Spending on health care and retirement pensions in most developed countries has risen dramatically. Medical innovation, extended life expectancy and higher public expectations are likely to continue the increase in health care and pension costs. Any increase in health care and pension costs will likely have a negative impact on the economic growth of many developed countries. Certain developed countries rely on imports of certain key items, such as crude oil, natural gas, and other commodities. As a result, an increase in demand for, or price fluctuations of, certain commodities may negatively affect developed country economies. Developed market countries generally are dependent on the economies of certain key trading partners. Changes in any one economy may cause an adverse impact on several developed countries. In addition, heavy regulation of, among others, labor and product markets may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.

**Risk of Investing in Europe. Investing in European countries may expose the Fund to the economic and political risks associated with Europe in general and the specific European countries in which it invests. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one European country can have an adverse impact on other European countries. The Fund makes investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, have significant operations in, or that are listed on at least one securities exchange within member states of the European Union (the "EU"). A number of countries within the EU are also members of the Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") and have adopted the euro as their currency. Eurozone membership requires member states to comply with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Changes in import or export tariffs, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro and other currencies of certain EU countries which are not in the eurozone, the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. Although certain European countries are not in the eurozone, many of these countries are obliged to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone.**

Consequently, these countries must comply with many of the restrictions noted above. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns, government debt levels and the possible default of government debt in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. In order to prevent further economic deterioration, certain countries, without prior warning, can institute "capital controls." Countries may use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering and exiting their country. Such controls may negatively affect the Fund's investments. A default or debt restructuring by any European country would adversely impact holders of that country's debt and sellers of credit default swaps linked to that country's creditworthiness, which may be located in countries other than those listed above. In addition, the credit ratings of certain European countries were downgraded in the past. These events have adversely affected the value and exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect the economies of every country in Europe, including countries that do not use the euro and non-EU member states. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly fashion, is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely impact the value of the Fund's investments in the region.

The United Kingdom (the "U.K.") left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.

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Certain European countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect European issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region also could impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.*

**Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector. The energy sector is strongly affected by the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, government regulations and policies, energy production and conservation efforts, technological change, development of alternative energy sources, and other factors that they cannot control. These companies may also lack resources and have limited business lines.The energy sector is cyclical and is highly dependent on commodity prices; prices and supplies of energy may fluctuate significantly over short and long periods of time due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") policies, changes in relationships among OPEC members and between OPEC and oil-importing nations, the regulatory environment, taxation policies, and the economy of the key energy-consuming countries. Commodity prices have recently been subject to increased volatility and declines, which may negatively affect energy-related commodities in which the Fund invests. For example, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.**

The value of securities in the energy sector and energy-related commodities may be adversely affected by terrorism, natural disasters or other catastrophes. Disruptions in the oil industry or shifts in fuel consumption may significantly impact companies in this sector. Significant oil and gas deposits are located in emerging markets countries where corruption and security may raise significant risks, in addition to the other risks of investing in emerging markets. Additionally, the Middle East, where much of the energy sector operates, has historically and recently experienced widespread social unrest. The energy sector is highly regulated. Entities operating in the energy sector are subject to significant regulation of nearly every aspect of their operations by governmental agencies. Such regulation can change rapidly or over time in both scope and intensity. Stricter laws, regulations or enforcement policies could be enacted in the future which would likely increase compliance costs and may materially adversely affect the financial performance of companies in the energy sector and energy-related commodities.

**Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. Exposure to the gold market may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile. Similar future market conditions may result in rapid and substantial valuation increases or decreases in the Fund's holdings.**

Factors that may cause a change in the price of gold, include, among other things:

• The strength of the U.S. dollar. Because the price of gold is generally inversely related to the value of the U.S. dollar, a stronger U.S. dollar tends to keep the price of gold lower and more controlled, while a weaker U.S. dollar is likely to drive the price of gold higher. During times of economic uncertainty and when the dollar is weak, investments in gold tend to increase.

• Large sales, including those by governments, central banks and related institutions, which own a significant portion of

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the aggregate world holdings in gold. If one or more of these institutions decide to sell in amounts large enough to cause a decline in world gold prices, the performance of the Fund may be adversely affected.

• Changes in the supply and demand of goods or services of large users of gold. For example, as demand for consumer goods such as jewelry and electronics increases, the price of gold can rise.

• A significant increase in gold hedging activity by gold producers. Should there be an increase in the level of hedge activity of gold producing companies, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

• A significant change in the attitude of speculators and investors towards gold. Should the speculative community take a negative view towards gold, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted.

Certain factors may trigger a temporary increase in the price of gold. If that is the case, the Fund may be investing in securities at prices affected by the temporarily high prices of gold and may incur losses when the causes for the temporary increase disappear.

The commodity markets generally are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions.

## Proxy Voting Policy
For the Fund, the Board has delegated the voting of proxies for the Fund's securities to BFA pursuant to the Fund's Proxy Voting Policy (the "iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy"), and BFA has adopted policies and procedures (the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BFA, including the Fund.

Under the BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies, BFA will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of the Fund's shareholders, on the one hand, and those of BFA, or any affiliated person of the Fund or BFA, on the other. BFA maintains policies and procedures that are designed to prevent undue influence on BFA's proxy voting activity that might stem from any relationship between the issuer of a proxy (or any dissident shareholder) and BFA, BFA's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates. Most conflicts are managed through a structural separation of BFA's Corporate Governance Group from BFA's employees with sales and client responsibilities. In addition, BFA maintains procedures to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BFA's relationship with the issuer of the proxy or the dissident shareholder. In certain instances, BFA may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copies of the iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy, the BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies and the BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies are attached as Appendices A1, A2 and A3, respectively.

Information with respect to how proxies relating to the Fund's portfolio securities were voted during the 12-month period ended June 30 is available: (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or through the Fund's website at *www.iShares.com*; and (ii) on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

## Portfolio Holdings Information
On each Business Day (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI), prior to the opening of regular trading on the Fund's primary listing exchange, the Fund discloses on its website (<u>www.iShares.com</u>) certain information relating to the portfolio holdings that will form the basis of the Fund's next net asset value per share calculation.

In addition, certain information may also be made available to certain parties:

• **Communications of Data Files: The Fund may make available through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") or through posting on the <u>www.iShares.com</u>, prior to the opening of trading on each business day, a list of the Fund's holdings (generally pro-rata) that Authorized Participants could deliver to the Fund to settle** 

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | purchases of the Fund (*i.e.* Deposit Securities) or that Authorized Participants would receive from the Fund to settle redemptions of the Fund (*i.e.* Fund Securities). These files are known as the Portfolio Composition File and the Fund Data File (collectively, "Files"). The Files are applicable for the next trading day and are provided to the NSCC and/or posted on <u>www.iShares.com</u> after the close of markets in the U.S. |
| • | **Communications with Authorized Participants and Liquidity Providers: Certain employees of BFA are responsible for interacting with Authorized Participants and liquidity providers with respect to discussing custom basket proposals as described in the *Custom Baskets* section of this SAI. As part of these discussions, these employees may discuss with an Authorized Participant or liquidity provider the securities the Fund is willing to accept for a creation, and securities that the Fund will provide on a redemption.** |

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BFA employees may also discuss portfolio holdings-related information with broker/dealers, in connection with settling the Fund's transactions, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with the disclosure in the Fund's current registration statements.

• **Communications with Listing Exchanges: From time to time, employees of BFA may discuss portfolio holdings information with the applicable primary listing exchange for the Fund as needed to meet the exchange listing standards.** 

• **Communications with Other Portfolio Managers: Certain information may be provided to employees of BFA who manage funds that invest a significant percentage of their assets in shares of an underlying fund as necessary to manage the fund's investment objective and strategy.** 

• **Communication of Other Information: Certain explanatory information regarding the Files is released to Authorized Participants and liquidity providers on a daily basis, but is only done so after the Files are posted to <u>www.iShares.com</u>.** 

• **Third-Party Service Providers: Certain portfolio holdings information may be disclosed to Fund Trustees and their counsel, outside counsel for the Fund, auditors and to certain third-party service providers (*i.e.*, fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure, confidentiality agreement or other obligation is in place with such service providers, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with applicable policies, agreements with the Fund, the terms of the current registration statements and federal securities laws and regulations thereunder.** 

• **Liquidity Metrics: "Liquidity Metrics," which seek to ascertain the Fund's liquidity profile under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology, include but are not limited to: (a) disclosure regarding the number of days needed to liquidate a portfolio or the portfolio's underlying investments; and (b) the percentage of the Fund's NAV invested in a particular liquidity tier under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology. The dissemination of position-level liquidity metrics data and any non-public regulatory data pursuant to the Liquidity Rule (including SEC liquidity tiering) is not permitted unless pre-approved. Disclosure of portfolio-level liquidity metrics prior to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and approval of the Trust's Chief Compliance Officer. Portfolio-level liquidity metrics disclosure subsequent to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires the approval of portfolio management and must be disclosed to all parties requesting the information if disclosed to any party.** 

The Trust's Chief Compliance Officer or his delegate may authorize disclosure of portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures, subject to restrictions on selective disclosure imposed by applicable law. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of portfolio holdings information at least annually.

## Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index
A description of the Fund's Underlying Index is provided below.

With respect to certain underlying indexes of the iShares funds, BFA or its affiliates have held discussions with the applicable index provider regarding their business interest in licensing an index to track a particular market segment and conveyed investment concepts and strategies that could be considered for the index. The index provider designed and constituted such indices using concepts conveyed by BFA or its affiliates. For certain of these indices, the relevant fund may be the first or sole user of the underlying index. In its sole discretion, the index provider determines the composition of the securities and other instruments in such underlying index, the rebalance protocols of the underlying index, the weightings of the securities and

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other instruments in the underlying index, and any updates to the methodology. From time to time, BFA or its affiliates may also provide input relating to possible methodology changes of such underlying index pursuant to the index provider's consultation process or pursuant to other communications with the index provider.

#### The Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index

#### Number of Components: approximately 23
The Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Total Return Index is a variation of the Bloomberg Commodity Index and seeks to mitigate the effects of contango market structure on index performance. The Index consists of 23 futures contracts across 21 physical agricultural, energy, precious metals and industrial metals commodities. The Index is rebalanced annually in January providing a broad-based exposure to commodities as an asset class by using liquidity and world production factors, along with the following diversification rules:

• No single commodity (*e.g.*, natural gas, silver) may constitute more than 15% of the Index;

• No single commodity, together with its derivatives *(e.g*., WTI crude oil and Brent crude oil, together with ULS diesel, Unleaded gas, and Low Sulphur Gas Oil), may constitute more than 25% of the Index;

• No related group of commodities (*e.g*., energy, precious metals, livestock or grains) may constitute more than 33% of the Index;

• No single commodity (*e.g.*, natural gas, silver) may constitute less than 2% of the Index as liquidity allows.

The Index maintains a long position for each commodity futures contract. On a monthly basis, the Index rolls into a futures contract showing the most backwardation, or least amount of contango, selecting from those eligible contracts with 9 months or fewer until expiration. The Index rolls over 5 business days at 20%, from the 6th to 10th Bloomberg Commodity Index Business Day.

## Investment Policies
The Board has adopted as fundamental policies the following numbered investment policies, which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities. A vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund is defined in the Investment Company Act as the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a shareholder meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. The Fund has also adopted certain non-fundamental investment policies, including its investment objective. Non-fundamental investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval. Therefore, the Fund may change its investment objective without shareholder approval.

#### Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund may not:

1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

#### Notations Regarding the Fund's Fundamental Investment Policies

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The following notations are not considered to be part of the Fund's fundamental investment policies and are subject to change without shareholder approval.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to concentration set forth in (1) above, the Investment Company Act does not define what constitutes "concentration" in an industry. The SEC staff has taken the position that investment of 25% or more of a fund's total assets in one or more issuers conducting their principal activities in the same industry or group of industries constitutes concentration. It is possible that interpretations of concentration could change in the future. The policy in (1) above will be interpreted to refer to concentration as that term may be interpreted from time to time. The policy also will be interpreted to permit investment without limit in the following: securities of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities; securities of state, territory, possession or municipal governments and their authorities, agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and repurchase agreements collateralized by any such obligations. Accordingly, issuers of the foregoing securities will not be considered to be members of any industry. There also will be no limit on investment in issuers domiciled in a single jurisdiction or country. Finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Each foreign government will be considered to be a member of a separate industry. Additionally, the policy will be interpreted to not classify commodities as an industry. With respect to the Fund's industry classifications, the Fund currently utilizes any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. The policy also will be interpreted to give broad authority to the Fund as to how to classify issuers within or among industries.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to borrowing money set forth in (2) above, the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to borrow money in amounts of up to one-third of the Fund's total assets from banks for any purpose, and to borrow up to 5% of the Fund's total assets from banks or other lenders for temporary purposes. (The Fund's total assets include the amounts being borrowed.) To limit the risks attendant to borrowing, the Investment Company Act requires the Fund to maintain at all times an "asset coverage" of at least 300% of the amount of its borrowings. Asset coverage means the ratio that the value of the Fund's total assets (including amounts borrowed), minus liabilities other than borrowings, bears to the aggregate amount of all borrowings. Borrowing money to increase portfolio holdings is known as "leveraging." Certain trading practices and investments, such as reverse repurchase agreements, may be considered to be borrowings or involve leverage and thus are subject to the Investment Company Act restrictions. In accordance with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act, when the Fund engages in reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, the Fund may either (i) maintain asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treat such transactions as "derivatives transactions" and comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to such transactions. Short-term credits necessary for the settlement of securities transactions and arrangements with respect to securities lending will not be considered to be borrowings under the policy. Practices and investments that may involve leverage but are not considered to be borrowings are not subject to the policy.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to underwriting set forth in (5) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit a fund from engaging in the underwriting business or from underwriting the securities of other issuers; in fact, in the case of diversified funds, the Investment Company Act permits a fund to have underwriting commitments of up to 25% of its assets under certain circumstances. Those circumstances currently are that the amount of a fund's underwriting commitments, when added to the value of a fund's investments in issuers where a fund owns more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of those issuers, cannot exceed the 25% cap. A fund engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act. Although it is not believed that the application of the 1933 Act provisions described above would cause a fund to be engaged in the business of underwriting, the policy in (5) above will be interpreted not to prevent a fund from engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities, regardless of whether a fund may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act or is otherwise engaged in the underwriting business to the extent permitted by applicable law.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to lending set forth in (7) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit the Fund from making loans (including lending its securities); however, SEC staff interpretations currently prohibit funds from lending more than one-third of their total assets (including lending its securities), except through the purchase of debt obligations or the use of repurchase agreements. In addition, collateral arrangements with respect to options, forward currency and futures transactions and other derivative instruments (as applicable), as well as delays in the settlement of securities transactions, will not be considered loans.

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#### Non-Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except to the extent permitted by the Fund's Prospectus and SAI, as amended from time to time, and applicable law.

The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to purchase securities of other investment companies, except to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act. As a matter of policy, however, the Fund will not purchase shares of any registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust, in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or (G) (the "fund of funds" provisions) of the Investment Company Act, at any time the Fund has knowledge that its shares are purchased by another investment company investor in reliance on the provisions of subparagraph (G) of Section 12(d)(1).

Unless otherwise indicated, all limitations under the Fund's fundamental or non-fundamental investment policies apply only at the time that a transaction is undertaken. Any change in the percentage of the Fund's assets invested in certain securities or other instruments resulting from market fluctuations or other changes in the Fund's total assets will not require the Fund to dispose of an investment until BFA determines that it is practicable to sell or close out the investment without undue market or tax consequences.

## Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Fund on an ongoing basis, at any point a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the 1933 Act must take into account all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, generally are required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Fund are reminded that, pursuant to Rule 153 under the 1933 Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the 1933 Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Listing Exchange generally is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Listing Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available only with respect to transactions on an exchange.

## Management
**Trustees and Officers. The Board has responsibility for the overall management and operations of the Fund, including general supervision of the duties performed by BFA and other service providers. Each Trustee serves until he or she resigns, is removed, dies, retires or becomes incapacitated. The President, Chief Compliance Officer, Treasurer and Secretary shall each hold office until their successors are chosen and qualify, and all other officers shall hold office until he or she resigns or is removed. Trustees who are not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust are referred to as independent trustees ("Independent Trustees").**

The registered investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates (the "BlackRock-advised Funds") are organized into one complex of open-end equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds and ETFs (the "BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex"), one complex of closed-end funds and open-end non-index fixed-income funds (including ETFs) (the "BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex") and one complex of ETFs ("Exchange-Traded Fund Complex") (each, a "BlackRock Fund Complex"). The

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Fund is included in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex. Each Trustee also serves as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust, and, as a result, oversees all of the funds within the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, which consists of 381 funds as of March 1, 2023. With the exception of Robert S. Kapito, Salim Ramji and Charles Park, the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of Mr. Kapito, Mr. Ramji and Mr. Park is c/o BlackRock, Inc., Park Avenue Plaza, 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055. The Board has designated John E. Kerrigan as its Independent Board Chair. Additional information about the Fund's Trustees and officers may be found in this SAI, which is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

#### Interested Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Robert S. Kapito<sup>1</sup><br> (1957) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;President, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (since its formation in 1998) and BlackRock, Inc.'s predecessor entities (since 1988); Trustee, University of Pennsylvania (since 2009); President of Board of Directors, Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2009); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2009). |
| Salim Ramji<sup>2</sup><br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2014); Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments Business (since 2019); Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business (2015-2019); Global Head of Corporate Strategy, BlackRock, Inc. (2014-2015); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (2010-2014). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2019); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2019). |

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<sup>1</sup> Robert S. Kapito is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

<sup>2</sup> Salim Ramji is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

#### Independent Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Kerrigan<br> (1955) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Independent Board Chair<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Investment Officer, Santa Clara University (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005); Independent Board Chair of iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. (since 2022). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Jane D. Carlin<br> (1956) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2015); Risk Committee Chair (since 2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Consultant (since 2012); Member of the Audit Committee (2012-2018), Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee (2017-2018) and Director of PHH Corporation (mortgage solutions) (2012-2018); Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley (2006-2012). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2015); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2015); Member of the Audit Committee (since 2016), Chair of the Audit Committee (since 2020) and Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (since 2016). |
| Richard L. Fagnani<br> (1954) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); Audit Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Partner, KPMG LLP (2002-2016); Director of One Generation Away (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017). |
| Cecilia H. Herbert<br> (1949) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Nominating and Governance and Equity Plus Committee Chairs<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair of the Finance Committee (since 2019) and Trustee and Member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees of Stanford Health Care (since 2016); Trustee of WNET, New York's public media company (since 2011) and Member of the Audit Committee (since 2018), Investment Committee (since 2011) and Personnel Committee (since 2022); Chair (1994-2005) and Member (1992-2021) of the Investment Committee, Archdiocese of San Francisco; Trustee of Forward Funds (14 portfolios) (2009-2018); Trustee of Salient MF Trust (4 portfolios) (2015-2018); Director (1998-2013) and President (2007-2011) of the Board of Directors, Catholic Charities CYO; Trustee (2002-2011) and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (2006-2010) of the Thacher School; Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole (since 2020); Director of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts (since 2021); Member of the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005). |
| Drew E. Lawton<br> (1959) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); 15(c) Committee Chair (since 2017). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director of New York Life Insurance Company (2010-2015). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017); Director of Jackson Financial Inc. (since 2021). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Martinez<br> (1961) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011);<br> Securities Lending Committee Chair<br> (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc. (since 2005); Director of Cloudera Foundation (2017-2020); and Director of Reading Partners (2012-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2003); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2003). |
| Madhav V. Rajan<br> (1964) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Fixed Income Plus Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Dean, and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (since 2017); Advisory Board Member (since 2016) and Director (since 2020) of C.M. Capital Corporation; Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (since 2020); Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2001-2017); Professor of Law (by courtesy), Stanford Law School (2005-2017); Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA Program, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2010-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2011);<br> Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2011). |

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#### Officers

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Armando Senra<br> (1971) | &nbsp;&nbsp;President (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2007); Head of U.S., Canada and Latin America iShares, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2019); Head of Latin America Region, BlackRock, Inc. (2006-2019); Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (1994-2006). |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Trent Walker<br> (1974) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer<br> (since 2020). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since September 2019); Chief Financial Officer of iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, BlackRock Funds, BlackRock Funds II, BlackRock Funds IV, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Funds VI (since 2021); Executive Vice President of PIMCO (2016-2019); Senior Vice President of PIMCO (2008-2015); Treasurer (2013-2019) and Assistant Treasurer (2007-2017) of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds. |
| Charles Park<br> (1967) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex (since 2014); Chief Compliance Officer of BFA (since 2006). |
| Marisa Rolland<br> (1980) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Secretary (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2023); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2018-2022); Vice President, BlackRock, Inc. (2010-2017). |
| Rachel Aguirre<br> (1982) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2018); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2009-2018); Head of U.S. iShares Product (since 2022); Head of EII U.S. Product Engineering (since 2021); Co-Head of EII's Americas Portfolio Engineering (2020-2021); Head of Developed Markets Portfolio Engineering (2016-2019). |
| Jennifer Hsui<br> (1976) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2009); Co-Head of Index Equity (since 2022). |
| James Mauro<br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2010); Head of Fixed Income Index Investments in the Americas and Head of San Francisco Core Portfolio Management (since 2020). |

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The Board has concluded that, based on each Trustee's experience, qualifications, attributes or skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees, each Trustee should serve as a Trustee of the Board. Among the attributes common to all Trustees are their ability to review critically, evaluate, question and discuss information provided to

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them, to interact effectively with the Fund's investment adviser, other service providers, counsel and the independent registered public accounting firm, and to exercise effective business judgment in the performance of their duties as Trustees. A Trustee's ability to perform his or her duties effectively may have been attained through the Trustee's educational background or professional training; business, consulting, public service or academic positions; experience from service as a Board member of the Fund and the other funds in the Trust (and any predecessor funds), other investment funds, public companies, or non-profit entities or other organizations; and/or other life experiences. Also, set forth below is a brief discussion of the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of each Trustee that led the Board to conclude that he or she should serve (or continue to serve) as a Trustee.

Robert S. Kapito has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011. Mr. Kapito has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2009 and a Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. Mr. Kapito served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. In addition, he has over 20 years of experience as part of BlackRock, Inc. and BlackRock's predecessor entities. Mr. Kapito serves as President of BlackRock, Inc., and is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Chairman of the Global Operating Committee. He is responsible for day-to-day oversight of BlackRock's key operating units, including Investment Strategies, Client Businesses, Technology & Operations, and Risk & Quantitative Analysis. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2007, Mr. Kapito served as Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all portfolio management within BlackRock, including the Fixed Income, Equity, Liquidity, and Alternative Investment Groups. Mr. Kapito serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's Advisors. He has also been President of the Board of Directors for the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund since 2002. Mr. Kapito earned a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Salim Ramji has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji is the Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments business. In addition, he is a member of BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors. Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the Asset and Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London and Hong Kong. He has served as a Trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency, since 2007. Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

John E. Kerrigan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Trust's Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board from 2019 to 2021, and as Chair of each Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Kerrigan has served as Chief Investment Officer of Santa Clara University since 2002. Mr. Kerrigan was formerly a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., including the following responsibilities: Managing Director, Institutional Client Division, Western United States. Mr. Kerrigan has been a Director, since 1999, of The BASIC Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner City Children). Mr. Kerrigan has a BA degree from Boston College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder.

Jane D. Carlin has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2015 and Chair of the Risk Committee since 2016. Ms. Carlin has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2015, and Chair of the Risk Committee of each Board since 2016. Ms. Carlin has served as a consultant since 2012 and formerly served as Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012. In addition, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Global Head of the Bank Operational Risk Oversight Department of Credit Suisse Group from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Carlin has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector and has served in a number of legal, regulatory, and risk management positions. Ms. Carlin has served as a member of the Audit Committee and as a Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., each since 2016, and as Chair of the Audit Committee since 2020. Ms. Carlin served as a member of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2018, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2017 to 2018 and as an Independent Director on the Board of PHH Corporation from 2012 to 2018. She previously served as a Director on the Boards of Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank. Ms. Carlin was appointed by

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the United States Treasury to the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, where she served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2012 and Vice Chair and Chair of the Cyber Security Committee from 2009 to 2010. Ms. Carlin has a BA degree in political science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Richard L. Fagnani has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2017, and Chair of the Audit Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Fagnani served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. from April 2017 to June 2017. Mr. Fagnani served as a Senior Audit Partner at KPMG LLP from 2002 to 2016, most recently as the U.S. asset management audit practice leader responsible for setting strategic direction and execution of the operating plan for the asset management audit practice. In addition, from 1977 to 2002, Mr. Fagnani served as an Audit Partner at Andersen LLP, where he developed and managed the asset management audit practice in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fagnani served as a Trustee on the Board of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2014 and as a member of the School of Business Advisory Board at LaSalle University from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of One Generation Away, a non-profit which works to bring healthy food directly to people in need, since 2021. Mr. Fagnani has a BS degree in Accounting from LaSalle University.

Cecilia H. Herbert has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of the Trust since 2022. Ms. Herbert has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Trust's Board from 2016 to 2021, and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board since 2022. Ms. Herbert served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Ms. Herbert served as Trustee of the Montgomery Funds from 1992 to 2003, the Pacific Select Funds from 2004 to 2005, the Forward Funds from 2009 to 2018, the Salient Funds from 2015 to 2018 and the Thrivent Church Loan and Income Fund from 2019 to 2022. She has served as a member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees and Trustee of Stanford Health Care since 2016 and became Chair of the Finance Committee of Stanford Health Care in 2019. She has served as a Trustee of WNET, New York's public media station, since 2011 and a Member of its Audit Committee since 2018. She was appointed to the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee in 2022. She became a member of the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Forum in 2018. She has served as a Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole since 2020 and of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts since 2021. She was President of the Board of Catholic Charities CYO, the largest social services agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 2007 to 2011 and a member of that board from 1992 to 2013. She worked from 1973 to 1990 at J.P. Morgan/Morgan Guaranty Trust doing international corporate finance and corporate lending, retiring as Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Office. Ms. Herbert has been on numerous non-profit boards, chairing investment and finance committees. She holds a double major in economics and communications from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Drew E. Lawton has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of the Trust since 2017. Mr. Lawton has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust, and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of each Board since 2017. Mr. Lawton also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares, Inc. and iShares Trust from 2016 to 2017. Mr. Lawton served as Director of Principal Funds, Inc., Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc. and Principal Exchange-Traded Funds from March 2016 to October 2016. Mr. Lawton has also served as a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk Committees and Director of Jackson Financial Inc. since 2021. Mr. Lawton served in various capacities at New York Life Insurance Company from 2010 to 2015, most recently as a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life Investment Management. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Lawton was the President of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC. Mr. Lawton previously held multiple roles at Fidelity Investments from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Lawton has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas since 2021. Mr. Lawton has a BA degree in Administrative Science from Yale University and an MBA from University of North Texas.

John E. Martinez has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Martinez has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2003, and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Martinez served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Martinez is a Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., providing governance oversight and consulting services to this privately held firm that develops products and strategies for homeowners in managing the equity in their homes. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Martinez served as a Board member for the Cloudera Foundation. Mr. Martinez previously served as Director of Barclays Global Investors ("BGI") UK Holdings, where he provided governance oversight representing BGI's shareholders (Barclays PLC, BGI management shareholders) through oversight of BGI's worldwide activities. Mr. Martinez also previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Index and Markets Group of BGI,

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Chairman of Barclays Global Investor Services and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Group of BGI. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Director and Executive Committee Member for Larkin Street Youth Services. He now serves on the Larkin Street Honorary Board. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Martinez served as a Director for Reading Partners. Mr. Martinez has an AB degree in economics from The University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA degree in finance and statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Madhav V. Rajan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Rajan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2011, and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Rajan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Rajan is the Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also serves as Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, since 2020. He has served on the Advisory Board of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2016 and as a Director of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2020. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Rajan was the Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In April 2017, he received the school's Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service. He has taught accounting for over 25 years to undergraduate, MBA and law students, as well as to senior executives. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Rajan served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and head of the MBA Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rajan served as editor of "The Accounting Review" from 2002 to 2008 and is co-author of "Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis," a leading cost accounting textbook. From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Rajan served on the Board of Directors of Cavium Inc., a semiconductor company. Mr. Rajan holds MS and PhD degrees in Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University.

<u>Board – Leadership Structure and Oversight Responsibilities</u>

Overall responsibility for oversight of the Fund rests with the Board. The Board has engaged BFA to manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis. The Board is responsible for overseeing BFA and other service providers in the operations of the Fund in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act, applicable provisions of state and other laws and the Trust's charter. The Board is currently composed of nine members, seven of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board currently conducts regular in person meetings four times a year. In addition, the Board frequently holds special in person or telephonic meetings or informal conference calls to discuss specific matters that may arise or require action between regular meetings. The Independent Trustees meet regularly outside the presence of management, in executive session or with other service providers to the Trust.

The Board has appointed an Independent Trustee to serve in the role of Board Chair. The Board Chair's role is to preside at all meetings of the Board and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys, and other Trustees generally between meetings. The Board Chair may also perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Board from time to time. The Board has established seven standing Committees: a Nominating and Governance Committee, an Audit Committee, a 15(c) Committee, a Securities Lending Committee, a Risk Committee, an Equity Plus Committee and a Fixed Income Plus Committee to assist the Board in the oversight and direction of the business and affairs of the Fund, and from time to time the Board may establish ad hoc committees or informal working groups to review and address the policies and practices of the Fund with respect to certain specified matters. The Chair of each standing Committee is an Independent Trustee. The role of the Chair of each Committee is to preside at all meetings of the Committee and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys and other Trustees between meetings. Each standing Committee meets regularly to conduct the oversight functions delegated to the Committee by the Board and reports its finding to the Board. The Board and each standing Committee conduct annual assessments of their oversight function and structure. The Board has determined that the Board's leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise independent judgment over management and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees of Independent Trustees and the full Board to enhance effective oversight.

Day-to-day risk management with respect to the Fund is the responsibility of BFA or other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk), subject to the supervision of BFA. The Fund is subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, reputational, counterparty and valuation risks, among others. While there are a number of risk management functions performed by BFA and other service providers, as applicable, it is not possible to identify and eliminate all of the risks applicable to the Fund. The Trustees have an oversight role in this area, satisfying themselves that risk management processes and controls are in place and operating effectively. Risk oversight forms part of the Board's general oversight of the Fund and is addressed as part of various Board and committee activities. In some cases, risk management issues are specifically addressed in presentations and discussions. For example, BFA has an independent

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dedicated Risk and Quantitative Analysis Group ("RQA") that assists BFA in managing fiduciary and corporate risks, including investment, operational, counterparty credit and enterprise risk. Representatives of RQA meet with the Board to discuss their analysis and methodologies, as well as specific risk topics such as operational and counterparty risks relating to the Fund. The Board, directly or through a committee, also reviews reports from, among others, management and the independent registered public accounting firm for the Trust, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by the Fund and management's risk functions. The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer who oversees the implementation and testing of the Trust's compliance program, including assessments by independent third parties, and reports to the Board regarding compliance matters for the Trust and its principal service providers. In testing and maintaining the compliance program, the Chief Compliance Officer (and his or her delegates) assesses key compliance risks affecting the Fund, and addresses them in periodic reports to the Board. In addition, the Audit Committee meets with both the Fund's independent registered public accounting firm and BFA's internal audit group to review risk controls in place that support the Fund as well as test results. Board oversight of risk is also performed as needed between meetings through communications between BFA and the Board. The Independent Trustees have engaged independent legal counsel to assist them in performing their oversight responsibilities. From time to time, the Board may modify the manner in which it conducts risk oversight. The Board's oversight role does not make it a guarantor of the Fund's investment performance or other activities.

**Committees of the Board of Trustees. The members of the Audit Committee are Richard L. Fagnani (Chair), Cecilia H. Herbert and Madhav V. Rajan, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The purposes of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board (i) in its oversight of the Trust's accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and related controls and procedures maintained by or on behalf of the Trust; (ii) in its oversight of the Trust's financial statements and the independent audit thereof; (iii) in selecting, evaluating and, where deemed appropriate, replacing the independent accountants (or nominating the independent accountants to be proposed for shareholder approval in any proxy statement); (iv) in evaluating the independence of the independent accountants; (v) in complying with legal and regulatory requirements that relate to the Trust's accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, compliance controls and independent audits; and (vi) to assume such other responsibilities as may be delegated by the Board. The Audit Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.**

The members of the Nominating and Governance Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), Madhav V. Rajan and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The Nominating and Governance Committee nominates individuals for Independent Trustee membership on the Board and recommends appointments to the Advisory Board. The Nominating and Governance Committee functions include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) reviewing the qualifications of any person properly identified or nominated to serve as an Independent Trustee; (ii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the nominee(s) for appointment as an Independent Trustee by the Board and current Independent Trustees and/or for election as Independent Trustees by shareholders to fill any vacancy for a position of Independent Trustee(s) on the Board; (iii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the size and composition of the Board and Board committees and whether they comply with applicable laws and regulations; (iv) recommending a current Independent Trustee to the Board and current Independent Trustees to serve as Board Chair; (v) periodic review of the Board's retirement policy; and (vi) recommending an appropriate level of compensation for the Independent Trustees for their services as Trustees, members or chairpersons of committees of the Board, Board Chair and any other positions as the Nominating and Governance Committee considers appropriate. The Nominating and Governance Committee does not consider Board nominations recommended by shareholders (acting solely in their capacity as a shareholder and not in any other capacity). The Nominating and Governance Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Each Independent Trustee serves on the 15(c) Committee. The Chair of the 15(c) Committee is Drew E. Lawton. The principal responsibilities of the 15(c) Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for the annual review and renewal of the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements. These responsibilities include: (i) meeting with BlackRock, Inc. in advance of the Board meeting at which the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements are to be considered to discuss generally the process for providing requested information to the Board and the format in which information will be provided; and (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to evaluate the investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements of the Trust. The 15(c) Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Securities Lending Committee are John E. Martinez (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Securities Lending Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of the Trust's securities lending activities. These responsibilities include: (i) requesting that certain information be provided to the Committee for its review and consideration prior to such

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information being provided to the Board; (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to oversee the Trust's securities lending activities and make required findings and approvals; and (iii) providing a recommendation to the Board regarding the annual approval of the Trust's Securities Lending Guidelines and the required findings with respect to, and annual approval of, the Trust's agreement with the securities lending agent. The Securities Lending Committee met five times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Equity Plus Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), John E. Martinez and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Equity Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for equity funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Equity Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are Madhav V. Rajan (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Richard L. Fagnani, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for fixed-income or multi-asset funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Fixed Income Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Risk Committee are Jane D. Carlin (Chair), Richard L. Fagnani and John E. Martinez, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibility of the Risk Committee is to consider and organize on behalf of the Board risk related matters of the Fund so the Board may most effectively structure itself to oversee them. The Risk Committee commenced on January 1, 2016. The Risk Committee met seven times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

As the Chair of the Board, John E. Kerrigan may serve as an ex-officio member of each Committee.

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2022, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by each Trustee in the Fund and in other registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee within the same family of investment companies as the Trust. If a fund is not listed below, the Trustee did not own any securities in that fund as of the date indicated above:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
| Robert S. Kapito |  |  |  |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares High Yield Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares TIPS Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Technology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Select Dividend ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares California Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares National Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Biotechnology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 2000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

---

As of December 31, 2022, none of the Independent Trustees or their immediate family members owned beneficially or of record any securities of BFA (the Fund's investment adviser), the Distributor or any person controlling, controlled by or under common control with BFA or the Distributor.

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**Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members. Effective January 1, 2023, each current Independent Trustee is paid an annual retainer of $440,000 for his or her services as a Board member to the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, together with out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with the Board's policy on travel and other business expenses relating to attendance at meetings. The annual retainer for services as an Advisory Board Member is the same as the annual retainer for services as a Board member. The Independent Chair of the Board is paid an additional annual retainer of $125,000. The Chair of each of the Equity Plus Committee, Fixed Income Plus Committee, Securities Lending Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and 15(c) Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $30,000. The Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $45,000. Each Independent Trustee that served as a director of subsidiaries of the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex is paid an additional annual retainer of $10,000 (plus an additional $1,765 paid annually to compensate for taxes due in the Republic of Mauritius in connection with such Trustee's service on the boards of certain Mauritius-based subsidiaries).**

The table below sets forth the compensation earned by each Independent Trustee and Interested Trustee for services to the Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the aggregate compensation paid to them for services to the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022.

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Bloomberg<br> Roll Select<br> Commodity Strategy ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Pension or<br> Retirement Benefits Accrued As<br> Part of Trust<br> Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Estimated Annual<br> Benefits Upon<br> Retirement<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total<br> Compensation<br> From the Fund<br> and Fund Complex<sup>2</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;$70 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$465000 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;71 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;476764 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;73 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;475000 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;76 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;505000 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;68 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;461764 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;68 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;68 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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<sup>1</sup> No Trustee or officer is entitled to any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust. <br> <sup>2</sup> Also includes compensation for service on the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc.

#### Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities.
The Trustees and officers of the Trust collectively owned less than 1% of the Fund's outstanding shares as of January 31, 2023.

Although the Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants (as defined below), as of January 31, 2023, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund were as follows:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19.67% |
| American Enterprise Investment Services Inc.<br> 719 Griswold St.<br> Detroit, MI 48226 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17.49% |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13.59% |
| TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12.23% |
| KeyBank National Association<br> 127 Public Square<br> Cleveland, OH 44114 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.35% |

---

**Conflicts of Interest. Certain activities of BFA, BlackRock, Inc. and the other subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. (collectively referred to in this section as "BlackRock") and their respective directors, officers and employees, with respect to the Fund and/or other accounts managed by BlackRock, may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest such as those described below.**

BlackRock is one of the world's largest asset management firms. BlackRock, its subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers and employees, including the business units or entities and personnel who may be involved in the investment activities and business operations of the Fund, are engaged worldwide in businesses, including managing equities, fixed-income securities, cash and alternative investments, and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. These are considerations of which investors in the Fund should be aware, and which may cause conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. These businesses and interests include potential multiple advisory, financial and other relationships with, or interests in, companies and interests in securities or other instruments that may be purchased or sold by the Fund.

BlackRock has proprietary interests in, and may manage or advise with respect to, accounts or funds (including separate accounts and other funds and collective investment vehicles) that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and instruments as the Fund. BlackRock is also a major participant in the global currency, equities, swap and fixed income markets, in each case, for the accounts of clients and, in some cases, on a proprietary basis. As such, BlackRock is or may be actively engaged in transactions in the same securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests. Such activities could affect the prices and availability of the securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests, which could have an adverse impact on the Fund's performance. Such transactions, particularly in respect of most proprietary accounts or client accounts, will be executed independently of the Fund's transactions and thus at prices or rates that may be more or less favorable than those obtained by the Fund.

When BlackRock seeks to purchase or sell the same assets for managed accounts, including the Fund, the assets actually purchased or sold may be allocated among the accounts on a basis determined in its good faith discretion to be equitable. In some cases, this system may adversely affect the size or price of the assets purchased or sold for the Fund. In addition, transactions in investments by one or more other accounts managed by BlackRock may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund, particularly, but not limited to, with respect to small-capitalization, emerging market or less liquid strategies. This may occur with respect to BlackRock-advised accounts when investment decisions regarding the Fund are based on research or other information that is also used to support decisions for other accounts. When BlackRock implements a portfolio decision or strategy on behalf of another account ahead of, or contemporaneously with, similar decisions or strategies for the Fund, market impact, liquidity constraints, or other factors could result in the Fund receiving less favorable trading results and the costs of implementing such decisions or strategies could be increased or the Fund could otherwise be disadvantaged. BlackRock may, in certain cases, elect to implement internal policies and procedures designed to limit such consequences, which may cause the Fund to be unable to engage in certain activities, including purchasing or disposing of securities, when it might otherwise be desirable for it to do so.

Conflicts may also arise because portfolio decisions regarding the Fund may benefit other accounts managed by BlackRock. For example, the sale of a long position or establishment of a short position by the Fund may impair the price of the same security sold short by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds, and the purchase of a security or

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covering of a short position in a security by the Fund may increase the price of the same security held by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds. In addition, to the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest its assets in other funds advised by BlackRock, including funds that are managed by one or more of the same portfolio managers, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of Fund purchases and sales, and increased remuneration and profitability for BlackRock, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.

In certain circumstances, BlackRock, on behalf of the Fund, may seek to buy from or sell securities to another fund or account advised by BlackRock. BlackRock may (but is not required to) effect purchases and sales between BlackRock clients ("cross trades"), including the Fund, if BlackRock believes such transactions are appropriate based on each party's investment objectives and guidelines, subject to applicable law and regulation. There may be potential conflicts of interest or regulatory issues relating to these transactions which could limit BlackRock's decision to engage in these transactions for the Fund. BlackRock may have a potentially conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the parties in such transactions. On any occasion when the Fund participates in a cross trade, BlackRock will comply with procedures adopted under applicable rules and SEC guidance.

BlackRock and its clients may pursue or enforce rights with respect to an issuer in which the Fund has invested, and those activities may have an adverse effect on the Fund. As a result, prices, availability, liquidity and terms of the Fund's investments may be negatively impacted by the activities of BlackRock or its clients, and transactions for the Fund may be impaired or effected at prices or terms that may be less favorable than would otherwise have been the case.

The results of the Fund's investment activities may differ significantly from the results achieved by BlackRock for its proprietary accounts or other accounts (including investment companies or collective investment vehicles) which it manages or advises. It is possible that one or more accounts managed or advised by BlackRock and such other accounts will achieve investment results that are substantially more or less favorable than the results achieved by the Fund. Moreover, it is possible that the Fund will sustain losses during periods in which one or more proprietary or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock achieve significant profits. The opposite result is also possible.

From time to time, the Fund may be restricted from purchasing or selling securities, or from engaging in other investment activities because of regulatory, legal or contractual requirements applicable to BlackRock or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock, and/or the internal policies of BlackRock designed to comply with such requirements. As a result, there may be periods, for example, when BlackRock will not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions in certain securities or instruments with respect to which BlackRock is performing services or when position limits have been reached. For example, the investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and accounts under its management may limit the investment opportunities for the Fund in certain emerging and other markets in which limitations are imposed upon the amount of investment, in the aggregate or in individual issuers, by affiliated foreign investors.

In connection with its management of the Fund, BlackRock may have access to certain fundamental analysis and proprietary technical models developed by BlackRock. BlackRock will not be under any obligation, however, to effect transactions on behalf of the Fund in accordance with such analysis and models. In addition, BlackRock will not have any obligation to make available any information regarding its proprietary activities or strategies, or the activities or strategies used for other accounts managed by them, for the benefit of the management of the Fund and it is not anticipated that BlackRock will have access to such information for the purpose of managing the Fund. The proprietary activities or portfolio strategies of BlackRock, or the activities or strategies used for accounts managed by BlackRock or other client accounts could conflict with the transactions and strategies employed by BlackRock in managing the Fund.

The Fund may be included in investment models developed by BlackRock for use by clients and financial advisors. To the extent clients invest in these investment models and increase the assets under management of the Fund, the investment management fee amounts paid by the Fund to BlackRock may also increase. The price, availability and liquidity of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by model-driven investment portfolios, as well as by BlackRock itself and by its advisory clients.

In addition, certain principals and certain employees of the Fund's investment adviser are also principals or employees of other business units or entities within BlackRock. As a result, these principals and employees may have obligations to such other business units or entities or their clients and such obligations to other business units or entities or their clients may be a consideration of which investors in the Fund should be aware.

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BlackRock may enter into transactions and invest in securities, instruments and currencies on behalf of the Fund in which clients of BlackRock or, to the extent permitted by the SEC and applicable law, BlackRock serves as the counterparty, principal or issuer. In such cases, such party's interests in the transaction will be adverse to the interests of the Fund, and such party may have no incentive to assure that the Fund obtains the best possible prices or terms in connection with the transactions. In addition, the purchase, holding and sale of such investments by the Fund may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock may also create, write or issue derivatives for clients based on the underlying securities, currencies or instruments in which the Fund may invest or on the performance of the Fund. An entity in which BlackRock has a significant minority interest will create, write or issue options which may be based on the performance of certain Funds. BlackRock has the right to receive a portion of the gross revenue earned by such entity. Options writing by such entity on the Fund could potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to the Fund and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

BlackRock has entered into an arrangement with Markit Indices Limited, the index provider for underlying fixed-income indexes used by certain iShares funds, related to derivative fixed-income products that are based on such iShares funds. BlackRock may receive certain payments for licensing intellectual property belonging to BlackRock and for facilitating the provision of data in connection with such derivative products, which may include payments based on the trading volumes of, or revenues generated by, the derivative products. However, BlackRock will not receive any such payments on those derivative products utilized by the Fund or other BlackRock funds or accounts. Other funds and accounts managed by BlackRock may from time to time transact in such derivative products, which could contribute to the viability or success of such derivative products by making them more appealing to funds and accounts managed by third parties, and in turn lead to increased payments to BlackRock. Trading activity in such derivative products could also potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to these iShares funds and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

The Fund may, subject to applicable law, purchase investments that are the subject of an underwriting or other distribution by BlackRock and may also enter into transactions with other clients of BlackRock where such other clients have interests adverse to those of the Fund.

At times, these activities may cause business units or entities within BlackRock to give advice to clients that may cause these clients to take actions adverse to the interests of the Fund. To the extent such transactions are permitted, the Fund will deal with BlackRock on an arm's-length basis.

To the extent authorized by applicable law, BlackRock may act as broker, dealer, agent, lender or adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities for the Fund. It is anticipated that the commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs, financial advisory fees, underwriting and placement fees, sales fees, financing and commitment fees, brokerage fees, other fees, compensation or profits, rates, terms and conditions charged by BlackRock will be in its view commercially reasonable, although BlackRock, including its sales personnel, will have an interest in obtaining fees and other amounts that are favorable to BlackRock and such sales personnel, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. Index based funds may use an index provider that is affiliated with another service provider of the Fund or BlackRock that acts as a broker, dealer, agent, lender or in other commercial capacities for the Fund or BlackRock.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock (and its personnel and other distributors) will be entitled to retain fees and other amounts that they receive in connection with their service to the Fund as broker, dealer, agent, lender, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities. No accounting to the Fund or its shareholders will be required, and no fees or other compensation payable by the Fund or its shareholders will be reduced by reason of receipt by BlackRock of any such fees or other amounts.

When BlackRock acts as broker, dealer, agent, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities in relation to the Fund, BlackRock may take commercial steps in its own interests, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. The Fund will be required to establish business relationships with its counterparties based on the Fund's own credit standing. BlackRock will not have any obligation to allow its credit to be used in connection with the Fund's establishment of its business relationships, nor is it expected that the Fund's counterparties will rely on the credit of BlackRock in evaluating the Fund's creditworthiness.

BTC, an affiliate of BFA pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, acts as securities lending agent to, and receives a share of securities lending revenues from, the Fund. BlackRock will also receive compensation for managing the reinvestment of the cash collateral from securities lending. There are potential conflicts of interests in managing a securities lending program, including but not limited to: (i) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to increase or decrease the

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amount of securities on loan or to lend particular securities in order to generate additional risk-adjusted revenue for BlackRock and its affiliates; and (ii) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to allocate loans to clients that would provide more revenue to BlackRock. As described further below, BlackRock seeks to mitigate this conflict by providing its securities lending clients with equal lending opportunities over time in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation.

As part of its securities lending program, BlackRock indemnifies the Fund and certain other clients and/or funds against a shortfall in collateral in the event of borrower default. On a regular basis, BlackRock calculates the potential dollar exposure of collateral shortfall resulting from a borrower default ("shortfall risk") in the securities lending program. BlackRock establishes program-wide borrower limits ("credit limits") to actively manage borrower-specific credit exposure. BlackRock oversees the risk model that calculates projected collateral shortfall values using loan-level factors such as loan and collateral type and market value as well as specific borrower credit characteristics. When necessary, BlackRock may adjust securities lending program attributes by restricting eligible collateral or reducing borrower credit limits. As a result, the management of program-wide exposure as well as BlackRock-specific indemnification exposure may affect the amount of securities lending activity BlackRock may conduct at any given point in time by reducing the volume of lending opportunities for certain loans (including by asset type, collateral type and/or revenue profile).

BlackRock uses a predetermined systematic process in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation over time. In order to allocate a loan to a portfolio: (i) BlackRock as a whole must have sufficient lending capacity pursuant to the various program limits (*i.e.,* indemnification exposure limit and borrower credit limits); (ii) the lending portfolio must hold the asset at the time a loan opportunity arrives; and (iii) the lending portfolio must also have enough inventory, either on its own or when aggregated with other portfolios into one single market delivery, to satisfy the loan request. In doing so, BlackRock seeks to provide equal lending opportunities for all portfolios, independent of whether BlackRock indemnifies the portfolio. Equal opportunities for lending portfolios does not guarantee equal outcomes. Specifically, short and long-term outcomes for individual clients may vary due to asset mix, asset/liability spreads on different securities, and the overall limits imposed by the firm.

BlackRock may decline to make a securities loan on behalf of the Fund, discontinue lending on behalf of the Fund or terminate a securities loan on behalf of the Fund for any reason, including but not limited to regulatory requirements and/or market rules, liquidity considerations, or credit considerations, which may impact Funds by reducing or eliminating the volume of lending opportunities for certain types of loans, loans in particular markets, loans of particular securities or types of securities, or for loans overall.

Purchases and sales of securities and other assets for the Fund may be bunched or aggregated with orders for other BlackRock client accounts, including with accounts that pay different transaction costs solely due to the fact that they have different research payment arrangements. BlackRock, however, is not required to bunch or aggregate orders if portfolio management decisions for different accounts are made separately, or if they determine that bunching or aggregating is not practicable or required, or in cases involving client direction.

Prevailing trading activity frequently may make impossible the receipt of the same price or execution on the entire volume of securities purchased or sold. When this occurs, the various prices may be averaged, and the Fund will be charged or credited with the average price. Thus, the effect of the aggregation may operate on some occasions to the disadvantage of the Fund. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Fund will not be charged the same commission or commission equivalent rates in connection with a bunched or aggregated order.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock may select brokers that furnish BlackRock, the Fund, other BlackRock client accounts or personnel, directly or through correspondent relationships, with research or other appropriate services which provide, in BlackRock's view, appropriate assistance to BlackRock in the investment decision-making process (including with respect to futures, fixed-price offerings and OTC transactions). Such research or other services may include, to the extent permitted by law, research reports on companies, industries and securities; economic and financial data; financial publications; proxy analysis; trade industry seminars; computer data bases; research-oriented software and other services and products. Research or other services obtained in this manner may be used in servicing any or all of the Fund and other BlackRock client accounts, including in connection with BlackRock client accounts other than those that pay commissions to the broker relating to the research or other service arrangements. Such products and services may disproportionately benefit other BlackRock client accounts relative to the Fund based on the amount of brokerage commissions paid by the Fund and such other BlackRock client accounts. For example, research or other services that are paid for through one client's commissions may not be used in managing that client's account. In addition, other BlackRock client accounts may receive the benefit,

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including disproportionate benefits, of economies of scale or price discounts in connection with products and services that may be provided to the Fund and to such other BlackRock client accounts. To the extent that BlackRock uses soft dollars, it will not have to pay for those products and services itself.

BlackRock does not currently enter into arrangements to use the Fund's assets for, or participate in, soft dollars, although BlackRock may receive research that is bundled with the trade execution, clearing, and/or settlement services provided by a particular broker-dealer. To the extent that BlackRock receives research on this basis, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist. For example, the research effectively will be paid by client commissions that also will be used to pay for the execution, clearing, and settlement services provided by the broker-dealer and will not be paid by BlackRock. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may endeavor to execute trades through brokers who, pursuant to such arrangements, provide research or other services in order to ensure the continued receipt of research or other services BlackRock believes are useful in its investment decision-making process. BlackRock may from time to time choose not to engage in the above described arrangements to varying degrees. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may also enter into commission sharing arrangements under which BlackRock may execute transactions through a broker-dealer, and request that the broker-dealer allocate a portion of the commissions or commission credits to another firm that provides research to BlackRock. To the extent that BlackRock engages in commission sharing arrangements, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist.

BlackRock may utilize certain electronic crossing networks ("ECNs") (including, without limitation, ECNs in which BlackRock has an investment or other interest, to the extent permitted by applicable law) in executing client securities transactions for certain types of securities. These ECNs may charge fees for their services, including access fees and transaction fees. The transaction fees, which are similar to commissions or markups/markdowns, will generally be charged to clients and, like commissions and markups/markdowns, would generally be included in the cost of the securities purchased. Access fees may be paid by BlackRock even though incurred in connection with executing transactions on behalf of clients, including the Fund. In certain circumstances, ECNs may offer volume discounts that will reduce the access fees typically paid by BlackRock. BlackRock will only utilize ECNs consistent with its obligation to seek to obtain best execution in client transactions.

BlackRock owns a minority interest in, and is a member of, Members Exchange ("MEMX"), a newly created U.S. stock exchange. Transactions for the Fund may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for execution of orders placed by BlackRock traders on behalf of such Funds. In addition, transactions in Fund shares may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for the execution of such orders.

BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing proxy voting decisions that it makes on behalf of advisory clients, including the Fund, and to help ensure that such decisions are made in accordance with BlackRock's fiduciary obligations to its clients. Nevertheless, notwithstanding such proxy voting policies and procedures, actual proxy voting decisions of BlackRock may have the effect of favoring the interests of other clients or businesses of other divisions or units of BlackRock, provided that BlackRock believes such voting decisions to be in accordance with its fiduciary obligations. For a more detailed discussion of these policies and procedures, see the *Proxy Voting Policy* section of this SAI.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. Increasing the Fund's assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification and may contribute to economies of scale that tend to reduce the Fund's expense ratio. BlackRock reserves the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell into the market or redeem in Creation Units through an Authorized Participant at any time some or all of the shares of the Fund acquired for its own accounts or the account of a BlackRock advisory client. A large sale or redemption of shares of the Fund by BlackRock itself or a BlackRock advisory client could significantly reduce the asset size of the Fund, which might have an adverse effect on the Fund's liquidity, investment flexibility, portfolio diversification, expense ratio or ability to comply with the listing requirements for the Fund.

It is possible that the Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in transactions with, companies in which BlackRock has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which BlackRock provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. In making investment decisions for the Fund, BlackRock is not permitted to obtain or use material non-public information acquired by any unit of BlackRock in the course of these activities. In addition, from time to time, the

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activities of BlackRock may limit the Fund's flexibility in purchases and sales of securities. As indicated below, BlackRock may engage in transactions with companies in which BlackRock-advised funds or other clients of BlackRock have an investment.

BlackRock, its personnel and other financial service providers may have interests in promoting sales of the Fund. With respect to BlackRock and its personnel, the remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of the Fund or other products may be greater than remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of certain funds or other products that might be provided or offered. BlackRock and its sales personnel may directly or indirectly receive a portion of the fees and commissions charged to the Fund or its shareholders. BlackRock and its advisory or other personnel may also benefit from increased amounts of assets under management. Fees and commissions may also be higher than for other products or services, and the remuneration and profitability to BlackRock and such personnel resulting from transactions on behalf of or management of the Fund may be greater than the remuneration and profitability resulting from other funds or products.

Third parties, including service providers to BlackRock or the Fund, may sponsor events (including, but not limited to, marketing and promotional activities and presentations, educational training programs and conferences) for registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors. There is a potential conflict of interest as such sponsorships may defray the costs of such activities to BlackRock, and may provide an incentive to BlackRock to retain such third parties to provide services to the Fund.

BlackRock may provide valuation assistance to certain clients with respect to certain securities or other investments and the valuation recommendations made for such clients' accounts may differ from the valuations for the same securities or investments assigned by the Fund's pricing vendors, especially if such valuations are based on broker-dealer quotes or other data sources unavailable to the Fund's pricing vendors. While BlackRock will generally communicate its valuation information or determinations to the Fund's pricing vendors and/or fund accountants, there may be instances where the Fund's pricing vendors or fund accountants assign a different valuation to a security or other investment than the valuation for such security or investment determined or recommended by BlackRock.

As disclosed in more detail in the *Determination of Net Asset Value* section in this SAI, when market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value by BFA. BFA has been designated as the Fund's valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act and acts through BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee (the "2a-5 Committee"), with assistance from other BFA pricing committees and in accordance with BFA's policies and procedures (the "Valuation Procedures"). When determining a "fair value price," the 2a-5 Committee seeks to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction. The price generally may not be determined based on what the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. While fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models, fair value represents only a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued by the 2a-5 Committee at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders and may affect the amount of revenue received by BFA with respect to services for which it receives an asset-based fee.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest all or some of its short-term cash investments in any money market fund or similarly-managed private fund advised or managed by BlackRock. In connection with any such investments, the Fund, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, may pay its share of expenses of a money market fund or other similarly-managed private fund in which it invests, which may result in the Fund bearing some additional expenses.

BlackRock and its directors, officers and employees, may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on behalf of the Fund. As a result of differing trading and investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by directors, officers and employees that are the same, different from or made at different times than positions taken for the Fund. To lessen the possibility that the Fund will be adversely affected by this personal trading, the Fund, BFA and BlackRock have each adopted a code of ethics in compliance with Section 17(j) of the 1940 Act that restricts securities trading in the personal accounts of investment professionals and others who normally come into possession of information regarding the Fund's portfolio transactions. Each code of ethics is

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available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.

BlackRock will not purchase securities or other property from, or sell securities or other property to, the Fund, except that the Fund may in accordance with rules or guidance adopted under the 1940 Act engage in transactions with another Fund or accounts that are affiliated with the Fund as a result of common officers, directors, or investment advisers or pursuant to exemptive orders granted to the Fund and/or BlackRock by the SEC. These transactions would be effected in circumstances in which BlackRock determined that it would be appropriate for the Fund to purchase and another client of BlackRock to sell, or the Fund to sell and another client of BlackRock to purchase, the same security or instrument on the same day. From time to time, the activities of the Fund may be restricted because of regulatory requirements applicable to BlackRock and/or BlackRock's internal policies designed to comply with, limit the applicability of, or otherwise relate to such requirements. A client not advised by BlackRock would not be subject to some of those considerations. There may be periods when BlackRock may not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions, or may otherwise restrict or limit its advice in certain securities or instruments issued by or related to companies for which BlackRock is performing advisory or other services or has proprietary positions. For example, when BlackRock is engaged to provide advisory or risk management services for a company, BlackRock may be prohibited from or limited in purchasing or selling securities of that company on behalf of the Fund, particularly where such services result in BlackRock obtaining material non-public information about the company (*e.g.*, in connection with participation in a creditors' committee). Similar situations could arise if personnel of BlackRock serve as directors of companies the securities of which the Fund wishes to purchase or sell. However, if permitted by applicable law, and where consistent with BlackRock's policies and procedures (including the necessary implementation of appropriate information barriers), the Fund may purchase securities or instruments that are issued by such companies, are the subject of an advisory or risk management assignment by BlackRock, or where personnel of BlackRock are directors or officers of the issuer.

The investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and for client accounts may also limit the investment strategies and rights of the Fund. For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, or is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount invested by BlackRock for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BlackRock, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

If certain aggregate ownership thresholds are reached either through the actions of BlackRock or the Fund or as a result of third-party transactions, the ability of BlackRock, on behalf of clients (including the Fund), to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. As a result, BlackRock, on behalf of its clients (including the Fund), may limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise restrict, forgo or limit the exercise of rights (including transferring, outsourcing or limiting voting rights or forgoing the right to receive dividends) when BlackRock, in its sole discretion, deems it appropriate in light of potential regulatory or other restrictions on ownership or other consequences resulting from reaching investment thresholds.

In those circumstances where ownership thresholds or limitations must be observed, BlackRock seeks to allocate limited investment opportunities equitably among clients (including the Fund), taking into consideration benchmark weight and investment strategy. BlackRock has adopted certain controls designed to prevent the occurrence of a breach of any applicable ownership threshold or limits, including, for example, when ownership in certain securities nears an applicable threshold, BlackRock may remove such securities from the list of Deposit Securities to be delivered to the Fund in connection with purchases of Creation Units of such Fund and may limit purchases in such securities to the issuer's weighting in the applicable benchmark used by BlackRock to manage such Fund. If client (including Fund) holdings of an issuer exceed an applicable threshold and BlackRock is unable to obtain relief to enable the continued holding of such investments, it may be necessary to sell down these positions to meet the applicable limitations. In these cases, benchmark overweight positions will be sold prior to benchmark positions being reduced to meet applicable limitations.

In addition to the foregoing, other ownership thresholds may trigger reporting requirements to governmental and regulatory authorities, and such reports may entail the disclosure of the identity of a client or BlackRock's intended strategy with respect to such security or asset.

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BlackRock may not serve as an Authorized Participant in the creation and redemption of iShares ETFs.

BlackRock may maintain securities indices. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, the Fund may seek to license and use such indices as part of its investment strategy. Index based funds that seek to track the performance of securities indices also may use the name of the index or index provider in the fund name. Index providers, including BlackRock (to the extent permitted by applicable law), may be paid licensing fees for use of their index or index name. BlackRock may benefit from the Fund using BlackRock indices by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock is not obligated to license its indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. Any Fund that enters into a license for a BlackRock index cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The custody arrangement described in "Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services" may lead to potential conflicts of interest with BlackRock where BlackRock has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse ordinary operating expenses in order to cap expenses of the Fund (or where BlackRock charges a unitary management fee). This is because the custody arrangements with the Fund's custodian may have the effect of reducing custody fees when the Fund leaves cash balances uninvested. This could be viewed as having the potential to provide BlackRock an incentive to keep high positive cash balances for the Fund in order to offset fund custody fees that BlackRock might otherwise reimburse or pay. However, BlackRock's portfolio managers do not intentionally keep uninvested balances high, but rather make investment decisions that they anticipate will be beneficial to fund performance. For funds without a unitary management fee, when a fund's actual operating expense ratio exceeds a stated cap, a reduction in custody fees reduces the amount of waivers and/or reimbursements BlackRock would be required to make to the fund.

BlackRock may enter into contractual arrangements with third-party service providers to the Fund (*e.g.*, custodians, administrators and index providers) pursuant to which BlackRock receives fee discounts or concessions in recognition of BlackRock's overall relationship with such service providers. BlackRock may also enter into contractual arrangements with such service providers pursuant to which BlackRock incurs additional costs if the service provider's services are terminated with respect to the Fund. To the extent that BlackRock is responsible for paying these service providers out of its management fee, the benefits of any such fee discounts or concessions, or any additional costs, may accrue, in whole or in part, to BlackRock, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to the use or termination of service providers to the Fund.

BlackRock owns or has an ownership interest in certain trading, portfolio management, operations and/or information systems used by Fund service providers. These systems are, or will be, used by the Fund service provider in connection with the provision of services to accounts managed by BlackRock and funds managed and sponsored by BlackRock, including the Fund, that engage the service provider (typically the custodian). The Fund's service provider remunerates BlackRock for the use of the systems. The Fund service provider's payments to BlackRock for the use of these systems may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock's receipt of fees from a service provider in connection with the use of systems provided by BlackRock may create an incentive for BlackRock to recommend that the Fund enter into or renew an arrangement with the service provider.

In recognition of a BlackRock client's overall relationship with BlackRock, BlackRock may offer special pricing arrangements for certain services provided by BlackRock. Any such special pricing arrangements will not apply to the client's investment in the Fund.

Present and future activities of BlackRock (including BFA), its directors, officers and employees, in addition to those described in this section, may give rise to additional conflicts of interest.

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## Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services
**Investment Adviser. BFA serves as investment adviser to the Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, and BFA. BFA is a California corporation indirectly owned by BlackRock, Inc. and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Under the investment advisory agreement, BFA, subject to the supervision of the Board and in conformity with the stated investment policies of the Fund, manages and administers the Trust and the investment of the Fund's assets. BFA is responsible for making investment decisions for the Fund.**

Pursuant to the investment advisory agreement, BFA may, from time to time, in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory or other services with respect to the Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the investment advisory agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion upon appropriate notice at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Fund, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Fund will bear, the management fees, interest expense, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Independent Trustees). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses to reduce the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

For its investment advisory services to the Fund, BFA received a management fee at the annual rate (as a percentage of the Fund's average net assets) set forth below for the fiscal years noted. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary.

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Management Fee<br> for Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 0.27%<sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;04/03/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$843579 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$268995 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$76360 |

---

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<sup>1</sup> BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 28, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $21,919, $8,682 and $3,866 of its management fees, respectively.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to the Fund continues in effect for two years from its effective date, and thereafter is subject to annual approval by (i) the Board, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, provided that in either event such continuance also is approved by a majority of the Board members who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to the Fund is terminable without penalty, on 60 days' notice, by the Board or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act). The investment advisory agreement is also terminable upon 60 days' notice by BFA and will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

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**Portfolio Managers. As of October 31, 2022, the individuals named as Portfolio Managers in the Fund's Prospectus were also primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of other iShares funds and certain other types of portfolios and/or accounts as follows:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$127143000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9485000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;106 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;34905000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$7296000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1526000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;270000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;282 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1628479000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8776000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;57 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4167000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;302 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1626435000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5400000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4230000000 |

---

Pursuant to BFA's policies, investment opportunities are allocated equitably among the Fund and other portfolios and accounts. For example, under certain circumstances, an investment opportunity may be restricted due to limited supply in the market, legal constraints or other factors, in which event the investment opportunity will be allocated equitably among those portfolios and accounts, including the Fund, seeking such investment opportunity. As a consequence, from time to time the Fund may receive a smaller allocation of an investment opportunity than it would have if the Portfolio Managers and BFA and its affiliates did not manage other portfolios or accounts.

Like the Fund, the other portfolios or accounts for which the Portfolio Managers are primarily responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management generally pay an asset-based fee to BFA or its affiliates, as applicable, for its advisory services. One or more of those other portfolios or accounts, however, may pay BFA or its affiliates a performance-based fee in lieu of, or in addition to, an asset-based fee for its advisory services. A portfolio or account with a performance-based fee would pay BFA or its affiliates a portion of that portfolio's or account's gains, or would pay BFA or its affiliates more for its services than would otherwise be the case if BFA or any of its affiliates meets or exceeds specified performance targets. Performance-based fee arrangements could present an incentive for BFA or its affiliates to devote greater resources, and allocate more investment opportunities, to the portfolios or accounts that have those fee arrangements, relative to other portfolios or accounts, in order to earn larger fees. Although BFA and each of its affiliates have an obligation to allocate resources and opportunities equitably among portfolios and accounts and intend to do so, shareholders of the Fund should be aware that, as with any group of portfolios and accounts managed by an investment adviser and/or its affiliates pursuant to varying fee arrangements, including performance-based fee arrangements, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, which may result in the Portfolio Managers favoring those portfolios or accounts with performance-based fee arrangements.

The tables below show, for each Portfolio Manager, the number of portfolios or accounts of the types set forth in the above tables and the aggregate of total assets in those portfolios or accounts with respect to which the investment management fees are based on the performance of those portfolios or accounts as of October 31, 2022:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

*Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview*

The discussion below describes the Portfolio Managers' compensation as of October 31, 2022.

BlackRock, Inc.'s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock, Inc.

Each portfolio manager receives base compensation based on their position with the firm, as well as retirement and other benefits offered to all BlackRock employees. Additionally, each portfolio manager receives discretionary incentive compensation, determined based on several components, including: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the performance of portfolios managed by the portfolio manager and the team relative to the portfolios' investment objectives (which in the case of index ETFs would be how closely the ETF tracks its Underlying Index), and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. Discretionary incentive compensation is paid in cash up to a certain threshold with the remaining portion represented by deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock awards. In some cases, additional deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock may be granted to certain key employees as part of a long-term incentive award to aid in retention, align interests with long-term shareholders and motivate performance.

As of October 31, 2022, the Portfolio Managers did not beneficially own shares of the Fund.

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**Codes of Ethics. The Trust, BFA and the Distributor have adopted codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. The codes of ethics permit personnel subject to the codes of ethics to invest in securities, subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Fund. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.**

**Anti-Money Laundering Requirements. The Fund is subject to the USA PATRIOT Act (the "Patriot Act"). The Patriot Act is intended to prevent the use of the U.S. financial system in furtherance of money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities. Pursuant to requirements under the Patriot Act, the Fund may request information from Authorized Participants to enable it to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of its Authorized Participants. This information will be used to verify the identity of Authorized Participants or, in some cases, the status of financial professionals; it will be used only for compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.**

The Fund reserves the right to reject purchase orders from persons who have not submitted information sufficient to allow the Fund to verify their identity. The Fund also reserves the right to redeem any amounts in the Fund from persons whose identity it is unable to verify on a timely basis. It is the Fund's policy to cooperate fully with appropriate regulators in any investigations conducted with respect to potential money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities.

#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.
State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") serves as administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund under the Master Services Agreement and related Service Schedule (the "Service Module"). State Street's principal address is 1 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111. Pursuant to the Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services with the Trust, State Street provides necessary administrative, legal, tax and accounting and financial reporting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and the Fund. In addition, State Street makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services. Pursuant to the Service Module for Custodial Services with the Trust, State Street maintains, in separate accounts, cash, securities and other assets of the Trust and the Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records and provides other services. State Street is required, upon the order of the Trust, to deliver securities held by State Street and to make payments for securities purchased by the Trust for the Fund. State Street is authorized to appoint certain foreign custodians or foreign custody managers for Fund investments outside the U.S. Pursuant to the Service Module for Transfer Agency Services with the Trust, State Street acts as a transfer agent for the Fund's authorized and issued shares of beneficial interest, and as dividend disbursing agent of the Trust. As compensation for these services, State Street receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset-based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by BFA from its management fee.

The following table sets forth the administration, custodian and transfer agency expenses of the Fund paid by BFA to State Street for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 04/03/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$6380 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$19272 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$17846 |

---

JPMorgan serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities under a Custody Services Agreement. JPMorgan's principal address is 383 Madison Avenue, 11<sup>th</sup> Floor, New York, NY 10179. Pursuant to the Custody Services Agreement with BTC and the Trust, JPMorgan provides custody and related services required to facilitate securities lending by the Fund. JPMorgan maintains custody as may be necessary to facilitate Fund securities lending activity in coordination with other funds, maintains custodial records and provides other services. As compensation for these services, JPMorgan receives certain fees and expenses paid by BTC from its compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

**Distributor. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Fund through the Distributor or its agent only in Creation Units, as described in the Prospectus and below in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Fund shares in amounts less than Creation Units are generally not distributed by the Distributor or its agent. The Distributor or its agent will arrange for the delivery of the**

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Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it or its agents and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it or its agents. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "1934 Act"), and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The Distributor is also licensed as a broker-dealer in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

The Distribution Agreement for the Fund provides that it may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days' prior written notice to the other party following (i) the vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers ("Soliciting Dealers") who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Fund shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as described below), DTC participants and/or investor services organizations.

BFA or its affiliates may, from time to time and from its own resources, pay, defray or absorb costs relating to distribution, including payments out of its own resources to the Distributor, or to otherwise promote the sale of shares.

**Securities Lending. The Fund may engage in securities lending. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, the Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, and BTC acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA, pursuant to a written agreement (the "Securities Lending Agency Agreement").**

If the the were to engage in securities lending, it would retain a portion of the securities lending income and remit the remaining portion to BTC as compensation for its services as securities lending agent. Securities lending income is generally equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral (and excludes collateral investment fees as defined below), and any fees or other payments to and from borrowers of securities. As securities lending agent, BTC bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending, including custodial costs of JPMorgan. To the extent that the the engages in securities lending, the Fund is responsible for fees in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan in a money market fund managed by BFA (the "collateral investment fees"); however, BTC has agreed to reduce the amount of securities lending income it receives in order to effectively limit the collateral investment fees the Fund bears to an annual rate of 0.04%. Such money market fund shares will not be subject to a sales load, redemption fee, distribution fee or service fee.

Under the securities lending program, funds are categorized into one of several specific asset classes. The determination of a fund's asset class category (fixed-income, domestic equity, international equity or fund-of-funds), each of which may be subject to a different fee arrangement, is based on a methodology agreed to by the Trust and BTC.

Pursuant to the Securities Lending Agency Agreement effective through December 31, 2021:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 77% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, effective January 1, 2022:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, (i) international equity funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) fixed-income funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

(iii) fund-of-funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

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In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income (which includes, for this purpose, collateral investment fees) earned across the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex (as defined in the "*Management—Trustees and Officers* section of this SAI) in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement:

(i) each applicable domestic equity fund will receive 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of the securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) each applicable international equity fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(iii) each applicable fixed-income fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

(iv) each applicable fund-of-funds will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

No services have been provided by BTC as the Fund's securities lending agent, and the Fund had no income and fees/compensation related to securities lending activities for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

**Payments by BFA and its Affiliates. BFA and/or its affiliates ("BFA Entities") may pay certain broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks and other financial intermediaries ("Intermediaries") for certain activities related to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products in general. BFA Entities make these payments from their own assets and not from the assets of the Fund. Although a portion of BFA Entities' revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, these payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. BFA Entities make payments for Intermediaries' participation in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Fund and other iShares funds, or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems ("Education Costs"). BFA Entities also make payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs or materials relating to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products ("Publishing Costs"). In addition, BFA Entities make payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products available to their clients, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, develop new products that feature iShares, create educational content about the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products that is featured on an Intermediary's platform, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds and exchange-traded products. BFA Entities may also reimburse expenses or make payments from their own assets to Intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services or other activities that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.**

Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients, what services to provide for various products, or what marketing content to make available to its clients based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, such payments may create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients. These financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products over other investments. The same conflicts of interest and financial incentives exist with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

In addition to the payments described above, BFA Entities have developed proprietary tools, calculators and related interactive or digital content that is made available through the www.BlackRock.com website at no additional cost to

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Intermediaries. BlackRock may configure these tools and calculators and localize the content for Intermediaries as part of its customary digital marketing support and promotion of the Fund, other iShares funds, exchange-traded products and BlackRock mutual funds.

As of March 1, 2013, BFA Entities have contractual arrangements to make payments (in addition to payments for Education Costs or Publishing Costs) to one Intermediary, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC ("FBS"). Effective June 4, 2016, this relationship was expanded to include National Financial Services, LLC ("NFS"), an affiliate of FBS. Pursuant to this special, long-term and significant arrangement (the "Marketing Program"), FBS, NFS and certain of their affiliates (collectively "Fidelity") have agreed, among other things, to actively promote iShares funds to customers, investment professionals and other intermediaries and in advertising campaigns as the preferred exchange-traded product, to offer certain iShares funds in certain Fidelity platforms and investment programs, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, and to provide marketing data to BFA Entities. BFA Entities have agreed to facilitate the Marketing Program by, among other things, making certain payments to FBS and NFS for marketing and implementing certain brokerage and investment programs. Upon termination of the arrangement, the BFA Entities will make additional payments to FBS and/or NFS based upon a number of criteria, including the overall success of the Marketing Program and the level of services provided by FBS and NFS during the wind-down period.

In addition, BFA Entities may enter into other contractual arrangements with Intermediaries and certain other third parties that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in iShares funds. Such agreements may include payments by BFA Entities to such Intermediaries and third parties for data collection and provision, technology support, platform enhancement, or educational content, co-marketing and cross-promotional efforts. Payments made pursuant to such arrangements may vary in any year and may be different for different Intermediaries and third parties. In certain cases, the payments described in the preceding sentence may be subject to certain minimum payment levels. As of the date of this SAI, the Intermediaries and other third parties receiving one or more types of the contractual payments described above include (in addition to FBS and NFS): Advisor Credit Exchange, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics, LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, Dorsey Wright and Associates, LLC, Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., Envestnet Asset Management, Inc., FDx Advisors, Inc., LPL Financial LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, Pershing LLC, Public Holdings, Inc., Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Riskalyze, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. Any additions, modifications, or deletions to Intermediaries and other third parties listed above that have occurred since the date of this SAI are not included in the list.

Further, BFA Entities make Education Costs and Publishing Costs payments to other Intermediaries that are not listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. BFA Entities may determine to make such payments based on any number of metrics. For example, BFA Entities may make payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary's services at defined levels or an amount based on the Intermediary's net sales of one or more iShares funds in a year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, BFA anticipates that the payments paid by BFA Entities in connection with the Fund, iShares funds and exchange-traded products in general will be immaterial to BFA Entities in the aggregate for the next year. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments or financial incentives his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made, or financial incentives offered, by the BFA Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for the Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or other exchange-traded products.**

The Fund may participate in certain market maker incentive programs of a national securities exchange in which an affiliate of the Fund would pay a fee to the exchange used for the purpose of incentivizing one or more market makers in the securities of the Fund to enhance the liquidity and quality of the secondary market of securities of the Fund. The fee would then be credited by the exchange to one or more market makers that meet or exceed liquidity and market quality standards with respect to the securities of the Fund. Each market maker incentive program is subject to approval from the SEC. Any such fee payments made to an exchange will be made by an affiliate of the Fund solely for the benefit of the Fund and will not be paid from any Fund assets. Other funds managed by BFA may also participate in such programs.

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## Determination of Net Asset Value
**Valuation of Shares. The NAV for the Fund is generally calculated as of the close of regular trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each business day the NYSE is open. Valuation of assets held by the Fund is as follows:**

**Equity Investments. Equity securities traded on a recognized securities exchange (*e.g.*, NYSE), on separate trading boards of a securities exchange or through a market system that provides contemporaneous transaction pricing information (each an "Exchange") are valued using information obtained via independent pricing services, generally at the closing price or, if an Exchange closing price is not available, the last traded price on that Exchange prior to the time as of which the assets or liabilities are valued. However, under certain circumstances, other means of determining current market value may be used. If an equity security is traded on more than one Exchange, the current market value of the security where it is primarily traded generally will be used. In the event that there are no sales involving an equity security held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such security, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the security, in which case such asset would be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

**Fixed-Income Investments. Fixed-income securities for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued using such securities' current market value. The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using the last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. The pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values, including transaction data (*e.g*., recent representative bids and offers), credit quality information, perceived market movements, news, and other relevant information and by other methods, which may include consideration of: yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type; indications as to values from dealers; general market conditions; and/or other factors and assumptions. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. The amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with 60 days or less remaining to maturity unless such method does not represent fair value. Certain fixed-income investments, including asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, may be valued based on valuation models that consider the estimated cash flows of each tranche of the issuer, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.**

**Options, Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Exchange-traded equity options (except those that are customized) for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the mean of the last bid and ask prices as quoted on the Exchange or the board of trade on which such options are traded. In the event that there is no mean price available for an exchange traded equity option held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such option, the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price, if available, will be used as the value of such option. If no bid or ask price is available on a day on which the Fund values such option, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the option, in which case such option will be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below). Customized exchange-traded equity options, as well as OTC derivatives, may be valued using a mathematical model which may incorporate a number of market data factors. Financial futures contracts and options thereon, which are traded on exchanges, are valued at their last sale price or settle price as of the close of such exchanges. Swap agreements and other derivatives are generally valued daily based upon quotations from market makers or by a pricing service in accordance with the Valuation Procedures.**

**Underlying Funds. Shares of underlying open-end funds (including money market funds) are valued at NAV. Shares of underlying exchange-traded closed-end funds or other ETFs will be valued at their most recent closing price.**

**General Valuation Information. Prices obtained from independent third-party pricing services, broker-dealers or market makers to value the Fund's securities and other assets and liabilities are based on information available at the time the Fund values its assets and liabilities. In the event that a pricing service quotation is revised or updated subsequent to the day on which the Fund valued such security, the revised pricing service quotation generally will be applied prospectively. Such determination will be made considering pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding the revision.**

The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for assets that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation

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methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by the Fund, and the Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. The Fund's ability to value its investment may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

All cash, receivables and current payables are carried on the Fund's books at their fair value.

In the event that application of the methods of valuation discussed above result in a price for a security which is deemed not to be representative of the fair market value of such security, the security will be valued by, under the direction of or in accordance with a method approved by BFA, the Fund's valuation designee, as reflecting fair value. All other assets and liabilities (including securities for which market quotations are not readily available) held by the Fund (including restricted securities) are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by BFA pursuant to the Valuation Procedures. Any assets and liabilities which are denominated in a foreign currency are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates.

Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used in the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

**Fair Value. When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value ("Fair Value Assets"). Fair Value Assets are valued by BFA in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act, the Board of Trustees has designated BFA as the valuation designee for the respective Funds for which it serves as investment adviser. BFA may reasonably conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if, among other things, a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its complete lack of trading, if BFA believes a market quotation from a broker-dealer or other source is unreliable (*e.g.*, where it varies significantly from a recent trade, or no longer reflects the fair value of the security or other asset or liability subsequent to the most recent market quotation), or where the security or other asset or liability is only thinly traded or due to the occurrence of a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation. For this purpose, a "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment, that an event has occurred after the close of trading for an asset or liability but prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund. On any day the NYSE is open and a foreign market or the primary exchange on which a foreign asset or liability is traded is closed, such asset or liability will be valued using the prior day's price, provided that BFA is not aware of any significant event or other information that would cause such price to no longer reflect the fair value of the asset or liability, in which case such asset or liability would be treated as a Fair Value Asset.**

BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving methodologies by investment type and significant inputs used in the fair valuation of Fund assets or liabilities. In addition, the Fund's accounting agent assists BFA by periodically endeavoring to confirm the prices it receives from all third-party pricing services, index providers and broker-dealers and regularly evaluating the values assigned to the securities and other assets and liabilities of the Fund. The pricing of all Fair Value Assets is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof.

When determining the price for a Fair Value Asset, BFA will seek to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction on the date on which the asset or liability is being valued, and does not seek to determine the price the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. Fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. When determining the fair value of an investment, one or more fair value methodologies may be used (depending on certain factors, including the asset type). For example, the investment may be initially priced based on the original cost of the investment or, alternatively, using proprietary or third-party models that may rely upon one or more unobservable inputs. Prices of actual, executed or historical transactions in the relevant investment (or comparable instruments) or, where appropriate, an appraisal by a third-party experienced in the valuation of similar instruments, may also be used as a basis for establishing the fair value of an investment.

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The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

The Fund's annual audited financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), follow the requirements for valuation set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"), which defines and establishes a framework for measuring fair value under US GAAP and expands financial statement disclosure requirements relating to fair value measurements.

Generally, ASC 820 and other accounting rules applicable to funds and various assets in which they invest are evolving. Such changes may adversely affect the Fund. For example, the evolution of rules governing the determination of the fair market value of assets or liabilities, to the extent such rules become more stringent, would tend to increase the cost and/or reduce the availability of third-party determinations of fair market value. This may in turn increase the costs associated with selling assets or affect their liquidity due to the Fund's inability to obtain a third-party determination of fair market value.

## Brokerage Transactions
Subject to policies established by the Board, BFA is primarily responsible for the execution of the Fund's portfolio transactions and the allocation of brokerage. BFA does not execute transactions through any particular broker or dealer, but seeks to obtain the best net results for the Fund, taking into account such factors as price (including the applicable brokerage commission or dealer spread), size of order, difficulty of execution, operational facilities of the firm and the firm's risk and skill in positioning blocks of securities. While BFA generally seeks reasonable trade execution costs, the Fund does not necessarily pay the lowest spread or commission available, and payment of the lowest commission or spread is not necessarily consistent with obtaining the best price and execution in particular transactions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, BFA may select a broker based partly upon brokerage or research services provided to BFA and its clients, including the Fund. In return for such services, BFA may cause the Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if BFA determines in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to the services provided.

In selecting brokers or dealers to execute portfolio transactions, BFA seeks to obtain the best price and most favorable execution for the Fund and may take into account a variety of factors including: (i) the size, nature and character of the security or instrument being traded and the markets in which it is purchased or sold; (ii) the desired timing of the transaction; (iii) BFA's knowledge of the expected commission rates and spreads currently available; (iv) the activity existing and expected in the market for the particular security or instrument, including any anticipated execution difficulties; (v) the full range of brokerage services provided; (vi) the broker's or dealer's capital; (vii) the quality of research and research services provided; (viii) the reasonableness of the commission, dealer spread or its equivalent for the specific transaction; and (ix) BFA's knowledge of any actual or apparent operational problems of a broker or dealer. Brokers may also be selected because of their ability to handle special or difficult executions, such as may be involved in large block trades, thinly traded securities, or other circumstances.

Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act ("Section 28(e)") permits a U.S. investment adviser, under certain circumstances, to cause an account to pay a broker or dealer a commission for effecting a transaction in securities that exceeds the amount another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting the same transaction in recognition of the value of brokerage and research services provided by that broker or dealer. This includes commissions paid on riskless principal transactions in securities under certain conditions.

From time to time, the Fund may purchase new issues of securities in a fixed price offering. In these situations, the broker may be a member of the selling group that will, in addition to selling securities, provide BFA with research services. FINRA has adopted rules expressly permitting these types of arrangements under certain circumstances. Generally, the broker will provide research "credits" in these situations at a rate that is higher than that available for typical secondary market transactions. These arrangements may not fall within the safe harbor of Section 28(e).

OTC issues, including most fixed-income securities such as corporate debt and U.S. Government securities, are normally traded on a "net" basis without a stated commission, through dealers acting for their own account and not as brokers. The Fund will primarily engage in transactions with these dealers or deal directly with the issuer unless a better price or execution

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could be obtained by using a broker. Prices paid to a dealer with respect to both foreign and domestic securities will generally include a "spread," which is the difference between the prices at which the dealer is willing to purchase and sell the specific security at the time, and includes the dealer's normal profit.

Under the 1940 Act, persons affiliated with the Fund and persons who are affiliated with such affiliated persons are prohibited from dealing with the Fund as principal in the purchase and sale of securities unless a permissive order allowing such transactions is obtained from the SEC. Since transactions in the OTC market usually involve transactions with the dealers acting as principal for their own accounts, the Fund will not deal with affiliated persons and affiliated persons of such affiliated persons in connection with such transactions. The Fund will not purchase securities during the existence of any underwriting or selling group relating to such securities of which BFA, BRIL or any affiliated person (as defined in the 1940 Act) thereof is a member except pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board in accordance with Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act.

Purchases of money market instruments by the Fund are made from dealers, underwriters and issuers. The Fund does not currently expect to incur any brokerage commission expense on such transactions because money market instruments are generally traded on a "net" basis with dealers acting as principal for their own accounts without a stated commission. The price of the security, however, usually includes a profit to the dealer.

BFA may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions.

Securities purchased in underwritten offerings include a fixed amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter's concession or discount. When securities are purchased or sold directly from or to an issuer, no commissions or discounts are paid.

Investment decisions for the Fund and for other investment accounts managed by BFA and the other Affiliates are made independently of each other in light of differing conditions. A variety of factors will be considered in making investment allocations. These factors include: (i) investment objectives or strategies for particular accounts, including sector, industry, country or region and capitalization weightings; (ii) tax considerations of an account; (iii) risk or investment concentration parameters for an account; (iv) supply or demand for a security at a given price level; (v) size of available investment; (vi) cash availability and liquidity requirements for accounts; (vii) regulatory restrictions; (viii) minimum investment size of an account; (ix) relative size of account; and (x) such other factors as may be approved by BlackRock's general counsel. Moreover, investments may not be allocated to one client account over another based on any of the following considerations: (i) to favor one client account at the expense of another; (ii) to generate higher fees paid by one client account over another or to produce greater performance compensation to BlackRock; (iii) to develop or enhance a relationship with a client or prospective client; (iv) to compensate a client for past services or benefits rendered to BlackRock or to induce future services or benefits to be rendered to BlackRock; or (v) to manage or equalize investment performance among different client accounts. BFA and the other Affiliates may deal, trade and invest for their own respective accounts in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest.

Initial public offerings ("IPOs") of securities may be over-subscribed and subsequently trade at a premium in the secondary market. When BFA is given an opportunity to invest in such an initial offering or "new" or "hot" issue, the supply of securities available for client accounts is often less than the amount of securities the accounts would otherwise take. In order to allocate these investments fairly and equitably among client accounts over time, each portfolio manager or a member of his or her respective investment team will indicate to BFA's trading desk their level of interest in a particular offering with respect to eligible clients' accounts for which that team is responsible. IPOs of U.S. equity securities will be identified as eligible for particular client accounts that are managed by portfolio teams who have indicated interest in the offering based on market capitalization of the issuer of the security and the investment mandate of the client account and in the case of international equity securities, the country where the offering is taking place and the investment mandate of the client account. Generally, shares received during the IPO will be allocated among participating client accounts within each investment mandate on a *pro rata* basis. This *pro rata* allocation may result in the Fund receiving less of a particular security than if pro-rating had not occurred. All allocations of securities will be subject, where relevant, to share minimums established for accounts and compliance constraints. In situations where supply is too limited to be allocated among all accounts for which the investment is eligible, portfolio managers may rotate such investment opportunities among one or more accounts so long as

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the rotation system provides for fair access for all client accounts over time. Other allocation methodologies that are considered by BFA to be fair and equitable to clients may be used as well.

Because different accounts may have differing investment objectives and policies, BFA may buy and sell the same securities at the same time for different clients based on the particular investment objective, guidelines and strategies of those accounts. For example, BFA may decide that it may be entirely appropriate for a growth fund to sell a security at the same time a value fund is buying that security. To the extent that transactions on behalf of more than one client of BFA or the other Affiliates during the same period increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, there may be an adverse effect on price. For example, sales of a security by BlackRock on behalf of one or more of its clients may decrease the market price of such security, adversely impacting other BlackRock clients that still hold the security. If purchases or sales of securities arise for consideration at or about the same time that would involve the Fund or other clients or funds for which BFA or another Affiliate act as investment manager, transactions in such securities will be made, insofar as feasible, for the respective funds and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all.

In certain instances, BFA may find it efficient for purposes of seeking to obtain best execution, to aggregate or "bunch" certain contemporaneous purchases or sale orders of its advisory accounts and advisory accounts of affiliates. In general, all contemporaneous trades for client accounts under management by the same portfolio manager or investment team will be bunched in a single order if the trader believes the bunched trade would provide each client with an opportunity to achieve a more favorable execution at a potentially lower execution cost. The costs associated with a bunched order will be shared *pro rata* among the clients in the bunched order. Generally, if an order for a particular portfolio manager or management team is filled at several different prices through multiple trades, all accounts participating in the order will receive the average price (except in the case of certain international markets where average pricing is not permitted). While in some cases this practice could have a detrimental effect upon the price or value of the security as far as the Fund is concerned, in other cases it could be beneficial to the Fund. Transactions effected by BFA or the other Affiliates on behalf of more than one of its clients during the same period may increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, causing an adverse effect on price. The trader will give the bunched order to the broker-dealer that the trader has identified as being able to provide the best execution of the order. Orders for purchase or sale of securities will be placed within a reasonable amount of time of the order receipt and bunched orders will be kept bunched only long enough to execute the order.

The table below sets forth the brokerage commissions paid by the Fund for the fiscal years noted. Any differences in brokerage commissions paid by the Fund from year to year are principally due to increases or decreases in the Fund's assets over those periods or changes to the allocation of equities and derivatives in the Fund's portfolio:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2020** |
| 04/03/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$247729 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$93154 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$38502 |

---

The Fund did not pay any brokerage commissions to BRIL, an affiliate of BFA, or to any other broker-dealer that is part of the BlackRock group of companies, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The Fund's purchase and sale orders for securities may be combined with those of other investment companies, clients or accounts that BlackRock manages or advises. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities of the Fund and one or more other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Fund and the other accounts in a manner deemed equitable to all by BlackRock. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Fund is concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower transaction costs will be beneficial to the Fund. BlackRock may deal, trade and invest for its own account in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest. BlackRock may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions. The Fund will not deal with affiliates in principal transactions unless permitted by applicable SEC rules or regulations, or by SEC exemptive order.

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Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year. High turnover rates may result in comparatively greater brokerage expenses. The table below sets forth the portfolio turnover rates of the Fund for the fiscal years noted:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2021** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% |

---

## Additional Information Concerning the Trust
**Shares. The Trust currently consists of 16 separate investment series or portfolios called funds. The Trust issues shares of beneficial interests in the funds with no par value. The Board may designate additional iShares funds.**

Each share issued by a fund has a *pro rata* interest in the assets of that fund. Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the relevant fund, and in the net distributable assets of such fund on liquidation.

Each share has one vote with respect to matters upon which the shareholder is entitled to vote. In any matter submitted to shareholders for a vote, each fund shall hold a separate vote, provided that shareholders of all affected funds will vote together when: (i) required by the 1940 Act, or (ii) the Trustees determine that the matter affects the interests of more than one fund.

Under Delaware law, the Trust is not required to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. The policy of the Trust is not to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. All shares (regardless of the fund) have noncumulative voting rights in the election of members of the Board. Under Delaware law, Trustees of the Trust may be removed by vote of the shareholders.

Following the creation of the initial Creation Unit(s) of shares of a fund and immediately prior to the commencement of trading in such fund's shares, a holder of shares may be a "control person" of the fund, as defined in Rule 0-1 under the 1940 Act. A fund cannot predict the length of time for which one or more shareholders may remain a control person of the fund.

Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to iShares U.S. ETF Trust, c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC, 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, beneficial owners of more than 5% of the shares of a fund may be subject to the reporting provisions of Section 13 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. In addition, absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, officers and trustees of a fund and beneficial owners of 10% of the shares of a fund ("Insiders") may be subject to the insider reporting, short-swing profit and short sale provisions of Section 16 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. Beneficial owners and Insiders should consult with their own legal counsel concerning their obligations under Sections 13 and 16 of the 1934 Act and existing guidance provided by the SEC staff.

In accordance with the Trust's current Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust"), the Board may, without shareholder approval (unless such shareholder approval is required by the Declaration of Trust or applicable law, including the 1940 Act), authorize certain funds to merge, reorganize, consolidate, sell all or substantially all of their assets, or take other similar actions with, to or into another fund. The Trust or a fund may be terminated by a majority vote of the Board, or the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders of the Trust or such fund entitled to vote on termination; however, in certain circumstances described in the Declaration of Trust, only a majority vote of the Board is required. Although the shares are not automatically redeemable upon the occurrence of any specific event, the Declaration of Trust provides that the Board will have the unrestricted power to alter the number of shares in a Creation Unit. Therefore, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Board, in its sole discretion, could determine to permit the shares to be redeemable in aggregations smaller than Creation Units or to be individually redeemable. In such circumstance, the Trust or a fund may make redemptions in-kind, for cash or for a combination of cash or securities. Further, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Trust or a fund might elect to pay cash redemptions to all shareholders, with an in-kind election for shareholders owning in excess of a certain stated minimum amount.

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**DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund. Shares of the Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.**

DTC was created in 1973 to enable electronic movement of securities between its participants ("DTC Participants"), and NSCC was established in 1976 to provide a single settlement system for securities clearing and to serve as central counterparty for securities trades among DTC Participants. In 1999, DTC and NSCC were consolidated within The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") and became wholly-owned subsidiaries of DTCC. The common stock of DTCC is owned by the DTC Participants, but NYSE and FINRA, through subsidiaries, hold preferred shares in DTCC that provide them with the right to elect one member each to the DTCC board of directors. Access to the DTC system is available to entities, such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly ("Indirect Participants").

Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as "Beneficial Owners") is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in shares of the Fund.

Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee to be charged to the Trust a listing of the shares of the Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Share distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares of the Trust. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall credit immediately DTC Participants' accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in shares of the Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a "street name," and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.

The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants. DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to shares of the Trust at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.

**Distribution of Shares. In connection with the Fund's launch, the Fund was seeded through the sale of one or more Creation Units by the Fund to one or more initial investors. Initial investors participating in the seeding may be Authorized Participants, a lead market maker or other third party investor or an affiliate of the Fund or the Fund's adviser. Each such initial investor may sell some or all of the shares underlying the Creation Unit(s) held by them pursuant to the registration statement for the Fund (each, a "Selling Shareholder"), which shares have been registered to permit the resale from time to time after purchase. The Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale by the Selling Shareholders of these shares.**

Selling Shareholders may sell shares owned by them directly or through broker-dealers, in accordance with applicable law, on any national securities exchange on which the shares may be listed or quoted at the time of sale, through trading systems, in the OTC market or in transactions other than on these exchanges or systems at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the

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time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected through brokerage transactions, privately negotiated trades, block sales, entry into options or other derivatives transactions or through any other means authorized by applicable law. Selling Shareholders may redeem the shares held in Creation Unit size by them through an Authorized Participant.

Any Selling Shareholder and any broker-dealer or agents participating in the distribution of shares may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act, in connection with such sales.

Any Selling Shareholder and any other person participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

## Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
**General. The Trust issues and sells shares of the Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor or its agent, without a sales load, at a price based on the Fund's NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order received by the Distributor or its agent in proper form. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to be placed earlier in the day. The following table sets forth the number of shares of the Fund that constitute a Creation Unit for the Fund and the approximate value of such Creation Unit as of November 30, 2022:**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Shares Per<br> Creation Unit** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Approximate<br> Value Per<br> Creation<br> Unit (U.S.$)** |
| 50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2907353.80 |

---

In its discretion, the Trust reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of the Fund's shares that constitute a Creation Unit. The Board reserves the right to declare a split or a consolidation in the number of shares outstanding of the Fund, and to make a corresponding change in the number of shares constituting a Creation Unit, in the event that the per share price in the secondary market rises (or declines) to an amount that falls outside the range deemed desirable by the Board.

A "Business Day" with respect to the Fund is any day the Fund is open for business, including any day when it satisfies redemption requests as required by Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act. The Fund is open for business any day on which the Listing Exchange on which the Fund is listed for trading is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, the Listing Exchange observes the following holidays, as observed: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

**Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of Creation Units of the Fund generally consists of the in-kind deposit of Deposit Securities and the Cash Component computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to creation requests received in proper form. The Fund Deposit represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of the Fund. Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, to purchases of Creation Units of shares of the Fund until such time as the next-announced Fund Deposit is made available.**

The "Cash Component" is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares (per Creation Unit) and the "Deposit Amount," which is an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities, and serves to compensate for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the Deposit Amount. Payment of any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities are the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant purchasing the Creation Unit.

The identity and number of shares of the Deposit Securities change pursuant to changes in the composition of the Fund's portfolio and as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by BFA with a view to the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities constituting the Underlying Index.

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The Fund Deposit may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Deposit Securities portion of the Fund Deposit through "systematic rounding." The rounding methodology "rounds up" position sizes of securities in the Deposit Securities (which in turn reduces the cash portion). However, the methodology limits the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Fund Deposit.

Fund Deposits may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when instruments are not available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) when instruments are not eligible for transfer through DTC or the clearing process (as discussed below); (iii) when instruments that the Authorized Participant (or an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) are not able to be traded due to a trading restriction; (iv) when delivery of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant (or by an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws; (v) in connection with distribution payments to be made by the Fund; or (vi) in certain other situations.

**Cash Purchase Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified for the Fund, they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof. In the case of a partial or full cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser.**

**Procedures for Creation of Creation Units. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit of the Fund, an entity must be: (i) a "Participating Party," *i.e*., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the "Clearing Process"), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC, or (ii) a DTC Participant, and must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units ("Authorized Participant Agreement") (discussed below). A member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units is referred to as an "Authorized Participant." All shares of the Fund, however created, will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.**

**Role of the Authorized Participant. Creation Units may be purchased only by or through a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units (an "Authorized Participant"). Such Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of such Authorized Participant Agreement and on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that such Authorized Participant will make available in advance of each purchase of shares an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component, once the NAV of a Creation Unit is next determined after receipt of the purchase order in proper form, together with the transaction fees described below. An Authorized Participant, acting on behalf of an investor, may require the investor to enter into an agreement with such Authorized Participant with respect to certain matters, including payment of the Cash Component. Investors who are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not be a DTC Participant or may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that orders to purchase Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant. As a result, purchase orders placed through an Authorized Participant may result in additional charges to such investor. The Trust does not expect to enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with more than a small number of DTC Participants. A list of current Authorized Participants may be obtained from the Distributor. The Distributor has adopted guidelines regarding Authorized Participants' transactions in Creation Units that are made available to all Authorized Participants. These guidelines set forth the processes and standards for Authorized Participants to transact with the Distributor and its agents in connection with creation and redemption transactions. In addition, the Distributor may be appointed as the proxy of the Authorized Participant and may be granted a power of attorney under its Authorized Participant Agreement.**

**Purchase Orders. To initiate an order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit to the Distributor or its agent an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund, in proper form, generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day to receive that day's NAV. The Distributor or its agent will notify BFA and the custodian of such order. The**

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custodian will then provide such information to any appropriate sub-custodian. Procedures and requirements governing the delivery of the Fund Deposit are set forth in the procedures handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a creation request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request. Those placing orders to purchase Creation Units through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor or its agent by the Cutoff Time (as defined below) on such Business Day.

The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the Fund, immediately available or same day funds estimated by the Fund to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with the applicable purchase transaction fees. Those placing orders should ascertain the deadline for cash transfers by contacting the operations department of the broker or depositary institution effectuating the transfer of the Cash Component. This deadline is likely to be significantly earlier than the Cutoff Time of the Fund. Investors should be aware that an Authorized Participant may require orders for purchases of shares placed with it to be in the particular form required by the individual Authorized Participant.

The Authorized Participant is responsible for any and all expenses and costs incurred by the Fund, including any applicable cash amounts, in connection with any purchase order.

**Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. Creation Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent pursuant to procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure, may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or its agent or an Authorized Participant. The Fund's deadline specified above for the submission of purchase orders is referred to as the Fund's "Cutoff Time." The Distributor or its agent, in their discretion, may permit the submission of such orders and requests by or through an Authorized Participant at any time (including on days on which the Listing Exchange is not open for business) via communication through the facilities of the Distributor's or its agent's proprietary website maintained for this purpose. Purchase orders and redemption requests, if accepted by the Trust, will be processed based on the NAV next determined after such acceptance in accordance with the Fund's Cutoff Times as provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement and disclosed in this SAI.**

**Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. Subject to the conditions that (i) an irrevocable purchase order has been submitted by the Authorized Participant (either on its own or another investor's behalf) and (ii) arrangements satisfactory to the Fund are in place for payment of the Cash Component and any other cash amounts which may be due, the Fund will accept the order, subject to the Fund's right (and the right of the Distributor and BFA) to reject any order until acceptance, as set forth below.**

Once the Fund has accepted an order, upon the next determination of the NAV of the shares, the Fund will confirm the issuance of a Creation Unit, against receipt of payment, at such NAV. The Distributor or its agent will then transmit a confirmation of acceptance to the Authorized Participant that placed the order.

The Fund reserves the right to reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent provided that a rejection or revocation of a creation order does not violate Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act. For example, the Fund may reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent if (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of the Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered do not conform to the identity and number of shares specified, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities is not legally required or would, in the opinion of the Trust, be unlawful or have an adverse effect on the Fund or its shareholders (*e.g*., jeopardize the Fund's tax status); or (v) circumstances outside the control of the Fund, the Distributor or its agent and BFA make it impracticable to process purchase orders. The Distributor or its agent shall notify a prospective purchaser of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such purchaser of its rejection of such order. The Fund, State Street, the sub-custodian and the Distributor or its agent are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for failure to give such notification.

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**Issuance of a Creation Unit. Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When the sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the securities included in the Fund Deposit (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian or sub-custodians, the Distributor or its agent and BFA shall be notified of such delivery and the Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit. Creation Units are generally issued on a "T+1 basis" (*i.e.*, one Business Day after trade date). The Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+1 if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law.**

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor, the Fund will issue Creation Units to such Authorized Participant, notwithstanding the fact that the corresponding Fund Deposits have not been received in part or in whole, in reliance on the undertaking of the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Deposit Securities as soon as possible, which undertaking shall be secured by such Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to buy Deposit Securities for the Fund. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the contractual settlement date. Information concerning the Fund's current procedures for collateralization of missing Deposit Securities is available from the Distributor or its agent. The Authorized Participant Agreement will permit the Fund to buy the missing Deposit Securities at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Fund of purchasing such securities and the collateral including, without limitation, liability for related brokerage, borrowings and other charges.

In certain cases, Authorized Participants may create and redeem Creation Units on the same trade date and in these instances, the Fund reserves the right to settle these transactions on a net basis or require a representation from the Authorized Participants that the creation and redemption transactions are for separate beneficial owners. All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by the Fund and the Fund's determination shall be final and binding.

#### Costs Associated with Creation Transactions.
A standard creation transaction fee is imposed to offset the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant creates a Creation Unit, and is the same, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a purchase consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Deposit Securities to the Fund. Certain fees/costs associated with creation transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to acquire Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth the Fund's standard creation transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $225 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit.

**Redemption of Creation Units. Shares of the Fund may be redeemed by Authorized Participants only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Distributor or its agent and only on a Business Day. The Fund will not redeem shares in amounts less than Creation Units. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the secondary market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of shares to constitute a Creation Unit that could be redeemed by an Authorized Participant. Beneficial owners also may sell shares in the secondary market.**

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The Fund generally redeems Creation Units for Fund Securities (as defined below). Please see the *Cash Redemption Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the in-kind method for further information on redeeming Creation Units of the Fund.

The Fund publishes the designated portfolio of securities and other instruments (including any portion of such securities and other instruments for which cash may be substituted) that will be applicable to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day ("Fund Securities" or "Redemption Basket"), and an amount of cash (the "Cash Amount," as described below) in order to effect redemptions of Creation Units of the Fund. Such Fund Securities and Cash Amount will remain in effect until such time as the next announced composition of the Fund Securities and Cash Amount is made available. The Fund Securities and Cash Amount are subject to possible amendment or correction. Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities that are applicable to creations of Creation Units. Procedures and requirements governing redemption transactions are set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time.

Unless cash redemptions are available or specified for the Fund, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of Fund Securities, plus the Cash Amount, which is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares being redeemed, as next determined after the receipt of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of Fund Securities, less a redemption transaction fee (as described below).

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant (or to an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws or due to a trading restriction; (ii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Fund Security by the Authorized Participant due to restrictions under applicable securities or other local laws; (iii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in unfavorable tax treatment; (iv) when a Fund Security cannot be settled or otherwise delivered in time to facilitate an in-kind redemption; or (v) in certain other situations. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder. The Fund generally redeems Creation Units for Fund Securities, but the Fund reserves the right to utilize a cash option for redemption of Creation Units. The Redemption Basket may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Fund Securities portion of the Redemption Basket through systematically rounding. The rounding methodology allows position sizes of securities in the Fund Securities to be "rounded up," while limiting the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Redemption Basket. Redemption Baskets may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

**Cash Redemption Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units are available or specified for the Fund, they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof. In the case of partial or full cash redemption, the Authorized Participant receives the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.**

#### Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions.
A redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by the Fund. The standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and is the same regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed by an Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a redemption consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from the Fund to their account on their order. Certain fees/costs associated with redemption transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to dispose of Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

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The following table sets forth the Fund's standard redemption transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Redemption<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $225 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit, inclusive of the standard redemption transaction fee.

**Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemption requests for Creation Units of the Fund must be submitted to the Distributor or its agent by or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable request to redeem shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to redeem Creation Units to be placed earlier that day. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a redemption request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request.**

The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant who has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement. At any time, only a limited number of broker-dealers will have an Authorized Participant Agreement in effect. Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant. Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the shares to the Fund's transfer agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.

A redemption request is considered to be in "proper form" if: (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Fund's transfer agent the Creation Unit redeemed through the book-entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the Listing Exchange closing time on any Business Day on which the redemption request is submitted; (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the Fund is received by the Distributor or its agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified above; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement are properly followed.

Upon receiving a redemption request, the Distributor or its agent shall notify the Fund and the Fund's transfer agent of such redemption request. The tender of an investor's shares for redemption and the distribution of the securities and/or cash included in the redemption payment made in respect of Creation Units redeemed will be made through DTC and the relevant Authorized Participant to the Beneficial Owner thereof as recorded on the book-entry system of DTC or the DTC Participant through which such investor holds, as the case may be, or by such other means specified by the Authorized Participant submitting the redemption request.

A redeeming Authorized Participant, whether on its own account or acting on behalf of a Beneficial Owner, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the portfolio securities are customarily traded, to which account such portfolio securities will be delivered.

Deliveries of redemption proceeds by the Fund are generally made within one Business Day (*i.e.,* "T+1"). The Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+1 if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law. If the Fund includes a foreign investment in its basket, and if a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming Authorized Participants prevents timely delivery of the foreign investment in response to a redemption request, the Fund may delay delivery of the foreign investment more than seven days if the Fund delivers the foreign investment as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 days.

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant's agreement with the Distributor or its agent, in the event an Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation

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Unit to be redeemed to the Fund, at or prior to the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request, the Distributor or its agent will accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request and shall be held by State Street and marked-to-market daily. The fees of State Street and any sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant Agreement permits the Fund to acquire shares of the Fund at any time and subjects the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the aggregate of the cost to the Fund of purchasing such shares, plus the value of the Cash Amount, and the value of the collateral together with liability for related brokerage and other charges.

The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to the Fund: (i) for any period during which the Listing Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the Listing Exchange is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the shares of the Fund's portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.

**Custom Baskets. Creation and Redemption baskets may differ and the Fund will accept "custom baskets." A custom basket may include any of the following: (i) a basket that is composed of a non-representative selection of the Fund's portfolio holdings; (ii) a representative basket that is different from the initial basket used in transactions on the same business day; or (iii) a basket that contains bespoke cash substitutions for a single Authorized Participant. The Fund has adopted policies and procedures that govern the construction and acceptance of baskets, including heightened requirements for certain types of custom baskets. Such policies and procedures provide the parameters for the construction and acceptance of custom baskets that are in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, establish processes for revisions to, or deviations from, such parameters, and specify the titles and roles of the employees of BFA who are required to review each custom basket for compliance with those parameters. In addition, when constructing custom baskets for redemptions, the tax efficiency of the Fund may be taken into account. The policies and procedures distinguish among different types of custom baskets that may be used for the Fund and impose different requirements for different types of custom baskets in order to seek to mitigate against potential risks of conflicts and/or overreaching by an Authorized Participant. BlackRock has established a governance process to oversee basket compliance for the Fund, as set forth in the Fund's policies and procedures.**

**Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units. An Authorized Participant generally will recognize either gain or loss upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units. This gain or loss is calculated by taking the market value of the Creation Units purchased over the Authorized Participant's aggregate basis in the Deposit Securities exchanged therefor. However, the IRS may apply the wash sales rules to determine that any loss realized upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units is not currently deductible. Authorized Participants should consult their own tax advisors.**

Current U.S. federal income tax laws dictate that capital gain or loss realized from the redemption of Creation Units will generally create long-term capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the Creation Units for more than one year, or short-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Units were held for one year or less, if the Creation Units are held as capital assets.

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## Taxes
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of the Fund. This summary does not address all of the potential U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be applicable to the Fund or to all categories of investors, some of which may be subject to special tax rules. Current and prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the specific U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of investing in the Fund. The summary is based on the laws and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof in effect on the date of this SAI, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect.

**Regulated Investment Company Qualifications. The Fund intends to qualify for treatment as a separate RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, the Fund must annually distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (which includes dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements. Among such other requirements are the following: (i) at least 90% of the Fund's annual gross income must be derived from dividends, interest, payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock or securities or non-U.S. currencies, other income (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect to its business of investing in such stock, securities or currencies, and net income derived from interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships (*i.e.,* partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than partnerships that derive at least 90% of their income from interest, dividends, capital gains and other traditionally permitted RIC income); and (ii) at the close of each quarter of the Fund's taxable year, (a) at least 50% of the market value of the Fund's total assets must be represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs and other securities, with such other securities limited for purposes of this calculation in respect of any one issuer to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund's assets and not greater than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (b) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund's total assets may be invested in the securities (other than U.S. government securities or the securities of other RICs) of any one issuer, of two or more issuers of which 20% or more of the voting stock is held by the Fund and that are engaged in the same or similar trades or businesses or related trades or businesses, or the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships.**

The Fund may be able to cure a failure to derive at least 90% of its income from the sources specified above or a failure to diversify its holdings in the manner described above by paying a tax and/or by disposing of certain assets. If, in any taxable year, the Fund fails one of these tests and does not timely cure the failure, the Fund will be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation and distributions to its shareholders will not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

Although, in general, the passive loss rules of the Internal Revenue Code do not apply to RICs, such rules do apply to a RIC with respect to items attributable to interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships. The Fund's investments in partnerships, including in qualified publicly-traded partnerships, may result in the Fund being subject to state, local, or non-U.S. income, franchise or withholding tax liabilities.

**Taxation of RICs. As a RIC, the Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders, provided that it satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. To satisfy the minimum distribution requirement, the Fund must distribute to its shareholders at least the sum of (i) 90% of its "investment company taxable income" (*i.e.,* income other than its net realized long-term capital gain over its net realized short-term capital loss), plus or minus certain adjustments, and (ii) 90% of its net tax-exempt income for the taxable year. The Fund will be subject to income tax at regular corporate rates on any taxable income or gains that it does not distribute to its shareholders. If the Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC or fails to meet the distribution requirement, all of its taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, distributions to individuals should be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income and distributions to corporate shareholders generally should be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Although the Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and its capital gains for each taxable year, the Fund may decide to retain a portion of its income or gains if the Fund determines that doing so is in the interest of its shareholders. The Fund will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent any such income or**

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gains are not distributed. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC in any year, it must pay out its earnings and profits accumulated in that year in order to qualify again as a RIC. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two taxable years, the Fund may be required to recognize any net built-in gains with respect to certain of its assets (*i.e.,* the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if the Fund had been liquidated) if it qualifies as a RIC in a subsequent year.

The Subsidiary will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax. The Subsidiary will, however, be considered a controlled foreign corporation, and the Fund will be required to include as income annually amounts earned by the Subsidiary during that year. The Fund will be subject to the distribution requirements described above on such Subsidiary income, whether or not the Subsidiary makes a distribution to the Fund during the taxable year. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

In addition, the Fund's income from the Subsidiary will be treated as ordinary income. If the Fund were able to invest directly in commodity-linked derivatives, its gains and losses would generally be treated as 60% long-term and 40% short-term gain or loss, to the extent such derivatives are subject to the rules for Section 1256 futures contracts. See "Taxation of Certain Derivatives" below.

**Excise Tax. The Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus at least 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the 12 months ended October 31 of such year. For this purpose, however, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by the Fund that is subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed by year-end. In addition, the minimum amounts that must be distributed in any year to avoid the excise tax will be increased or decreased to reflect any underdistribution or overdistribution, as the case may be, from the previous year. The Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax.**

**Net Capital Loss Carryforwards. Net capital loss carryforwards may be applied against any net realized capital gains in each succeeding year, until they have been reduced to zero.**

In the event that the Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Internal Revenue Code, the loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of the Fund, if any, may be subject to limitation.

As of October 31, 2022, the tax year-end of the Fund, the Fund had non-expiring capital loss carryforwards in the amount of $6,218 available to offset future realized capital gains.

**Taxation of U.S. Shareholders. Dividends and other distributions by the Fund are generally treated under the Internal Revenue Code as received by the shareholders at the time the dividend or distribution is made. However, any dividend or distribution declared by the Fund in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in such a month shall be deemed to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year and to have been paid by the Fund not later than such December 31, provided such dividend is actually paid by the Fund during January of the following calendar year.**

The Fund intends to distribute annually to its shareholders substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers). However, if the Fund retains for investment an amount equal to all or a portion of its net long-term capital gains in excess of its net short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers), it will be subject to a corporate tax (at a flat rate of 21%) on the amount retained. In that event, the Fund will designate such retained amounts as undistributed capital gains in a notice to its shareholders who (a) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gains, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount, (b) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on the undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent their credits exceed their liabilities, if any, and (c) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in their shares by an amount equal to the excess of the amount in clause (a) over

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the amount in clause (b). Organizations or persons not subject to U.S. federal income tax on such capital gains will be entitled to a refund of their *pro rata* share of such taxes paid by the Fund upon filing appropriate returns or claims for refund with the IRS.

Distributions of net realized long-term capital gains, if any, that the Fund reports as capital gains dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, whether paid in cash or in shares and regardless of how long a shareholder has held shares of the Fund. All other dividends of the Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits ("regular dividends") are generally subject to tax as ordinary income, subject to the discussion of qualified dividend income below. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.

If an individual receives a regular dividend qualifying for the long-term capital gains rates and such dividend constitutes an "extraordinary dividend," and the individual subsequently recognizes a loss on the sale or exchange of stock in respect of which the extraordinary dividend was paid, then the loss will be long-term capital loss to the extent of such extraordinary dividend. An "extraordinary dividend" on common stock for this purpose is generally a dividend (i) in an amount greater than or equal to 10% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within an 85-day period, or (ii) in an amount greater than 20% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within a 365-day period.

Distributions in excess of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of a shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund, and as a capital gain thereafter (if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets). Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. Shareholders receiving dividends or distributions in the form of additional shares should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of money that the shareholders receiving cash dividends or distributions will receive and should have a cost basis in the shares received equal to such amount.

A 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on net investment income, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain from investments, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

Investors considering buying shares just prior to a dividend or capital gain distribution should be aware that, although the price of shares purchased at that time may reflect the amount of the forthcoming distribution, such dividend or distribution may nevertheless be taxable to them. If the Fund is the holder of record of any security on the record date for any dividends payable with respect to such security, such dividends will be included in the Fund's gross income not as of the date received but as of the later of (a) the date such security became ex-dividend with respect to such dividends (*i.e.*, the date on which a buyer of the security would not be entitled to receive the declared, but unpaid, dividends); or (b) the date the Fund acquired such security. Accordingly, in order to satisfy its income distribution requirements, the Fund may be required to pay dividends based on anticipated earnings, and shareholders may receive dividends in an earlier year than would otherwise be the case.

In certain situations, the Fund may, for a taxable year, defer all or a portion of its net capital loss (or if there is no net capital loss, then any net long-term or short-term capital loss) realized after October and its late-year ordinary loss (defined as the sum of (i) the excess of post-October foreign currency and passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") losses over post-October foreign currency and PFIC gains and (ii) the excess of post-December ordinary losses over post-December ordinary income) until the next taxable year in computing its investment company taxable income and net capital gain, which will defer the recognition of such realized losses. Such deferrals and other rules regarding gains and losses realized after October (or December) may affect the tax character of shareholder distributions.

**Sales of Shares. Upon the sale or exchange of shares of the Fund, a shareholder will realize a taxable gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund. A redemption of shares by the Fund will be treated as a sale for this purpose. Such gain or loss will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder's hands and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for more than one year and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized on a sale or exchange will be disallowed to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced, including replacement through the reinvesting of dividends or capital gains distributions, or by an option or contract to acquire substantially identical shares, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition of the shares. In such a case, the basis of the shares**

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acquired will be increased to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss realized by a shareholder on the sale of Fund shares held by the shareholder for six months or less will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any distributions or deemed distributions of long-term capital gains received by the shareholder with respect to such share. The Medicare contribution tax described above will apply to the sale of Fund shares.

If a shareholder incurs a sales charge in acquiring shares of the Fund, disposes of those shares within 90 days and then, on or before January 31 of the following calendar year, acquires shares in a mutual fund for which the otherwise applicable sales charge is reduced by reason of a reinvestment right (*e.g.*, an exchange privilege), the original sales charge will not be taken into account in computing gain/loss on the original shares to the extent the subsequent sales charge is reduced. Instead, the disregarded portion of the original sales charge will be added to the tax basis of the newly acquired shares. Furthermore, the same rule also applies to a disposition of the newly acquired shares made within 90 days of the second acquisition. This provision prevents shareholders from immediately deducting the sales charge by shifting their investments within a family of mutual funds.

**Backup Withholding. In certain cases, the Fund will be required to withhold at a 24% rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury such amounts withheld from any distributions paid to a shareholder who: (i) has failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; (ii) is subject to backup withholding by the IRS; (iii) has failed to certify to the Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding; or (iv) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amount withheld may be credited against a shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability.**

**Sections 351 and 362. The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Sections 351 and 362 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. If the Fund's basis in such securities on the date of deposit was less than market value on such date, the Fund, upon disposition of the securities, would recognize more taxable gain or less taxable loss than if its basis in the securities had been equal to market value. It is not anticipated that the Trust will exercise the right of rejection except in a case where the Trust determines that accepting the order could result in material adverse tax consequences to the Fund or its shareholders. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.**

**Taxation of Certain Derivatives. The Fund's transactions in zero coupon securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward contracts, options and futures contracts (including options and futures contracts on non-U.S. currencies), to the extent permitted, will be subject to special provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to "hedging transactions" and "straddles") that, among other consequences, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (*i.e.*, may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer Fund losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also (a) will require the Fund to mark-to-market certain types of the positions in its portfolio (*i.e.*, treat them as if they were closed out at the end of each year) and (b) may cause the Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to pay dividends or make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. The Fund will monitor its transactions, will make the appropriate tax elections and will make the appropriate entries in its books and records when it acquires any zero coupon security, non-U.S. currency, forward contract, option, futures contract or hedged investment in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and prevent disqualification of the Fund as a RIC.**

The Fund's investments in so-called "Section 1256 contracts," such as regulated futures contracts, most non-U.S. currency forward contracts traded in the interbank market and options on most security indexes, are subject to special tax rules. All Section 1256 contracts held by the Fund at the end of its taxable year are required to be marked to their market value, and any unrealized gain or loss on those positions will be included in the Fund's income as if each position had been sold for its fair market value at the end of the taxable year. The resulting gain or loss will be combined with any gain or loss realized by the Fund from positions in Section 1256 contracts closed during the taxable year. Provided such positions were held as capital assets and were not part of a "hedging transaction" nor part of a "straddle," 60% of the resulting net gain or loss will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% of such net gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, regardless of the period of time the positions were actually held by the Fund.

As a result of entering into swap contracts, the Fund may make or receive periodic net payments. The Fund may also make or receive a payment when a swap is terminated prior to maturity through an assignment of the swap or other closing

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transaction. Periodic net payments will generally constitute ordinary income or deductions, while termination of a swap will generally result in capital gain or loss (which will be a long-term capital gain or loss if the Fund has been a party to the swap for more than one year). With respect to certain types of swaps, the Fund may be required to currently recognize income or loss with respect to future payments on such swaps or may elect under certain circumstances to mark such swaps to market annually for tax purposes as ordinary income or loss.

**Qualified Dividend Income. Distributions by the Fund of investment company taxable income (including any short-term capital gains), whether received in cash or shares, will be taxable either as ordinary income or as qualified dividend income, which is eligible to be taxed at long-term capital gain rates to the extent the Fund receives qualified dividend income on the securities it holds and the Fund reports the distribution as qualified dividend income. Qualified dividend income is, in general, dividend income from taxable U.S. corporations (but generally not from a U.S. real estate investment trust ("REIT")) and certain non-U.S. corporations (*e.g.*, non-U.S. corporations that are not PFICs and which are incorporated in a possession of the U.S. or in certain countries with a comprehensive tax treaty with the U.S., or the stock of which is readily tradable on an established securities market in the U.S. (where the dividends are paid with respect to such stock)). Substitute payments received by the Fund for securities lent out by the Fund will not be qualified dividend income.**

A dividend from the Fund will not be treated as qualified dividend income to the extent that: (i) the shareholder has not held the shares on which the dividend was paid for 61 days during the 121-day period that begins on the date that is 60 days before the date on which the shares become ex-dividend with respect to such dividend or the Fund fails to satisfy those holding period requirements with respect to the securities it holds that paid the dividends distributed to the shareholder (or, in the case of certain preferred stocks, the holding requirement of 91 days during the 181-day period beginning on the date that is 90 days before the date on which the stock becomes ex-dividend with respect to such dividend); (ii) the Fund or the shareholder is under an obligation (whether pursuant to a short sale or otherwise) to make related payments with respect to substantially similar or related property; or (iii) the shareholder elects to treat such dividend as investment income under Section 163(d)(4)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. Dividends received by the Fund from a REIT or another RIC may be treated as qualified dividend income only to the extent the dividend distributions are attributable to qualified dividend income received by such REIT or other RIC. It is expected that dividends received by the Fund from a REIT and distributed to a shareholder generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income. However, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026, a non-corporate taxpayer who is a direct REIT shareholder may claim a 20% "qualified business income" deduction for ordinary REIT dividends, and a RIC may report dividends as eligible for this deduction to the extent the RIC's income is derived from ordinary REIT dividends (reduced by allocable RIC expenses). A shareholder may treat the dividends as such provided the RIC and the shareholder satisfy applicable holding period requirements. Distributions by the Fund of its net short-term capital gains will be taxable as ordinary income.

**Corporate Dividends Received Deduction. Dividends paid by the Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations may qualify for the U.S. federal dividends received deduction for corporations. A 46-day minimum holding period during the 90-day period that begins 45 days prior to ex-dividend date (or 91-day minimum holding period during the 180 period beginning 90 days prior to ex-dividend date for certain preference dividends) during which risk of loss may not be diminished is required for the applicable shares, at both the Fund and shareholder level, for a dividend to be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Restrictions may apply if indebtedness, including a short sale, is attributable to the investment.**

**Excess Inclusion Income. Under current law, the Fund serves to block unrelated business taxable income ("UBTI") from being realized by its tax-exempt shareholders. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a tax-exempt shareholder could realize UBTI by virtue of its investment in the Fund if shares in the Fund constitute debt-financed property in the hands of the tax-exempt shareholder within the meaning of Section 514(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. Certain types of income received by the Fund from REITs, real estate mortgage investment conduits, taxable mortgage pools or other investments may cause the Fund to report some or all of its distributions as "excess inclusion income." To Fund shareholders, such excess inclusion income may: (i) constitute taxable income, as UBTI for those shareholders who would otherwise be tax-exempt such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) accounts, Keogh plans, pension plans and certain charitable entities; (ii) not be offset by otherwise allowable deductions for tax purposes; (iii) not be eligible for reduced U.S. withholding for non-U.S. shareholders even from tax treaty countries; and (iv) cause the Fund to be subject to tax if certain "disqualified organizations," as defined by the Internal Revenue Code, are Fund shareholders. If a charitable remainder annuity trust or a charitable remainder unitrust (each as defined in Section 664 of the Internal Revenue Code) has UBTI for a taxable year, a 100% excise tax on the UBTI is imposed on the trust.**

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The Fund tries to avoid investing in REITs that are expected to generate excess inclusion income, but the Fund may not always be successful in doing so. Because information about a REIT's investments may be inadequate or inaccurate, or because a REIT may change its investment program, the Fund may not be successful in avoiding the consequences described above. Avoidance of investments in REITs that generate excess inclusion income may require the Fund to forego otherwise attractive investment opportunities.

**Reporting. If a shareholder recognizes a loss with respect to the Fund's shares of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a RIC are not exempted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer's treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.**

#### Other Taxes. Dividends, distributions and redemption proceeds may also be subject to additional state, local and non-U.S. taxes depending on each shareholder's particular situation.
**Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders. Dividends paid by the Fund to non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or a reduced rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty to the extent derived from investment income and short-term capital gains. Dividends paid by the Fund from net tax-exempt income or long-term capital gains are generally not subject to such withholding tax. In order to obtain a reduced rate of withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will be required to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E certifying its entitlement to benefits under a treaty. The withholding tax does not apply to regular dividends paid to a non-U.S. shareholder who provides an IRS Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the non-U.S. shareholder were a U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to additional "branch profits tax" imposed at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate). A non-U.S. shareholder who fails to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form may be subject to backup withholding at the appropriate rate.**

Properly-reported dividends are generally exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax where they (i) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified net interest income" (generally, the Fund's U.S. source interest income, other than certain contingent interest and interest from obligations of a corporation or partnership in which the Fund is at least a 10% shareholder or partner, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income) or (ii) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified short-term capital gains" (generally, the excess of the Fund's net short-term capital gain over the Fund's long-term capital loss for such taxable year). However, depending on its circumstances, the Fund may report all, some or none of its potentially eligible dividends as such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains and/or treat such dividends, in whole or in part, as ineligible for this exemption from withholding. In order to qualify for this exemption from withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will need to comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its non-U.S. status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or substitute Form). In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if the Fund reports the payment as qualified net interest income or qualified short-term capital gain. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.

Special rules may apply to a foreign shareholder receiving a Fund distribution if at least 50% of the Fund's assets consist of interests in U.S. real property interests, including certain REITs and U.S. real property holding corporations (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations). Fund distributions that are attributable to gain from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest will be taxable as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding at a 30% or lower treaty rate if the foreign shareholder held no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. If the foreign shareholder held at least 5% of the Fund's shares, the distribution would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business within the U.S. and the foreign shareholder would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 21% and would generally be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return.

Similar consequences would generally apply to a foreign shareholder's gain on the sale of Fund shares unless the Fund is domestically controlled (meaning that more than 50% of the value of the Fund's shares is held by U.S. shareholders) or the foreign shareholder owns no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of sale. Finally, a domestically controlled Fund may be required to recognize a portion of its gain on the in-kind distribution of

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certain U.S. real property interests. Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in the Fund.

The rules laid out in the previous paragraph, other than the withholding rules, will apply notwithstanding the Fund's participation in a wash sale transaction or its payment of a substitute dividend.

Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in a Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to: (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders; and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to: (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event an intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

Shares of the Fund held by a non-U.S. shareholder at death will be considered situated within the U.S. and subject to the U.S. estate tax.

The foregoing discussion is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such shares, including consequences under state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date of this SAI. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.

## Financial Statements
The Fund's audited Financial Statements, including the Consolidated Financial Highlights, appearing in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) to Shareholders and the report therein of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, are hereby incorporated by reference in this SAI. The Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the referenced audited financial statements, is available upon request and without charge.

## Miscellaneous Information

#### Counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, located at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, is counsel to the Trust.
**Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, located at Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, serves as the Trust's independent registered public accounting firm, audits the Fund's financial statements, and may perform other services.**

**Shareholder Communications to the Board. The Board has established a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders may contact the Board by mail. Correspondence should be addressed to iShares Board of Trustees, c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors, iShares Fund Administration, 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Shareholder communications to the Board should include the following information: (i) the name and address of the shareholder; (ii) the number of shares owned by the shareholder; (iii) the Fund(s) of which the shareholder owns shares; and (iv) if these shares**

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are owned indirectly through a broker, financial intermediary or other record owner, the name of the broker, financial intermediary or other record owner. All correspondence received as set forth above shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Trust and reported to the Board.

**Investors' Rights. The Fund relies on the services of BFA and its other service providers, including the Distributor, administrator, custodian and transfer agent. Further information about the duties and roles of these service providers is set out in this SAI. Investors who acquire shares of the Fund are not parties to the relevant agreement with these service providers and do not have express contractual rights against the Fund or its service providers, except certain institutional investors that are Authorized Participants may have certain express contractual rights with respect to the Distributor under the terms of the relevant Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors may have certain legal rights under federal or state law against the Fund or its service providers. In the event that an investor considers that it may have a claim against the Fund, or against any service provider in connection with its investment in the Fund, such investor should consult its own legal advisor.**

By contract, Authorized Participants irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State or U.S. federal court sitting in New York City over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Authorized Participant Agreement. Jurisdiction over other claims, whether by investors or Authorized Participants, will turn on the facts of the particular case and the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is brought.

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## Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy

#### BlackRock U.S. Registered Funds

#### Open-End Fund Proxy Voting Policy

#### Procedures Governing Delegation of Proxy Voting to Fund Advisers

#### August 1, 2022

#### Open-End Mutual Funds (including money market funds)

#### iShares and BlackRock ETFs
The Boards of Trustees/Directors ("Directors") of open-end funds (the "Funds") advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors or BlackRock Advisors, LLC ("BlackRock"), have the responsibility for the oversight of voting proxies relating to portfolio securities of the Funds, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to delegate the responsibility to vote proxies to BlackRock, subject to the principles outlined in this Policy, as part of BlackRock's authority to manage, acquire and dispose of account assets, all as contemplated by the Funds' respective investment management agreements.

BlackRock has adopted guidelines and procedures (together and as from time to time amended, the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BlackRock.

BlackRock will cast votes on behalf of each of the Funds on specific proxy issues in respect of securities held by each such Fund (or may refrain from voting) in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines.

BlackRock will report on an annual basis to the Directors on (1) a summary of all proxy votes that BlackRock has made on behalf of the Funds in the preceding year together with a representation that all votes were in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines, and (2) any changes to the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines that have not previously been reported.

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## Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| [Introduction to BlackRock](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Philosophy on corporate governance](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Corporate governance, engagement and voting](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [- Boards and directors](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-5 |
| [- Auditors and audit-related issues](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-6 |
| [- Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Compensation and benefits](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Environmental and social issues](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-8 |
| [- General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Oversight](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Vote execution](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-10 |
| [- Conflicts management policies and procedures](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-11 |
| [- Voting guidelines](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |
| [- Reporting and vote transparency](#xx_06a0f715-89a3-4bbf-9e61-750b0016c8ce_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |

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#### INTRODUCTION TO BLACKROCK
BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. We manage assets on behalf of institutional and individual clients, across a full spectrum of investment strategies, asset classes and regions. Our client base includes pension plans, endowments, foundations, charities, official institutions, insurers and other financial institutions, as well as individuals around the world.

#### PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") activities are focused on maximizing long-term value for our clients. BIS does this through engagement with boards and management of investee companies and, for those clients who have given us authority, through voting at shareholder meetings.

We believe that there are certain fundamental rights attached to shareholding. Companies and their boards should be accountable to shareholders and structured with appropriate checks and balances to ensure that they operate in shareholders' best interests. Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and there should be one vote for one share. Shareholders should have the right to elect, remove and nominate directors, approve the appointment of the auditor and to amend the corporate charter or by-laws. Shareholders should be able to vote on matters that are material to the protection of their investment, including but not limited to, changes to the purpose of the business, dilution levels and pre-emptive rights, and the distribution of income and capital structure. In order to make informed decisions, we believe that shareholders have the right to sufficient and timely information.

Our primary focus is on the performance of the board of directors. As the agent of shareholders, the board should set the company's strategic aims within a framework of prudent and effective controls, which enables risk to be assessed and managed. The board should provide direction and leadership to management and oversee management's performance. Our starting position is to be supportive of boards in their oversight efforts on shareholders' behalf and we would generally expect to support the items of business they put to a vote at shareholder meetings. Votes cast against or withheld from resolutions proposed by the board are a signal that we are concerned that the directors or management have either not acted in the best interests of shareholders or have not responded adequately to shareholder concerns. We assess voting matters on a case-by-case basis and in light of each company's unique circumstances taking into consideration regional best practices and long-term value creation.

These principles set out our approach to engaging with companies, provide guidance on our position on corporate governance and outline how our views might be reflected in our voting decisions. Corporate governance practices can vary internationally, so our expectations in relation to individual companies are based on the legal and regulatory framework of each local market. However, we believe there are overarching principles of corporate governance that apply globally and provide a framework for more detailed, market-specific assessments.

We believe BlackRock has a responsibility in relation to monitoring and providing feedback to companies, sometimes known as "stewardship." These ownership responsibilities include engaging with management or board members on corporate governance matters, voting proxies in the best long-term economic interests of our clients, and engaging with regulatory bodies to ensure a sound policy framework consistent with promoting long-term shareholder value creation. We also believe in the responsibility to our clients to have appropriate resources and oversight structures. Our approach is set out in the section below titled "BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities" and is further detailed in a <u>team profile on our website</u>.

#### CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING
We recognize that accepted standards of corporate governance differ between markets, but we believe there are sufficient common threads globally to identify an overarching set of principles. The objective of our investment stewardship activities is the protection and enhancement of the value of our clients' investments in public corporations. Thus, these principles focus on practices and structures that we consider to be supportive of long-term value creation. We discuss below the principles under six key themes. In our regional and market-specific voting guidelines we explain how these principles inform our voting decisions in relation to specific resolutions that may appear on the agenda of a shareholder meeting in the relevant market.

The six key themes are:

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• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions

• Compensation and benefits

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections

At a minimum, we expect companies to observe the accepted corporate governance standards in their domestic market or to explain why doing so is not in the interests of shareholders. Where company reporting and disclosure is inadequate or the approach taken is inconsistent with our view of what is in the best interests of shareholders, we will engage with the company and/or use our vote to encourage a change in practice. In making voting decisions, we perform independent research and analysis, such as reviewing relevant information published by the company and apply our voting guidelines to achieve the outcome we believe best protects our clients' long-term economic interests. We also work closely with our active portfolio managers, and may take into account internal and external research.

BlackRock views engagement as an important activity; engagement provides us with the opportunity to improve our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that investee companies are facing and their governance structures. Engagement also allows us to share our philosophy and approach to investment and corporate governance with companies to enhance their understanding of our objectives. Our engagements often focus on providing our feedback on company disclosures, particularly where we believe they could be enhanced. There are a range of approaches we may take in engaging companies depending on the nature of the issue under consideration, the company and the market.

BlackRock's engagements emphasize direct dialogue with corporate leadership on the governance issues identified in these principles that have a material impact on financial performance. These engagements enable us to cast informed votes aligned with clients' long-term economic interests. We generally prefer to engage in the first instance where we have concerns and give management time to address or resolve the issue. As a long-term investor, we are patient and persistent in working with our portfolio companies to have an open dialogue and develop mutual understanding of governance matters, to promote the adoption of best practices and to assess the merits of a company's approach to its governance. We monitor the companies in which we invest and engage with them constructively and privately where we believe doing so helps protect shareholders' interests. We do not try to micro-manage companies, or tell management and boards what to do. We present our views as a long-term shareholder and listen to companies' responses. The materiality and immediacy of a given issue will generally determine the level of our engagement and whom we seek to engage at the company, which could be management representatives or board directors.

#### Boards and directors
The performance of the board is critical to the economic success of the company and to the protection of shareholders' interests. Board members serve as agents of shareholders in overseeing the strategic direction and operation of the company. For this reason, BlackRock focuses on directors in many of our engagements and sees the election of directors as one of our most important responsibilities in the proxy voting context.

We expect the board of directors to promote and protect shareholder interests by:

• establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure

• supporting and overseeing management in setting long-term strategic goals, applicable measures of value-creation and milestones that will demonstrate progress, and steps taken if any obstacles are anticipated or incurred

• ensuring the integrity of financial statements

• making independent decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals

• establishing appropriate executive compensation structures

• addressing business issues, including environmental and social issues, when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance

There should be clear definitions of the role of the board, the committees of the board and senior management such that the responsibilities of each are well understood and accepted. Companies should report publicly the approach taken to

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governance (including in relation to board structure) and why this approach is in the best interest of shareholders. We will seek to engage with the appropriate directors where we have concerns about the performance of the board or the company, the broad strategy of the company, or the performance of individual board members. We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable.

BlackRock believes that directors should stand for re-election on a regular basis. We assess directors nominated for election or re-election in the context of the composition of the board as a whole. There should be detailed disclosure of the relevant credentials of the individual directors in order for shareholders to assess the caliber of an individual nominee. We expect there to be a sufficient number of independent directors on the board to ensure the protection of the interests of all shareholders. Common impediments to independence may include but are not limited to:

• current or former employment at the company or a subsidiary within the past several years

• being, or representing, a shareholder with a substantial shareholding in the company

• interlocking directorships

• having any other interest, business or other relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

BlackRock believes that the operation of the board is enhanced when there is a clearly independent, senior non-executive director to chair it or, where the chairman is also the CEO (or is otherwise not independent), an independent lead director. The role of this director is to enhance the effectiveness of the independent members of the board through shaping the agenda, ensuring adequate information is provided to the board and encouraging independent participation in board deliberations. The lead independent board director should be available to shareholders in those situations where a director is best placed to explain and justify a company's approach.

To ensure that the board remains effective, regular reviews of board performance should be carried out and assessments made of gaps in skills or experience amongst the members. BlackRock believes it is beneficial for new directors to be brought onto the board periodically to refresh the group's thinking and to ensure both continuity and adequate succession planning. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the multiple dimensions of diversity, including personal factors such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. The board should review these dimensions of the current directors and how they might be augmented by incoming directors. We believe that directors are in the best position to assess the optimal size for the board, but we would be concerned if a board seemed too small to have an appropriate balance of directors or too large to be effective.

There are matters for which the board has responsibility that may involve a conflict of interest for executives or for affiliated directors. BlackRock believes that shareholders' interests are best served when the board forms committees of fully independent directors to deal with such matters. In many markets, these committees of the board specialize in audit, director nominations and compensation matters. An ad hoc committee might also be formed to decide on a special transaction, particularly one with a related party or to investigate a significant adverse event.

#### Auditors and audit-related issues
Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements, which should provide a true and fair picture of a company's financial condition. We will hold the members of the audit committee or equivalent responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or ad hoc notifications of material financial weakness.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor being free of any impediments to being an effective check on management. To that end, we believe it is important that auditors are, and are seen to be, independent. Where the audit firm provides services to the company in addition to the audit, the fees earned should be disclosed and explained. Audit committees should have in place a procedure for assessing annually the independence of the auditor.

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#### Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions
The capital structure of a company is critical to its owners, the shareholders, as it impacts the value of their investment and the priority of their interest in the company relative to that of other equity or debt investors. Pre-emptive rights are a key protection for shareholders against the dilution of their interests.

Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and we believe strongly in one vote for one share as a guiding principle that supports good corporate governance. Shareholders, as the residual claimants, have the strongest interest in protecting company value, and voting power should match economic exposure.

We are concerned that the creation of a dual share class may result in an over-concentration of power in the hands of a few shareholders, thus disenfranchising other shareholders and amplifying the potential conflict of interest, which the one share, one vote principle is designed to mitigate. However, we recognize that in certain circumstances, companies may have a valid argument for dual-class listings, at least for a limited period of time. We believe that such companies should review these dual-class structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Additionally, they should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal in the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

In assessing mergers, asset sales or other special transactions, BlackRock's primary consideration is the long-term economic interests of shareholders. Boards proposing a transaction need to clearly explain the economic and strategic rationale behind it. We will review a proposed transaction to determine the degree to which it enhances long-term shareholder value. We would prefer that proposed transactions have the unanimous support of the board and have been negotiated at arm's length. We may seek reassurance from the board that executives' and/or board members' financial interests in a given transaction have not adversely affected their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own. Where the transaction involves related parties, we would expect the recommendation to support it to come from the independent directors and it is good practice to be approved by a separate vote of the non-conflicted shareholders.

BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to dispose of company shares in the open market without unnecessary restriction. In our view, corporate mechanisms designed to limit shareholders' ability to sell their shares are contrary to basic property rights. Such mechanisms can serve to protect and entrench interests other than those of the shareholders. We believe that shareholders are broadly capable of making decisions in their own best interests. We expect any so-called 'shareholder rights plans' proposed by a board to be subject to shareholder approval upon introduction and periodically thereafter for continuation.

#### Compensation and benefits
BlackRock expects a company's board of directors to put in place a compensation structure that incentivizes and rewards executives appropriately and is aligned with shareholder interests, particularly generating sustainable long-term shareholder returns. We would expect the compensation committee to take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the key individuals the board is trying to incentivize. We encourage companies to ensure that their compensation plans incorporate appropriate and challenging performance conditions consistent with corporate strategy and market practice. We use third party research, in addition to our own analysis, to evaluate existing and proposed compensation structures. We hold members of the compensation committee or equivalent board members accountable for poor compensation practices or structures.

BlackRock believes that there should be a clear link between variable pay and company performance that drives shareholder returns. We are not supportive of one-off or special bonuses unrelated to company or individual performance. We acknowledge that the use of peer group evaluation by compensation committees can help ensure competitive pay; however, we are concerned when increases in total compensation at a company are justified solely on peer benchmarking rather than outperformance. We support incentive plans that foster the sustainable achievement of results relative to competitors. The vesting timeframes associated with incentive plans should facilitate a focus on long -term value creation. We believe consideration should be given to building claw back provisions into incentive plans such that executives would be required to forgo rewards when they are not justified by actual performance. Compensation committees should guard against contractual arrangements that would entitle executives to material compensation for early termination of their contract. Finally, pension contributions and other deferred compensation arrangements should be reasonable in light of market practice.

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Non-executive directors should be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the time and effort expended in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. Additionally, these compensation arrangements should not risk compromising their independence or aligning their interests too closely with those of the management, whom they are charged with overseeing.

#### Environmental and social issues
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well -managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses.

Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate -related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry -specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification processes in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors.

In deciding our course of action, we will assess the company's disclosures and the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social or political judgments on behalf of clients. Our consideration of these E&S factors is consistent with protecting the long-term economic interest of our clients' assets. We expect investee companies to comply,

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at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where local laws or regulations that significantly impact the company's operations are contradictory or ambiguous to global norms.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long - term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate -related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections
BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to timely and detailed information on the financial performance and viability of the companies in which they invest. In addition, companies should also publish information on the governance structures in place and the rights of shareholders to influence these. The reporting and disclosure provided by companies help shareholders assess whether their economic interests have been protected and the quality of the board's oversight of management. We believe shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including changes to governance mechanisms, to submit proposals to the shareholders' meeting and to call special meetings of shareholders.

#### BLACKROCK'S OVERSIGHT OF ITS INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES

#### Oversight
We hold ourselves to a very high standard in our investment stewardship activities, including proxy voting. This function is executed by a team called BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") which is comprised of BlackRock employees who do not have other responsibilities other than their roles in BIS. BIS is considered an investment function. The team does not have sales responsibilities.

BlackRock maintains three regional advisory committees ("Stewardship Advisory Committees") for (a) the Americas; (b) Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); and (c) Asia-Pacific, generally consisting of senior BlackRock investment professionals and/or senior employees with practical boardroom experience. The regional Stewardship Advisory Committees review and advise on amendments to the proxy voting guidelines covering markets within each respective region ("Guidelines").

In addition to the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees, the Investment Stewardship Global Oversight Committee ("Global Committee") is a risk-focused committee, comprised of senior representatives from various BlackRock investment teams, BlackRock's Deputy General Counsel, the Global Head of Investment Stewardship ("Global Head"), and other senior executives with relevant experience and team oversight.

The Global Head has primary oversight of the activities of BIS, including voting in accordance with the Guidelines, which require the application of professional judgment and consideration of each company's unique circumstances. The Global Committee reviews and approves amendments to these Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles. The Global

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Committee also reviews and approves amendments to the regional Guidelines, as proposed by the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees.

In addition, the Global Committee receives and reviews periodic reports regarding the votes cast by BIS, as well as regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other risk oversight considerations. The Global Committee reviews these reports in an oversight capacity as informed by the BIS corporate governance engagement program and Guidelines.

BIS carries out engagement with companies, monitors and executes proxy votes, and conducts vote operations (including maintaining records of votes cast) in a manner consistent with the relevant Guidelines. BIS also conducts research on corporate governance issues and participates in industry discussions to keep abreast of important developments in the corporate governance field. BIS may utilize third parties for certain of the foregoing activities and performs oversight of those third parties. BIS may raise complicated or particularly controversial matters for internal discussion with the relevant investment teams and/or refer such matters to the appropriate regional Stewardship Advisory Committees for review, discussion and guidance prior to making a voting decision.

#### Vote execution
We carefully consider proxies submitted to funds and other fiduciary account(s) ("Fund" or "Funds") for which we have voting authority. BlackRock votes (or refrains from voting) proxies for each Fund for which we have voting authority based on our evaluation of the best long-term economic interests of shareholders, in the exercise of our independent business judgment, and without regard to the relationship of the issuer of the proxy (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) to the Fund, the Fund's affiliates (if any), BlackRock or BlackRock's affiliates, or BlackRock employees (see "Conflicts management policies and procedures", below).

When exercising voting rights, BlackRock will normally vote on specific proxy issues in accordance with the Guidelines for the relevant market. The Guidelines are reviewed regularly and are amended consistent with changes in the local market practice, as developments in corporate governance occur, or as otherwise deemed advisable by BlackRock's Stewardship Advisory Committees. BIS may, in the exercise of their professional judgment, conclude that the Guidelines do not cover the specific matter upon which a proxy vote is required or that an exception to the Guidelines would be in the best long - term economic interests of BlackRock's clients.

In the uncommon circumstance of there being a vote with respect to fixed income securities or the securities of privately held issuers, the decision generally will be made by the Fund's portfolio managers and/or BIS based on their assessment of the particular transactions or other matters at issue.

In certain markets, proxy voting involves logistical issues which can affect BlackRock's ability to vote such proxies, as well as the desirability of voting such proxies. These issues include but are not limited to: (i) untimely notice of shareholder meetings; (ii) restrictions on a foreigner's ability to exercise votes; (iii) requirements to vote proxies in person; (iv) "share- blocking" (requirements that investors who exercise their voting rights surrender the right to dispose of their holdings for some specified period in proximity to the shareholder meeting); (v) potential difficulties in translating the proxy; (vi) regulatory constraints; and (vii) requirements to provide local agents with unrestricted powers of attorney to facilitate voting instructions. We are not supportive of impediments to the exercise of voting rights such as share-blocking or overly burdensome administrative requirements.

As a consequence, BlackRock votes proxies on a "best-efforts" basis. In addition, BIS may determine that it is generally in the best interests of BlackRock's clients not to vote proxies if the costs (including but not limited to opportunity costs associated with share-blocking constraints) associated with exercising a vote are expected to outweigh the benefit the client would derive by voting on the proposal.

Portfolio managers have full discretion to vote the shares in the Funds they manage based on their analysis of the economic impact of a particular ballot item. Portfolio managers may from time to time reach differing views on how best to maximize economic value with respect to a particular investment. Therefore, portfolio managers may, and sometimes do, vote shares in the Funds under their management differently from one another. However, because BlackRock's clients are mostly long-term investors with long-term economic goals, ballots are frequently cast in a uniform manner.

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#### Conflicts management policies and procedures
BIS maintains the following policies and procedures that seek to prevent undue influence on BlackRock's proxy voting activity. Such influence might stem from any relationship between the investee company (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) and BlackRock, BlackRock's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates, or BlackRock employees. The following are examples of sources of perceived or potential conflicts of interest:

• BlackRock clients who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock business partners or third parties who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock employees who may sit on the boards of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Significant BlackRock, Inc. investors who may be issuers of securities held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Securities of BlackRock, Inc. or BlackRock investment funds held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• BlackRock, Inc. board members who serve as senior executives of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

BlackRock has taken certain steps to mitigate perceived or potential conflicts including, but not limited to, the following:

• Adopted the Guidelines which are designed to protect and enhance the economic value of the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

• Established a reporting structure that separates BIS from employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles. In addition, BlackRock seeks to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers, dissident shareholders or shareholder proponents are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock's relationship with such parties. Clients or business partners are not given special treatment or differentiated access to BIS. BIS prioritizes engagements based on factors including but not limited to our need for additional information to make a voting decision or our view on the likelihood that an engagement could lead to positive outcome(s) over time for the economic value of the company. Within the normal course of business, BIS may engage directly with BlackRock clients, business partners and/or third parties, and/or with employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles, in discussions regarding our approach to stewardship, general corporate governance matters, client reporting needs, and/or to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met.

• Determined to engage, in certain instances, an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, or as may be otherwise required by applicable law. In such circumstances, the independent fiduciary provides BlackRock's proxy voting agent with instructions, in accordance with the Guidelines, as to how to vote such proxies, and BlackRock's proxy voting agent votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary's determination. BlackRock uses an independent fiduciary to vote proxies of (i) any company that is affiliated with BlackRock, Inc., (ii) any public company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors, (iii) The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (iv) any public company of which a BlackRock, Inc. board member serves as a senior executive, and (v) companies when legal or regulatory requirements compel BlackRock to use an independent fiduciary. In selecting an independent fiduciary, we assess several characteristics, including but not limited to: independence, an ability to analyze proxy issues and vote in the best economic interest of our clients, reputation for reliability and integrity, and operational capacity to accurately deliver the assigned votes in a timely manner. We may engage more than one independent fiduciary, in part in order to mitigate potential or perceived conflicts of interest at an independent fiduciary. The Global Committee appoints and reviews the performance of the independent fiduciar(ies), generally on an annual basis.

When so authorized, BlackRock acts as a securities lending agent on behalf of Funds. With regard to the relationship between securities lending and proxy voting, BlackRock's approach is driven by our clients' economic interests. The decision whether to recall securities on loan to vote is based on a formal analysis of the revenue producing value to clients of loans, against the assessed economic value of casting votes. Generally, we expect that the likely economic value to clients of casting votes would be less than the securities lending income, either because, in our assessment, the resolutions being voted on will not have significant economic consequences or because the outcome would not be affected by BlackRock recalling loaned securities in order to vote. BlackRock also may, in our discretion, determine that the value of voting outweighs the cost of recalling shares, and thus recall shares to vote in that instance.

Periodically, BlackRock reviews our process for determining whether to recall securities on loan in order to vote and may modify it as necessary.

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#### Voting guidelines
The issue-specific Guidelines published for each region/country in which we vote are intended to summarize BlackRock's general philosophy and approach to issues that may commonly arise in the proxy voting context in each market where we invest. These Guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. BIS applies the Guidelines on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the individual circumstances of each company and the specific issue under review. As such, these Guidelines do not indicate how BIS will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots.

#### Reporting and vote transparency
We inform clients about our engagement and voting policies and activities through direct communication and through disclosure on our website. Each year we publish an annual report, an annual engagement and voting statistics report, and our full voting record to our website. On a quarterly basis, we publish regional reports which provide an overview of our investment stewardship engagement and voting activities during the quarter, including market developments, speaking engagements, and engagement and voting statistics. Additionally, we make public our market-specific voting guidelines for the benefit of clients and companies with whom we engage.

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## Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Introduction | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Voting guidelines | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Boards and directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Independence | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Responsiveness to shareholders | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Shareholder rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board composition and effectiveness | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board size | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Classified board of directors / staggered terms | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Contested director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Cumulative voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director compensation and equity programs | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Majority vote requirements | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Risk oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Separation of chairman and CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Auditors and audit-related issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Capital structure proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equal voting rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Blank check preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase in authorized common shares | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase or issuance of preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Stock splits | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Poison pill plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Executive Compensation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay") | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Claw back proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Employee stock purchase plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equity compensation plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Golden parachutes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Option exchanges | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Pay-for-Performance plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Supplemental executive retirement plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| Environmental and social issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Climate risk | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Corporate political activities | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| General corporate governance matters | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Bundled proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Exclusive forum provisions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Multi-jurisdictional companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Other business | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reincorporation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- IPO governance | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Shareholder Protections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Proxy access | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to act by written consent | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to call a special meeting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Simple majority voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |

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These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the BlackRock Investment Stewardship Global Corporate Governance Guidelines & Engagement Principles (See Appendix A2 of this SAI).

#### INTRODUCTION
BlackRock, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "BlackRock") seek to make proxy voting decisions in the manner most likely to protect and enhance the economic value of the securities held in client accounts. The following issue-specific proxy voting guidelines (the "Guidelines") are intended to summarize BlackRock Investment Stewardship's general philosophy and approach to corporate governance issues that most commonly arise in proxy voting for U.S. securities. These Guidelines are not intended to limit the analysis of individual issues at specific companies and are not intended to provide a guide to how BlackRock will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots, as well as our expectations of boards of directors. They are applied with discretion, taking into consideration the range of issues and facts specific to the company and the individual ballot item.

#### VOTING GUIDELINES
These guidelines are divided into eight key themes which group together the issues that frequently appear on the agenda of annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders:

• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure

• Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions

• Executive compensation

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters

• Shareholder protections

#### BOARDS AND DIRECTORS

#### Director elections
In general, BlackRock supports the election of directors as recommended by the board in uncontested elections. However, we believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held account able. We may withhold votes from directors or members of particular board committees in certain situations, as indicated below.

#### Independence
We expect a majority of the directors on the board to be independent. In addition, all members of key committees, including audit, compensation, and nominating / governance committees, should be independent. Our view of independence may vary slightly from listing standards.

In particular, common impediments to independence in the U.S. may include:

• Employment as a senior executive by the company or a subsidiary within the past five years

• An equity ownership in the company in excess of 20%

• Having any other interest, business, or relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

We may vote against directors serving on key committees that we do not consider to be independent.

When evaluating controlled companies, as defined by the U.S. stock exchanges, we will only vote against insiders or affiliates who sit on the audit committee, but not other key committees.

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#### Oversight
We expect the board to exercise appropriate oversight over management and business activities of the company. We will consider voting against committee members and / or individual directors in the following circumstances:

• Where the board has failed to exercise oversight with regard to accounting practices or audit oversight, we will consider voting against the current audit committee, and any other members of the board who may be responsible. For example, this may apply to members of the audit committee during a period when the board failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing if substantial accounting irregularities suggest insufficient oversight by that committee

• Members of the compensation committee during a period in which executive compensation appears excessive relative to performance and peers, and where we believe the compensation committee has not already substantially addressed this issue

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where the board is not comprised of a majority of independent directors. However, this would not apply in the case of a controlled company

• Where it appears the director has acted (at the company or at other companies) in a manner that compromises his / her reliability to represent the best long-term economic interests of shareholders

• Where a director has a pattern of poor attendance at combined board and applicable key committee meetings. Excluding exigent circumstances, BlackRock generally considers attendance at less than 75% of the combined board and applicable key committee meetings by a board member to be poor attendance

• Where a director serves on an excess number of boards, which may limit his / her capacity to focus on each board's requirements. The following illustrates the maximum number of boards on which a director may serve, before he / she is considered to be over-committed:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Public<br> Company CEO** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**# Outside<br> Public Boards\*** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total # of<br> Public Boards** |
| Director A | &nbsp;&nbsp;x | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| Director B |  | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |

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\* In addition to the company under review

#### Responsiveness to shareholders
We expect a board to be engaged and responsive to its shareholders. Where we believe a board has not substantially addressed shareholder concerns, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

• The independent chair or lead independent director, members of the nominating / governance committee, and / or the longest tenured director(s), where we observe a lack of board responsiveness to shareholders, evidence of board entrenchment, and / or failure to promote adequate board succession planning

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where board member(s) at the most recent election of directors have received withhold votes from more than 30% of shares voted and the board has not taken appropriate action to respond to shareholder concerns. This may not apply in cases where BlackRock did not support the initial withhold vote

• The independent chair or lead independent director and / or members of the nominating / governance committee, where a board fails to implement shareholder proposals that receive a majority of votes cast at a prior shareholder meeting, and the proposals, in our view, have a direct and substantial impact on shareholders' fundamental rights or long-term economic interests

#### Shareholder rights
We expect a board to act with integrity and to uphold governance best practices. Where we believe a board has not acted in the best interests of its shareholders, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

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• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board implements or renews a poison pill without shareholder approval

• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board amends the charter / articles / bylaws such that the effect may be to entrench directors or to significantly reduce shareholder rights

• Members of the compensation committee where the company has repriced options without shareholder approval

• If a board maintains a classified structure, it is possible that the director(s) with whom we have a particular concern may not be subject to election in the year that the concern arises. In such situations, if we have a concern regarding a committee or committee chair that is not up for re-election, we will generally register our concern by withholding votes from all available members of the relevant committee

#### Board composition and effectiveness
We encourage boards to periodically renew their membership to ensure relevant skills and experience within the boardroom. To this end, regular performance reviews and skills assessments should be conducted by the nominating / governance committee.

Furthermore, we expect boards to be comprised of a diverse selection of individuals who bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in order to create a constructive debate of competing views and opinions in the boardroom. We recognize that diversity has multiple dimensions. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the full breadth of diversity including personal factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. In addition to other elements of diversity, we encourage companies to have at least two women directors on their board. Our publicly available <u>commentary</u> explains our approach to engaging on board diversity.

We encourage boards to disclose their views on:

• The mix of competencies, experience, and other qualities required to effectively oversee and guide management in light of the stated long-term strategy of the company

• The process by which candidates are identified and selected, including whether professional firms or other sources outside of incumbent directors' networks have been engaged to identify and / or assess candidates

• The process by which boards evaluate themselves and any significant outcomes of the evaluation process, without divulging inappropriate and / or sensitive details

• The consideration given to board diversity, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnicity, race, age, experience, geographic location, skills, and perspective in the nomination process

While we support regular board refreshment, we are not opposed in principle to long-tenured directors, nor do we believe that long board tenure is necessarily an impediment to director independence. A variety of director tenures within the boardroom can be beneficial to ensure board quality and continuity of experience.

Our primary concern is that board members are able to contribute effectively as corporate strategy evolves and business conditions change, and that all directors, regardless of tenure, demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to shareholders. We acknowledge that no single person can be expected to bring all relevant skill sets to a board; at the same time, we generally do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to have any particular director on the board solely by virtue of a singular background or specific area of expertise.

Where boards find that age limits or term limits are the most efficient and objective mechanism for ensuring periodic board refreshment, we generally defer to the board's determination in setting such limits.

To the extent that we believe that a company has not adequately accounted for diversity in its board composition within a reasonable timeframe, we may vote against the nominating / governance committee for an apparent lack of commitment to board effectiveness.

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#### Board size
We typically defer to the board in setting the appropriate size and believe directors are generally in the best position to assess the optimal board size to ensure effectiveness. However, we may oppose boards that appear too small to allow for effective shareholder representation or too large to function efficiently.

#### CEO and management succession planning
There should be a robust CEO and senior management succession plan in place at the board level that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. We expect succession planning to cover both long-term planning consistent with the strategic direction of the company and identified leadership needs over time, as well as short-term planning in the event of an unanticipated executive departure. We encourage the company to explain its executive succession planning process, including where accountability lies within the boardroom for this task, without prematurely divulging sensitive information commonly associated with this exercise.

#### Classified board of directors / staggered terms
We believe that directors should be re-elected annually and that classification of the board generally limits shareholders' rights to regularly evaluate a board's performance and select directors. While we will typically support proposals requesting board de-classification, we may make exceptions, should the board articulate an appropriate strategic rationale for a classified board structure, such as when a company needs consistency and stability during a time of transition, e.g. newly public companies or companies undergoing a strategic restructuring. A classified board structure may also be justified at non-operating companies in certain circumstances. We would, however, expect boards with a classified structure to periodically review the rationale for such structure and consider when annual elections might be appropriate.

Without a voting mechanism to immediately address concerns of a specific director, we may choose to vote against or withhold votes from the available slate of directors by default (see "Shareholder rights" for additional detail).

#### Contested director elections
The details of contested elections, or proxy contests, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We evaluate a number of factors, which may include: the qualifications of the dissident and management candidates; the validity of the concerns identified by the dissident; the viability of both the dissident's and management's plans; the likelihood that the dissident's solutions will produce the desired change; and whether the dissident represents the best option for enhancing long-term shareholder value.

#### Cumulative voting
We believe that a majority vote standard is in the best long-term interest of shareholders. It ensures director accountability via the requirement to be elected by more than half of the votes cast. As such, we will generally oppose proposals requesting the adoption of cumulative voting, which may disproportionately aggregate votes on certain issues or director candidates.

#### Director compensation and equity programs
We believe that compensation for directors should be structured to attract and retain the best possible directors, while also aligning their interests with those of shareholders. We believe director compensation packages that are based on the company's long-term value creation and include some form of long-term equity compensation are more likely to meet this goal. In addition, we expect directors to build meaningful share ownership over time.

#### Majority vote requirements
BlackRock believes that directors should generally be elected by a majority of the shares voted and will normally support proposals seeking to introduce bylaws requiring a majority vote standard for director elections. Majority voting standards assist in ensuring that directors who are not broadly supported by shareholders are not elected to serve as their representatives. Some companies with a plurality voting standard have adopted a resignation policy for directors who do not receive support from at least a majority of votes cast. Where we believe that the company already has a sufficiently robust majority voting process in place, we may not support a shareholder proposal seeking an alternative mechanism.

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#### Risk oversight
Companies should have an established process for identifying, monitoring, and managing key risks. Independent directors should have ready access to relevant management information and outside advice, as appropriate, to ensure they can properly oversee risk management. We encourage companies to provide transparency around risk measurement, mitigation, and reporting to the board. We are particularly interested in understanding how risk oversight processes evolve in response to changes in corporate strategy and / or shifts in the business and related risk environment. Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

#### Separation of chairman and CEO
We believe that independent leadership is important in the boardroom. In the U.S. there are two commonly accepted structures for independent board leadership: 1) an independent chairman; or 2) a lead independent director when the roles of chairman and CEO are combined.

In the absence of a significant governance concern, we defer to boards to designate the most appropriate leadership structure to ensure adequate balance and independence.

In the event that the board chooses a combined chair / CEO model, we generally support the designation of a lead independent director if they have the power to: 1) provide formal input into board meeting agendas; 2) call meetings of the independent directors; and 3) preside at meetings of independent directors. Furthermore, while we anticipate that most directors will be elected annually, we believe an element of continuity is important for this role for an extended period of time to provide appropriate leadership balance to the chair / CEO.

The following table illustrates examples of responsibilities under each board leadership model:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Separate<br> Chair Model** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair / CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair |
| Board Meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;Attends full meetings of the board of directors<br> Authority to call meetings of independent directors<br> Briefs CEO on issues arising from executive sessions | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors |
| Agenda | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, consulting with the lead director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Collaborates with chair / CEO to set board agenda and board information | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, in conjunction with CEO |
| Board Communications | &nbsp;&nbsp;Communicates with all directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning |

---

#### AUDITORS AND AUDIT-RELATED ISSUES
BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements to provide a complete and accurate portrayal of a company's financial condition. Consistent with our approach to voting on boards of directors, we seek to hold the audit committee of the board responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function at a company, and may withhold votes from the audit committee members where the board has failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing. We look to

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the audit committee report for insight into the scope of the audit committee responsibilities, including an overview of audit committee processes, issues on the audit committee agenda, and key decisions taken by the audit committee. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or material weakness disclosures, and we expect timely disclosure and remediation of accounting irregularities.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor effectively fulfilling its role. To that end, we favor an independent auditor. In addition, to the extent that an auditor fails to reasonably identify and address issues that eventually lead to a significant financial restatement, or the audit firm has violated standards of practice that protect the interests of shareholders, we may also vote against ratification.

From time to time, shareholder proposals may be presented to promote auditor independence or the rotation of audit firms. We may support these proposals when they are consistent with our views as described above.

#### CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROPOSALS

#### Equal voting rights
BlackRock believes that shareholders should be entitled to voting rights in proportion to their economic interests. We believe that companies that look to add or already have dual or multiple class share structures should review these structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Companies should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal on the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

#### Blank check preferred stock
We frequently oppose proposals requesting authorization of a class of preferred stock with unspecified voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights ("blank check" preferred stock) because they may serve as a transfer of authority from shareholders to the board and as a possible entrenchment device. We generally view the board's discretion to establish voting rights on a when-issued basis as a potential anti-takeover device, as it affords the board the ability to place a block of stock with an investor sympathetic to management, thereby foiling a takeover bid without a shareholder vote.

Nonetheless, we may support the proposal where the company:

• Appears to have a legitimate financing motive for requesting blank check authority

• Has committed publicly that blank check preferred shares will not be used for anti-takeover purposes

• Has a history of using blank check preferred stock for financings

• Has blank check preferred stock previously outstanding such that an increase would not necessarily provide further anti-takeover protection but may provide greater financing flexibility

#### Increase in authorized common shares
BlackRock considers industry-specific norms in our analysis of these proposals, as well as a company's history with respect to the use of its common shares. Generally, we are predisposed to support a company if the board believes additional common shares are necessary to carry out the firm's business. The most substantial concern we might have with an increase is the possibility of use of common shares to fund a poison pill plan that is not in the economic interests of shareholders.

#### Increase or issuance of preferred stock
We generally support proposals to increase or issue preferred stock in cases where the company specifies the voting, dividend, conversion, and other rights of such stock where the terms of the preferred stock appear reasonable.

#### Stock splits
We generally support stock splits that are not likely to negatively affect the ability to trade shares or the economic value of a share. We generally support reverse stock splits that are designed to avoid delisting or to facilitate trading in the stock, where the reverse split will not have a negative impact on share value (e.g*.* one class is reduced while others remain at pre- split

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levels). In the event of a proposal for a reverse split that would not also proportionately reduce the company's authorized stock, we apply the same analysis we would use for a proposal to increase authorized stock.

#### MERGERS, ASSET SALES, AND OTHER SPECIAL TRANSACTIONS
BlackRock's primary concern is the best long-term economic interests of shareholders. While merger, asset sales, and other special transaction proposals vary widely in scope and substance, we closely examine certain salient features in our analyses, such as:

• The degree to which the proposed transaction represents a premium to the company's trading price. We consider the share price over multiple time periods prior to the date of the merger announcement. In most cases, business combinations should provide a premium. We may consider comparable transaction analyses provided by the parties' financial advisors and our own valuation assessments. For companies facing insolvency or bankruptcy, a premium may not apply

• There should be clear strategic, operational, and / or financial rationale for the combination

• Unanimous board approval and arm's-length negotiations are preferred. We will consider whether the transaction involves a dissenting board or does not appear to be the result of an arm's-length bidding process. We may also consider whether executive and / or board members' financial interests in a given transaction appear likely to affect their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own

• We prefer transaction proposals that include the fairness opinion of a reputable financial advisor assessing the value of the transaction to shareholders in comparison to recent similar transactions

#### Poison pill plans
Where a poison pill is put to a shareholder vote by management, our policy is to examine these plans individually. Although we oppose most plans, we may support plans that include a reasonable "qualifying offer clause." Such clauses typically require shareholder ratification of the pill and stipulate a sunset provision whereby the pill expires unless it is renewed.

These clauses also tend to specify that an all cash bid for all shares that includes a fairness opinion and evidence of financing does not trigger the pill, but forces either a special meeting at which the offer is put to a shareholder vote, or the board to seek the written consent of shareholders where shareholders could rescind the pill at their discretion. We may also support a pill where it is the only effective method for protecting tax or other economic benefits that may be associated with limiting the ownership changes of individual shareholders.

We generally vote in favor of shareholder proposals to rescind poison pills.

#### Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns
We generally do not support shareholder proposals seeking the reimbursement of proxy contest expenses, even in situations where we support the shareholder campaign. We believe that introducing the possibility of such reimbursement may incentivize disruptive and unnecessary shareholder campaigns.

#### EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
We note that there are both management and shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. We generally vote on these proposals as described below, except that we typically oppose shareholder proposals on issues where the company already has a reasonable policy in place that we believe is sufficient to address the issue. We may also oppose a shareholder proposal regarding executive compensation if the company's history suggests that the issue raised is not likely to present a problem for that company.

#### Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay")
In cases where there is a Say on Pay vote, BlackRock will respond to the proposal as informed by our evaluation of compensation practices at that particular company and in a manner that appropriately addresses the specific question posed to shareholders. In a commentary on our website, entitled "<u>BlackRock Investment Stewardship's approach to executive compensation</u>," we explain our beliefs and expectations related to executive compensation practices, our Say on Pay analysis framework, and our typical approach to engagement and voting on Say on Pay.

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#### Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions
BlackRock will generally support triennial pay frequency votes, but we defer to the board to determine the appropriate timeframe upon which pay should be reviewed. In evaluating pay, we believe that the compensation committee is responsible for constructing a plan that appropriately incentivizes executives for long-term value creation, utilizing relevant metrics and structure to ensure overall pay and performance alignment. In a similar vein, we defer to the board to establish the most appropriate timeframe for review of pay structure, absent a change in strategy that would suggest otherwise.

However, we may support an annual pay frequency vote in some situations, for example, where we conclude that a company has failed to align pay with performance. In these circumstances, we will also consider voting against the compensation committee members.

#### Claw back proposals
We generally favor recoupment from any senior executive whose compensation was based on faulty financial reporting or deceptive business practices. In addition to fraudulent acts, we also favor recoupment from any senior executive whose behavior caused direct financial harm to shareholders, reputational risk to the company, or resulted in a criminal investigation, even if such actions did not ultimately result in a material restatement of past results. This includes, but is not limited to, settlement agreements arising from such behavior and paid for directly by the company. We typically support shareholder proposals on these matters unless the company already has a robust claw back policy that sufficiently addresses our concerns.

#### Employee stock purchase plans
We believe these plans can provide performance incentives and help align employees' interests with those of shareholders. The most common form of employee stock purchase plan ("ESPP") qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. We will typically support qualified ESPP proposals.

#### Equity compensation plans
BlackRock supports equity plans that align the economic interests of directors, managers, and other employees with those of shareholders. We believe that boards should establish policies prohibiting the use of equity awards in a manner that could disrupt the intended alignment with shareholder interests (e.g. the use of stock as collateral for a loan; the use of stock in a margin account; the use of stock or an unvested award in hedging or derivative transactions). We may support shareholder proposals requesting the establishment of such policies.

Our evaluation of equity compensation plans is based on a company's executive pay and performance relative to peers and whether the plan plays a significant role in a pay-for-performance disconnect. We generally oppose plans that contain "evergreen" provisions, which allow for the unlimited increase of shares reserved without requiring further shareholder approval after a reasonable time period. We also generally oppose plans that allow for repricing without shareholder approval. We may also oppose plans that provide for the acceleration of vesting of equity awards even in situations where an actual change of control may not occur. We encourage companies to structure their change of control provisions to require the termination of the covered employee before acceleration or special payments are triggered.

#### Golden parachutes
We generally view golden parachutes as encouragement to management to consider transactions that might be beneficial to shareholders. However, a large potential pay-out under a golden parachute arrangement also presents the risk of motivating a management team to support a sub-optimal sale price for a company. When determining whether to support or oppose an advisory vote on a golden parachute plan, we normally support the plan unless it appears to result in payments that are excessive or detrimental to shareholders. In evaluating golden parachute plans, BlackRock may consider several factors, including:

• Whether we believe that the triggering event is in the best interest of shareholders

• Whether management attempted to maximize shareholder value in the triggering event

• The percentage of total premium or transaction value that will be transferred to the management team, rather than shareholders, as a result of the golden parachute payment

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• Whether excessively large excise tax gross-up payments are part of the pay-out

• Whether the pay package that serves as the basis for calculating the golden parachute payment was reasonable in light of performance and peers

• Whether the golden parachute payment will have the effect of rewarding a management team that has failed to effectively manage the company

It may be difficult to anticipate the results of a plan until after it has been triggered; as a result, BlackRock may vote against a golden parachute proposal even if the golden parachute plan under review was approved by shareholders when it was implemented.

We may support shareholder proposals requesting that implementation of such arrangements require shareholder approval. We generally support proposals requiring shareholder approval of plans that exceed 2.99 times an executive's current salary and bonus, including equity compensation.

#### Option exchanges
We believe that there may be legitimate instances where underwater options create an overhang on a company's capital structure and a repricing or option exchange may be warranted. We will evaluate these instances on a case-by-case basis. BlackRock may support a request to reprice or exchange underwater options under the following circumstances:

• The company has experienced significant stock price decline as a result of macroeconomic trends, not individual company performance

• Directors and executive officers are excluded; the exchange is value neutral or value creative to shareholders; tax, accounting, and other technical considerations have been fully contemplated

• There is clear evidence that absent repricing, the company will suffer serious employee incentive or retention and recruiting problems

BlackRock may also support a request to exchange underwater options in other circumstances, if we determine that the exchange is in the best interest of shareholders.

#### Pay-for-Performance plans
In order for executive compensation exceeding $1 million USD to qualify for federal tax deductions, related to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ("OBRA") requires companies to link compensation for the company's top five executives to disclosed performance goals and submit the plans for shareholder approval. The law further requires that a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors administer these plans. Because the primary objective of these proposals is to preserve the deductibility of such compensation, we generally favor approval in order to preserve net income.

#### Supplemental executive retirement plans
BlackRock may support shareholder proposals requesting to put extraordinary benefits contained in Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans ("SERP") agreements to a shareholder vote unless the company's executive pension plans do not contain excessive benefits beyond what is offered under employee-wide plans.

#### ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well-managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses. Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry-specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an

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overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification process in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

• Publish disclosures in line with industry specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

• Disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors. In deciding our course of action, we will assess the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social, ethical, or political judgments on behalf of clients, but rather, to protect the ir long-term economic interests as shareholders. We expect investee companies to comply, at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where such laws or regulations are contradictory or ambiguous.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long- term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain

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instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### Corporate political activities
Companies may engage in certain political activities, within legal and regulatory limits, in order to influence public policy consistent with the companies' values and strategies, and thus serve shareholders' best long-term economic interests. These activities can create risks, including: the potential for allegations of corruption; the potential for reputational issues associated with a candidate, party, or issue; and risks that arise from the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations associated with corporate political activity. We believe that companies which choose to engage in political activities should develop and maintain robust processes to guide these activities and to mitigate risks, including a level of board oversight.

When presented with shareholder proposals requesting increased disclosure on corporate political activities, we may consider the political activities of that company and its peers, the existing level of disclosure, and our view regarding the associated risks. We generally believe that it is the duty of boards and management to determine the appropriate level of disclosure of all types of corporate activity, and we are generally not supportive of proposals that are overly prescriptive in nature. We may decide to support a shareholder proposal requesting additional reporting of corporate political activities where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or actual harm to shareholders' interests, and where we believe the company has not already provided shareholders with sufficient information to assess the company's management of the risk.

Finally, we believe that it is not the role of shareholders to suggest or approve corporate political activities; therefore we generally do not support proposals requesting a shareholder vote on political activities or expenditures.

#### GENERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MATTERS

#### Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes
We generally support such proposals unless the agenda contains items that we judge to be detrimental to shareholders' best long-term economic interests.

#### Bundled proposals
We believe that shareholders should have the opportunity to review substantial governance changes individually without having to accept bundled proposals. Where several measures are grouped into one proposal, BlackRock may reject certain positive changes when linked with proposals that generally contradict or impede the rights and economic interests of shareholders.

#### Exclusive forum provisions
BlackRock generally supports proposals to seek exclusive forum for certain shareholder litigation. In cases where a board unilaterally adopts exclusive forum provisions that we consider unfavorable to the interests of shareholders, we will vote against the independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee.

#### Multi-jurisdictional companies
Where a company is listed on multiple exchanges or incorporated in a country different from its primary listing, we will seek to apply the most relevant market guideline(s) to our analysis of the company's governance structure and specific proposals on the shareholder meeting agenda. In doing so, we typically consider the governance standards of the company's primary listing, the market standards by which the company governs itself, and the market context of each specific proposal on the agenda. If the relevant standards are silent on the issue under consideration, we will use our professional judgment as to what voting outcome would best protect the long-term economic interests of investors. We expect that companies will disclose the rationale for their selection of primary listing, country of incorporation, and choice of governance structures, in particular where there is conflict between relevant market governance practices.

#### Other business

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We oppose giving companies our proxy to vote on matters where we are not given the opportunity to review and understand those measures and carry out an appropriate level of shareholder oversight.

#### Reincorporation
Proposals to reincorporate from one state or country to another are most frequently motivated by considerations of anti- takeover protections, legal advantages, and / or cost savings. We will evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the economic and strategic rationale behind the company's proposal to reincorporate. In all instances, we will evaluate the changes to shareholder protection under the new charter / articles / bylaws to assess whether the move increases or decreases shareholder protections. Where we find that shareholder protections are diminished, we may support reincorporation if we determine that the overall benefits outweigh the diminished rights.

#### IPO governance
We expect boards to consider and disclose how the corporate governance structures adopted upon initial public offering ("IPO") are in shareholders' best long-term interests. We also expect boards to conduct a regular review of corporate governance and control structures, such that boards might evolve foundational corporate governance structures as company circumstances change, without undue costs and disruption to shareholders. In our <u>letter on unequal voting structures</u>, we articulate our view that "one vote for one share" is the preferred structure for publicly-traded companies. We also recognize the potential benefits of dual class shares to newly public companies as they establish themselves; however, we believe that these structures should have a specific and limited duration. We will generally engage new companies on topics such as classified boards and supermajority vote provisions to amend bylaws, as we believe that such arrangements may not be in the best interest of shareholders in the long-term.

We will typically apply a one-year grace period for the application of certain director-related guidelines (including, but not limited to, director independence and over-boarding considerations), during which we expect boards to take steps to bring corporate governance standards in line with our expectations.

Further, if a company qualifies as an emerging growth company (an "EGC") under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), we will give consideration to the NYSE and NASDAQ governance exemptions granted under the JOBS Act for the duration such a company is categorized as an EGC. We expect an EGC to have a totally independent audit committee by the first anniversary of its IPO, with our standard approach to voting on auditors and audit-related issues applicable in full for an EGC on the first anniversary of its IPO.

#### SHAREHOLDER PROTECTIONS

#### Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws
We believe that shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including on changes to governance mechanisms and amendments to the charter / articles / bylaws. We may vote against certain directors where changes to governing documents are not put to a shareholder vote within a reasonable period of time, in particular if those changes have the potential to impact shareholder rights (see "Director elections" herein). In cases where a board's unilateral adoption of changes to the charter / articles / bylaws promotes cost and operational efficiency benefits for the company and its shareholders, we may support such action if it does not have a negative effect on shareholder rights or the company's corporate governance structure.

When voting on a management or shareholder proposal to make changes to the charter / articles / bylaws, we will consider in part the company's and / or proponent's publicly stated rationale for the changes, the company's governance profile and history, relevant jurisdictional laws, and situational or contextual circumstances which may have motivated the proposed changes, among other factors. We will typically support changes to the charter / articles / bylaws where the benefits to shareholders, including the costs of failing to make those changes, demonstrably outweigh the costs or risks of making such changes.

#### Proxy access
We believe that long-term shareholders should have the opportunity, when necessary and under reasonable conditions, to nominate directors on the company's proxy card.

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_bloom_8cdc86db-e0de-40ac-8e08-42c76f601d16_sai_toc)

In our view, securing the right of shareholders to nominate directors without engaging in a control contest can enhance shareholders' ability to meaningfully participate in the director election process, stimulate board attention to shareholder interests, and provide shareholders an effective means of directing that attention where it is lacking. Proxy access mechanisms should provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to use this right without stipulating overly restrictive or onerous parameters for use, and also provide assurances that the mechanism will not be subject to abuse by short-term investors, investors without a substantial investment in the company, or investors seeking to take control of the board.

In general, we support market-standardized proxy access proposals, which allow a shareholder (or group of up to 20 shareholders) holding three percent of a company's outstanding shares for at least three years the right to nominate the greater of up to two directors or 20% of the board. Where a standardized proxy access provision exists, we will generally oppose shareholder proposals requesting outlier thresholds.

#### Right to act by written consent
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to solicit votes by written consent provided that: 1) there are reasonable requirements to initiate the consent solicitation process (in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests); and 2) shareholders receive a minimum of 50% of outstanding shares to effectuate the action by written consent. We may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others, or if the proposal is written to discourage the board from incorporating appropriate mechanisms to avoid the waste of corporate resources when establishing a right to act by written consent. Additionally, we may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent if the company already provides a shareholder right to call a special meeting that we believe offers shareholders a reasonable opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting.

#### Right to call a special meeting
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to call a special meeting in cases where a reasonably high proportion of shareholders (typically a minimum of 15% but no higher than 25%) are required to agree to such a meeting before it is called, in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests. However, we may oppose this right in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others. We generally believe that a right to act via written consent is not a sufficient alternative to the right to call a special meeting.

#### Simple majority voting
We generally favor a simple majority voting requirement to pass proposals. Therefore, we will support the reduction or the elimination of supermajority voting requirements to the extent that we determine shareholders' ability to protect their economic interests is improved. Nonetheless, in situations where there is a substantial or dominant shareholder, supermajority voting may be protective of public shareholder interests and we may support supermajority requirements in those situations.

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_bloom_8cdc86db-e0de-40ac-8e08-42c76f601d16_sai_toc)

IS-SAI-CMDY-0323

------

## iShares<sup>®</sup> U.S. ETF Trust
Statement of Additional Information

Dated March 1, 2023

This Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the current prospectus (the "Prospectus") for the following series of iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust"):

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Ticker** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Listing Exchange** |
| iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF (the "Fund") | &nbsp;&nbsp;CCRV | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |

---

The Prospectus for the Fund is dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. The Financial Statements and Notes contained in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) and [Semi-Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522187742/d360218dncsrs.htm) of the Trust for the Fund are incorporated by reference into and are deemed to be part of this SAI. A copy of the Prospectus, Annual Report and Semi-Annual Report may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting *www.iShares.com*. The Fund's Prospectus is incorporated by reference into this SAI.

References to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act" or the "1940 Act"), or other applicable law, will include any rules promulgated thereunder and any guidance, interpretations or modifications by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), SEC staff or other authority with appropriate jurisdiction, including court interpretations, and exemptive, no action or other relief or permission from the SEC, SEC staff or other authority.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

------

#### **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| [General Description of the Trust and the Fund](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Exchange Listing and Trading](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Investment Strategies and Risks](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Derivatives](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Diversification Status](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures and Options](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lending Portfolio Securities](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk Management](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Options on Futures Contracts](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulation Regarding Derivatives](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreements](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reverse Repurchase Agreements](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Swap Agreements](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Future Developments](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| [General Considerations and Risks](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodities Investment Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodity Forward Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Dividend-Paying Stock Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Illiquid Investments Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Replacement Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Money Market Instruments Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Issuers Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Operational Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Derivatives](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Swap Agreements](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Valuation Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Developed Countries](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Europe](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |

---

i

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_commo_a11ef7e4-a05c-457c-9c57-df79bf144572_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Gold](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| [Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The ICE BofA Commodity Enhanced Carry Total Return Index](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| [Investment Policies](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| [Continuous Offering](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| [Management](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Trustees and Officers](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Committees of the Board of Trustees](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Conflicts of Interest](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_42) | &nbsp;&nbsp;42 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Adviser](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_42) | &nbsp;&nbsp;42 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Portfolio Managers](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_43) | &nbsp;&nbsp;43 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Codes of Ethics](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_45) | &nbsp;&nbsp;45 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Anti-Money Laundering Requirements](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_45) | &nbsp;&nbsp;45 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_45) | &nbsp;&nbsp;45 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distributor](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;46 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;46 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Payments by BFA and its Affiliates](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_47) | &nbsp;&nbsp;47 |
| [Determination of Net Asset Value](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_49) | &nbsp;&nbsp;49 |
| [Brokerage Transactions](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_51) | &nbsp;&nbsp;51 |
| [Additional Information Concerning the Trust](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shares](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distribution of Shares](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| [Creation and Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[General](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fund Deposit](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Purchase Method](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Procedures for Creation of Creation Units](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Role of the Authorized Participant](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |

---

ii

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_commo_a11ef7e4-a05c-457c-9c57-df79bf144572_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Purchase Orders](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuance of a Creation Unit](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Creation Transactions](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Redemption Method](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Redemption Orders](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custom Baskets](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_62) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units](#xx_88e3e036-299e-4315-9116-e7ef43d4eb42_63) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| [Taxes](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulated Investment Company Qualifications](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of RICs](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excise Tax](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Net Capital Loss Carryforwards](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of U.S. Shareholders](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sales of Shares](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Backup Withholding](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sections 351 and 362](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Certain Derivatives](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Qualified Dividend Income](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Corporate Dividends Received Deduction](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excess Inclusion Income](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reporting](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Other Taxes](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| [Financial Statements](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| [Miscellaneous Information](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Counsel](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shareholder Communications to the Board](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investors' Rights](#xx_6287c0af-55e3-42da-bd19-049b70aa3770_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;71 |
| [Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_f591f04d-d8dc-4e74-b562-e0ad84eaf319_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-1 |
| [Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_f591f04d-d8dc-4e74-b562-e0ad84eaf319_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-2 |
| [Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_43b4fe76-38fa-4285-885d-2f1a023c4029_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-13 |

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## General Description of the Trust and the Fund
The Trust currently consists of 16 investment series or portfolios. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on June 21, 2011 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. The offering of the Trust's shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This SAI relates solely to the Fund.

The Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., and generally seeks to track the investment results of the specific benchmark index identified in the Fund's Prospectus (the "Underlying Index").

The Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value per share ("NAV") only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each, a "Creation Unit"), generally in exchange for a specified amount of cash. Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca" or "Listing Exchange"), a national securities exchange. Shares of the Fund are traded in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below the Fund's NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Units, and, generally, in exchange for a specified amount of cash. Creation Units typically are a specified number of shares, generally 50,000 or multiples thereof.

The Trust reserves the right to permit or require that creations and redemptions of shares are effected fully or partially in cash. Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities (as defined in the *Exchange Listing and Trading* section), subject to various conditions, including a requirement that the Authorized Participant maintain with the Trust collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to purchase Deposit Securities. See the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Transaction fees and other costs associated with creations or redemptions that include a cash portion may be higher than the transaction fees and other costs associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, conditions with respect to creations and redemptions of shares and fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of SEC rules and regulations applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.

## Exchange Listing and Trading
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the *Shareholder Information* section of the Fund's Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, that section of the Prospectus.

Shares of the Fund are listed for trading, and trade throughout the day, on the Listing Exchange and in other secondary markets. Shares of the Fund may also be listed on certain non-U.S. exchanges. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Listing Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of the Fund will continue to be met. The Listing Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of the Fund from listing if, among other things: (i) the Fund is no longer eligible to operate in reliance on Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act; (ii) any of the other listing requirements are not continuously maintained; or (iii) any event shall occur or condition shall exist that, in the opinion of the Listing Exchange, makes further dealings on the Listing Exchange inadvisable. The Listing Exchange will also remove shares of the Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Fund.

As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker, as well as other charges.

The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Fund in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Fund or an investor's equity interest in the Fund.

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## Investment Strategies and Risks
The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily by investing in total return swaps that provide exposure to commodities futures contracts referenced by the Underlying Index. The Fund operates as an index fund and is not actively managed. Adverse performance of an instrument in the Fund's portfolio will ordinarily not result in the elimination of the instrument from the Fund's portfolio.

The Fund engages in representative sampling, which is investing in a sample of securities and/or other instruments selected by BFA to have a collective investment profile similar to that of the Fund's Underlying Index. Securities and/or other instruments selected have aggregate investment characteristics (based on market capitalization value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as yield, credit rating, maturity and duration) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Fund's Underlying Index. A fund that uses representative sampling generally does not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments that are in its underlying index.

The Fund through its Subsidiary (as defined below) will invest in financial instruments that provide exposure to commodities, and not in the physical commodities themselves. Although the Fund reserves the right to invest in a broad range of financial instruments, the Fund expects to obtain a substantial amount of its exposure to the carry strategy by entering into total return swaps that provide returns similar to the commodity futures contracts referenced in the Underlying Index.

The Underlying Index universe is currently composed of 18 futures contracts on physical agricultural, energy, precious metals, and industrial metals commodities listed on U.S. and non-U.S. futures exchanges. The Underlying Index is rebalanced on a monthly basis to include the 10 commodity futures contracts representing the underlying commodities with the largest global production value, where more weight in the Underlying Index is given to those contracts having the highest degree of backwardation or lowest degree of contango (*i.e*., those with the highest "positive carry," as explained below) among the Underlying Index universe.

In order to maintain exposure to a futures contract on a particular commodity, an investor must sell the position in the expiring contract and buy a new position in a contract with a later delivery month, which is referred to as "rolling." If the price for the new futures contract is less than the price of the expiring contract, then the market for the commodity is said to be in "backwardation." In these markets, investors experience positive roll returns, which is referred to as "positive carry." The term "contango" is used to describe a market in which the price for a new futures contract is more than the price of the expiring contract. In these markets, investors experience negative roll returns, which is referred to as "negative carry." The Underlying Index seeks to employ a positive carry strategy that emphasizes commodities and futures contract months with the greatest degree of backwardation and lowest degree of contango, resulting in net gains through positive roll returns.

The Fund is expected to establish new total return swap contracts on an ongoing basis and replace expiring contracts. The Underlying Index is rebalanced on a monthly basis and could contain more than 10 contracts during the rebalancing period. Total return swaps subsequently acquired by the Fund may have terms that differ from the swaps the Fund previously held. The Fund generally expects to pay a fixed payment rate and swap-related fees to each counterparty and receive the total return of the Underlying Index, including, in the event of negative performance by the Underlying Index, a negative return (*i.e.*, a payment from the Fund to the swap counterparty).

The Fund also seeks to generate interest income and capital appreciation on the cash balances arising from its investment in Commodity Investments (as defined below) through a cash management strategy consisting primarily of investments in cash and cash equivalents, short-term government obligations, and short-term fixed-income securities (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments"). The Fund invests in Fixed-Income Investments for investment purposes and to provide sufficient assets to account for (or "cover") mark-to-market changes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's investments in derivatives on a day-to-day basis.

The Fund may also invest in swaps on commodity futures contracts that are not included in the Underlying Index but provide exposure to commodities from the same sectors as those found in the Underlying Index, as well as in futures, options and forwards that provide exposure to commodities from such sectors (collectively with total return swaps on the Underlying Index, the "Commodity Investments"). The Fund will invest in Commodity Investments solely through its Subsidiary. INVESTING IN DERIVATIVE CONTRACTS MAY HAVE A LEVERAGING EFFECT ON THE FUND BECAUSE OF THE LEVERAGE INHERENT IN THE USE OF DERIVATIVES.

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The Fund seeks to gain exposure to Commodity Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the 1940 Act. The Subsidiary invests solely in Commodity Investments and cash and cash equivalents.

In compliance with Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Commodity Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to broad commodities consistent with current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in Commodity Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets will be invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments, including repurchase agreements, money market instruments, U.S. government and agency securities, sovereign debt obligations on non-U.S. countries (excluding emerging market countries), commercial paper, non-convertible corporate debt securities, and obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks and similar institutions.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject the adviser of a registered investment company to regulation by the CFTC if such registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in commodity interests, including futures, options and swaps, or if the registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of commodity interests above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

Although the Fund does not seek leveraged returns, certain instruments used by the Fund may have a leveraging effect as described below.

Investments in the Subsidiary are expected to provide the Fund with exposure to investment returns of commodities within the limitations of Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, as discussed below. The Subsidiary is a company organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands, with a registered office is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KYI-1104, Cayman Islands. The Subsidiary's affairs are overseen by a board of directors, which is comprised of Shannon Ghia, Secretary of the Trust, and Rachel Aguirre, Assistant Secretary of the Trust. The Fund is the sole shareholder of the Subsidiary, and shares of the Subsidiary will not be sold or offered to other investors.

The Fund will gain exposure to the investment returns of commodities indirectly by investing in the Subsidiary. To the extent that BlackRock believes that such instruments provide suitable exposure to commodities, the Fund's investment in the Subsidiary will likely increase. BlackRock manages the assets of the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so.

BlackRock also provides certain administrative services for the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so. The Subsidiary has entered into a contract for the provision of custody, transfer agency, and accounting agent services with the same or with affiliates of the same service providers that provide those services to the Fund.

Generally, the Fund and the Subsidiary test for compliance with investment policies and restrictions, including asset segregation requirements, on a consolidated basis for 1940 Act purposes, calculated in accordance with SEC staff guidance, where applicable. For compliance with federal income tax requirements, the Fund and the Subsidiary expect to comply with the asset segregation requirements on a stand-alone basis, with instruments requiring physical settlement being classified on a market value rather than on a notional basis. The Subsidiary is also expected to comply with the other applicable 1940 Act requirements, including those related to custody and affiliated transactions.

The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Fund's Prospectus or this SAI, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. However, the Fund wholly owns and controls the Subsidiary, and the Fund and the Subsidiary are managed by BFA. The Trust's Board of Trustees has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. As noted above, the Subsidiary will be subject to the same investment restrictions and limitations, and follow the same compliance policies and procedures, as the Fund. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Fund's Prospectus and this SAI and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains

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taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely suffer decreased investment returns.

The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues regulations or other guidance , or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

**Borrowing. The Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet payments due from redemptions or to facilitate the settlement of securities or other transactions.**

The purchase of securities or other assets while borrowings are outstanding may have the effect of leveraging the Fund. The incurrence of leverage increases the Fund's exposure to risk, and borrowed funds are subject to interest costs that will reduce net income. Purchasing securities while borrowings are outstanding creates special risks, such as the potential for greater volatility in the NAV of Fund shares and in the yield on the Fund's portfolio. In addition, the interest expenses from borrowings may exceed the income generated by the Fund's portfolio and, therefore, the amount available (if any) for distribution to shareholders as dividends may be reduced. BFA may determine to maintain outstanding borrowings if it expects that the benefits to the Fund's shareholders will outweigh the current reduced return.

Certain types of borrowings by the Fund must be made from a bank or may result in the Fund being subject to covenants in credit agreements relating to asset coverage, portfolio composition requirements and other matters. It is not anticipated that observance of such covenants would impede BFA's management of the Fund's portfolio in accordance with the Fund's investment objectives and policies. However, a breach of any such covenants not cured within the specified cure period may result in acceleration of outstanding indebtedness and require the Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

**Derivatives. The Fund will use instruments referred to as derivatives. Derivatives are financial instruments the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity (such as gold or oil), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500 Index or the prime lending rate). Derivatives allow the Fund to increase or decrease the level of risk to which the Fund is exposed more quickly and efficiently than transactions in other types of instruments. The Fund may use derivatives for hedging purposes. The Fund may also use derivatives for speculative purposes to seek to enhance returns or as a vehicle to obtain investment exposure to a commodity or index. The use of a derivative is speculative if the Fund is primarily seeking to achieve gains, rather than to offset the risk of other positions. When the Fund invests in a derivative for speculative purposes, the Fund will be fully exposed to the risks of loss of that derivative, which may sometimes be greater than the derivative's cost. Unless otherwise permitted, the Fund may not use any derivatives to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly.**

**Diversification Status. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." A non-diversified fund is a fund that is not limited by the 1940 Act with regard to the percentage of its assets that may be invested in the securities of a single issuer. The securities of a particular issuer (or securities of issuers in particular industries) may constitute a significant percentage of the investment portfolio of such a fund. This may adversely affect the fund's performance or subject the fund's shares to greater price volatility than that experienced by more diversified investment companies.**

The Fund intends to maintain the required level of diversification and otherwise conduct its operations so as to qualify as a RIC for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code, and to relieve the Fund of any liability for U.S. federal income tax to the extent that its earnings are distributed to shareholders, provided that the Fund satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. Compliance with the diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code may limit the investment flexibility of the Fund and may make it less likely that the Fund will meet its investment objective.

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**Futures and Options. The Fund may invest in options and futures. The Fund may also purchase call options or write put options. A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security or asset at a specified price ("exercise price") within a specified period of time. A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security or asset at an exercise price within a specified period of time. The initial purchaser of a call option pays the "writer" a premium, which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised.**

**Lending Portfolio Securities. The Fund may lend portfolio securities to certain borrowers that BFA determines to be creditworthy, including borrowers affiliated with BFA. The borrowers provide collateral that is maintained in an amount at least equal to the current market value of the securities loaned. No securities loan shall be made on behalf of the Fund if, as a result, the aggregate value of all securities loans of the Fund exceeds one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received). The Fund may terminate a loan at any time and obtain the return of the securities loaned. The Fund receives, by way of substitute payment, the value of any interest or cash or non-cash distributions paid on the loaned securities that it would have otherwise received if the securities were not on loan.**

With respect to loans that are collateralized by cash, the borrower may be entitled to receive a fee based on the amount of cash collateral. The Fund is compensated by any positive difference between the amount earned on the reinvestment of cash collateral and the fee paid to the borrower. In the case of collateral other than cash, the Fund is compensated by a fee paid by the borrower equal to a percentage of the market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral received by the Fund for such loans, and uninvested cash, may be reinvested in certain short-term instruments either directly on behalf of the Fund or through one or more joint accounts or money market funds, including those affiliated with BFA; such investments are subject to investment risk.

The Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to an exemptive order from the SEC permitting it to lend portfolio securities to borrowers affiliated with the Fund and to retain an affiliate of the Fund to act as securities lending agent. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA. BTC administers the lending program in accordance with guidelines approved by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board," the trustees of which are the "Trustees"). JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan") serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.

Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including operational risk (i.e., the risk of losses resulting from problems in the settlement and accounting process), "gap" risk (i.e., the risk of a mismatch between the return on cash collateral reinvestments and the fees the Fund has agreed to pay a borrower), foreign exchange risk (i.e., the risk of a shortfall at default when a cash collateral investment is denominated in a currency other than the currency of the assets being loaned due to movements in foreign exchange rates), and credit, legal, counterparty and market risks (including the risk that market events could lead the Fund to recall loaned securities or to lend less or not at all, which could lead to reduced securities lending revenue). If a securities lending counterparty were to default, the Fund would be subject to the risk of a possible delay in receiving collateral or in recovering the loaned securities, or to a possible loss of rights in the collateral. In the event a borrower does not return the Fund's securities as agreed, the Fund's ability to participate in a corporate action event may be impacted, or the Fund may experience losses if the proceeds received from liquidating the collateral do not at least equal the value of the loaned security at the time the collateral is liquidated, plus the transaction costs incurred in purchasing replacement securities. This latter event could trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. The Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan. Substitute payments received by the Fund representing dividends paid on securities loaned out by the Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. BTC will take into account the tax effects on shareholders caused by this difference in connection with the Fund's securities lending program. Substitute payments received on tax-exempt securities loaned out will not be tax-exempt income. There could also be changes in the status of issuers under applicable laws and regulations, including tax regulations, that may impact the regulatory or tax treatment of loaned securities and could, for example, result in a delay in the payment of dividend equivalent payments owed to the Fund (as permitted by applicable law).

Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these requirements, as well as potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect the Fund's ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

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**Liquidity Risk Management. Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act (the "Liquidity Rule") requires open-end funds, including exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") such as the Fund, to establish a liquidity risk management program (the "Liquidity Program") and enhance disclosures regarding fund liquidity. As required by the Liquidity Rule, the Fund has implemented a Liquidity Program, and the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust, has appointed BFA as the administrator of the Liquidity Program. Under the Liquidity Program, BFA assesses, manages, and periodically reviews the Fund's liquidity risk and classifies each investment held by the Fund as a "highly liquid investment," "moderately liquid investment," "less liquid investment" or "illiquid investment." The Liquidity Rule defines "liquidity risk" as the risk that the Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by the Fund without significant dilution of the remaining investors' interest in the Fund. The liquidity of the Fund's portfolio investments is determined based on relevant market, trading and investment-specific considerations under the Liquidity Program. There are exclusions from certain portions of the liquidity risk management program requirements for "in-kind" ETFs, as defined in the Liquidity Rule. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, the Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.**

**Options on Futures Contracts. The Fund may invest in options on futures contracts. An option on a futures contract, as contrasted with the direct investment in such a contract, gives the purchaser the right, in return for the premium paid, to assume a position in the underlying futures contract at a specified exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option. Upon exercise of an option, the delivery of the futures position by the writer of the option to the holder of the option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated balance in the writer's futures margin account that represents the amount by which the market price of the futures contract exceeds (in the case of a call) or is less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option on the futures contract. The potential for loss related to the purchase of an option on a futures contract is limited to the premium paid for the option plus transaction costs. Because the value of the option is fixed at the point of sale, there are no daily cash payments by the purchaser to reflect changes in the value of the underlying contract; however, the value of the option changes daily and that change would be reflected in the NAV of the Fund. The potential for loss related to writing call options is unlimited. The potential for loss related to writing put options is limited to the agreed upon price per share, also known as the "strike price," less the premium received from writing the put.**

**Regulation Regarding Derivatives. The CFTC subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if a fund that is advised by the investment adviser either (i) invests, directly or indirectly, more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps ("CFTC Derivatives") or (ii) markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC Derivatives above the prescribed levels, the Fund and the subsidiary will each be considered a "commodity pool" under the CEA. Accordingly, BFA, the Fund's investment adviser, has registered as a commodity pool operator and is subject to CFTC regulation with respect to the Fund. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association.**

Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards, and NDFs, are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Swaps, NDFs and certain other derivatives traded in the OTC market are subject to variation margin and initial margin requirements. Implementation of the margining and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading, reporting and documentation of swaps and other derivatives have impacted and may continue to impact the costs to the Fund of trading these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in the Fund.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into Derivatives Transactions (as defined below) and certain other transactions notwithstanding the restrictions on the issuance of "senior securities" under Section 18 of the Investment Company Act. Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, among other things, prohibits open-end funds, including the Fund, from issuing or selling any "senior security," other than borrowing from a bank (subject to a requirement to maintain 300% "asset coverage").

Under Rule 18f-4, "Derivatives Transactions" include the following: (1) any swap, security-based swap (including a contract for differences), futures contract, forward contract, option (excluding purchased options), any combination of the foregoing, or any similar instrument, under which the Fund is or may be required to make any payment or delivery of cash or other assets during the life of the instrument or at maturity or early termination, whether as margin or settlement payment or otherwise; (2) any short sale borrowing; (3) reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g*., recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, and borrowed bonds), if the Fund elects to treat these transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4; and (4) when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g.,* firm and standby commitments, including to-be-announced ("TBA") commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities, unless the

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Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision").

Unless the Fund is relying on the Limited Derivatives User Exception (as defined below), the Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to its Derivatives Transactions. Rule 18f-4, among other things, requires the Fund to adopt and implement a comprehensive written derivatives risk management program ("DRMP") and comply with a relative or absolute limit on Fund leverage risk calculated based on value-at-risk ("VaR"). The DRMP is administered by a "derivatives risk manager," who is appointed by the Board, including a majority of Independent Directors/Trustees, and periodically reviews the DRMP and reports to the Board.

Rule 18f-4 provides an exception from the DRMP, VaR limit and certain other requirements if the Fund's "derivatives exposure" (as defined in Rule 18f-4) is limited to 10% of its net assets (as calculated in accordance with Rule 18f-4) and the Fund adopts and implements written policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks (the "Limited Derivatives User Exception").

**Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price, thereby determining the yield during the purchaser's holding period. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price, and, in the event of a default by the seller, the Fund may suffer time delays and incur costs or losses in connection with the disposition of the collateral.**

In any repurchase transaction, the collateral for a repurchase agreement may include: (i) cash items; (ii) obligations issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; or (iii) obligations that, at the time the repurchase agreement is entered into, are determined to (A) have exceptionally strong capacity to meet their financial obligations and (B) are sufficiently liquid such that they can be sold at approximately their carrying value in the ordinary course of business within seven days.

Repurchase agreements pose certain risks for the Fund, should it decide to utilize them. Such risks are not unique to the Fund, but are inherent in repurchase agreements. The Fund seeks to minimize such risks, but because of the inherent legal uncertainties involved in repurchase agreements, such risks cannot be eliminated. Lower quality collateral and collateral with a longer maturity may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality collateral and collateral with a shorter maturity. If the repurchase agreement counterparty were to default, lower quality collateral may be more difficult to liquidate than higher quality collateral. Should the counterparty default and the amount of collateral not be sufficient to cover the counterparty's repurchase obligation, the Fund would likely retain the status of an unsecured creditor of the counterparty (*i.e.*, the position the Fund would normally be in if it were to hold, pursuant to its investment policies, other unsecured debt securities of the defaulting counterparty) with respect to the amount of the shortfall. As an unsecured creditor, the Fund would be at risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.

**Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. Generally, the effect of such transactions is that the Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are advantageous only if the Fund has an opportunity to earn a rate of interest on the cash derived from these transactions that is greater than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required to be paid may not always be available, and the Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique only when BFA believes it will be advantageous to the Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any increase or decrease in the value of the Fund's assets. The use of reverse repurchase agreements is a form of leverage, and the proceeds obtained by the Fund through reverse repurchase agreements may be invested in additional securities.**

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.,* recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, borrowed bonds) notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that the Fund either (i) complies with the 300% asset coverage ratio with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treats such transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4. (See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.)

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**Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments. The Fund may invest in short-term instruments, including money market instruments, on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity or for other reasons. Money market instruments are generally short-term investments that may include, but are not limited to: (i) shares of money market funds (including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA); (ii) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (including government-sponsored enterprises); (iii) negotiable certificates of deposit ("CDs"), bankers' acceptances, fixed-time deposits and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks (including non-U.S. branches) and similar institutions; (iv) commercial paper rated, at the date of purchase, "Prime-1" by Moody's<sup>®</sup> Investors Service, Inc., "F-1" by Fitch Ratings, Inc., or "A-1" by S&P Global, Inc., a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies ("S&P Global Ratings"), or if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by BFA; (v) non-convertible corporate debt securities (*e.g.*, bonds and debentures) with remaining maturities at the date of purchase of not more than 397 days and that have been determined to present minimal credit risks, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act; (vi) repurchase agreements; and (vii) short-term U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of non-U.S. banks (including U.S. branches) that, in the opinion of BFA, are of comparable quality to obligations of U.S. banks that may be purchased by the Fund. Any of these instruments may be purchased on a current or forward-settled basis. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Bankers' acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.**

**Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations. The Fund may invest in sovereign and quasi-sovereign obligations. An investment in sovereign debt obligations involves special risks not present in corporate debt obligations. Sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by a foreign sovereign government. Quasi-sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by an entity affiliated with or backed by a sovereign government. Quasi-sovereign debt obligations are typically less liquid and less standardized than sovereign debt obligations. The issuer of the sovereign debt that controls the repayment of the debt may be unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due, and the Fund may have limited recourse in the event of a default. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a non-U.S. government may cause the value of a sovereign debt to decline. During periods of economic uncertainty, the market prices of sovereign debt obligations may be more volatile than prices of U.S. debt obligations, which may affect the Fund's NAV. Several sovereign issuers have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about rising government debt levels, including Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.**

A sovereign debtor's willingness or ability to repay principal and pay interest in a timely manner may be affected by, among other factors, its cash flow situation, the extent of its non-U.S. currency reserves, the availability of sufficient foreign exchange, the relative size of the debt service burden, the sovereign debtor's policy toward principal international lenders and local political constraints. Sovereign debtors may also be dependent on expected disbursements from foreign governments, multilateral agencies and other entities to reduce principal and interest arrears on their debt. The failure of a sovereign debtor to implement economic reforms, achieve specified levels of economic performance or repay principal or interest when due may result in the cancellation of third-party commitments to lend funds to the sovereign debtor, which may further impair such debtor's ability or willingness to service its debts. Quasi-sovereign debt obligations are typically less liquid and less standardized than government debt.

**Swap Agreements. Swap agreements are contracts between parties in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to the other party based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount. In return, the other party agrees to make periodic payments to the first party based on the return (or a differential in rate of return) earned or realized on the underlying investment or notional amount. Swap agreements will usually be performed on a net basis, with the Fund receiving or paying only the net amount of the two payments. The net amount of the excess, if any, of the Fund's obligations over its entitlements with respect to each swap is accrued on a daily basis.**

The Fund may enter into commodity and index swap agreements. The use of such swaps is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions. These transactions generally do not involve the delivery of securities or other underlying assets.

**Future Developments. The Board may, in the future, authorize the Fund to invest in securities contracts and investments, other than those listed in this SAI and in the Prospectus, provided they are consistent with the Fund's investment objective and do not violate any of its investment restrictions or policies.**

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## General Considerations and Risks
A discussion of some of the principal risks associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the Prospectus.

An investment in the Fund should be made with an understanding that the value of the Fund's portfolio securities may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of stocks in general, and other factors that affect the market. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

Set forth below is more detailed information regarding the types of instruments in which the Fund may invest, strategies BFA may employ in pursuit of the Fund's investment objective and related risks.

**Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the NAV of Fund shares and in the return on the Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cause the Fund to incur interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce the Fund's return. Borrowing may cause the Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.**

**Commodities Investment Risk. Exposure to commodities markets may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The commodities markets have experienced periods of extreme volatility. Similar future market conditions may result in rapid and substantial valuation increases or decreases in the Fund's holdings.**

The commodities markets may fluctuate widely based on a variety of factors. Movements in commodity investment prices are outside of the Fund's control and may not be anticipated by BFA. Price movements may be influenced by, among other things: governmental, agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs and policies; changing market and economic conditions; market liquidity; weather and climate conditions, including droughts and floods; livestock disease; changing supply and demand relationships and levels of domestic production and imported commodities; changes in storage costs; the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems; energy conservation; the success of exploration projects; changes in international balances of payments and trade; domestic and foreign rates of inflation; currency devaluations and revaluations; domestic and foreign political and economic events; domestic and foreign interest rates and/or investor expectations concerning interest rates; foreign currency/exchange rates; domestic and foreign governmental regulation and taxation; war, acts of terrorism and other political upheaval and conflicts; governmental expropriation; investment and trading activities of mutual funds, hedge funds and commodities funds; and changes in philosophies and emotions of market participants. The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted. However, it is likely that current declines in trade relations between the U.S. and other countries and tariffs imposed by the U.S. on foreign products and by foreign countries on U.S. commodities will impact commodity prices.

The prices of commodities can also fluctuate widely due to supply and demand disruptions in major producing or consuming regions. Certain commodities or natural resources may be produced in a limited number of countries and may be controlled by a small number of producers or groups of producers. As a result, political, economic, regulatory and supply-related events in such countries could have a disproportionate impact on the prices of such commodities.

A decrease in the production of a physical commodity or a decrease in the volume of such commodity available for transportation, mining, processing, storage or distribution may adversely impact the financial performance of a commodity or commodity-related company that devotes a portion of its business to that commodity. Production declines and volume decreases could be caused by various factors, including catastrophic events affecting production, depletion of resources, labor difficulties, environmental proceedings, increased regulations, equipment failures and unexpected maintenance problems, import supply disruption, governmental expropriation, political upheaval or conflicts or increased competition from alternative energy sources or commodity prices. Agricultural commodities may be adversely affected by weather or other natural phenomena, such as drought, floods and pests.

A sustained decline in demand for such commodities could also adversely affect the financial performance of commodity-related companies. Factors that could lead to a decline in demand include economic recession or other adverse economic conditions, higher taxes on commodities or increased governmental regulations, increases in fuel economy, consumer shifts to the use of alternative commodities or fuel sources, changes in commodity prices, or weather.

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The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation in futures contract prices which may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be made beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices.

**Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of a commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. Therefore, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall economic conditions, in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular commodity or industry, such as production, disease, climate conditions, supply or demand, politics, geopolitics, changes in international balance of payments and trade, currency devaluations and revaluations, market liquidity, and economic and regulatory developments. The prices of commodity-related investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically and may or may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop. Commodity derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives can result in large amounts of financial leverage. Although the Fund will not borrow money in order to increase the amount of its trading, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit a high degree of leverage on the investment itself. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. Like other leveraged investments, any trade may result in losses in excess of the amount invested. These factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.**

**Commodity Forward Risk. A commodity forward is a customized, non-standardized agreement that obligates one party to buy, and the other party to sell, a specific quantity of an underlying commodity for an agreed-upon price at a future date, usually for physical delivery. Commodity forwards that are settled by a cash payment at maturity are referred to as "non-deliverable forwards." Because commodity forwards do not trade on a centralized exchange, they are subject to a higher degree of default risk and, depending upon the underlying commodity, may be less liquid than futures contracts on the same referenced commodity. In addition, use of commodity forwards creates risk for the Fund because the contracts require the Fund to take or make delivery of a physical commodity, which involves additional cost as well as delivery risk. Unless the Fund were to close out a contract prior to maturity, any failure of the Fund to comply with the contract delivery obligations at maturity would cause the Fund to default, which could have adverse collateral consequences for investors.**

**Dividend-Paying Stock Risk. Investing in dividend-paying stocks involves the risk that such stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform the broader market. Companies that issue dividend-paying stocks are not required to pay or continue paying dividends on such stocks. It is possible that issuers of the stocks held by the Fund will not declare dividends in the future or will reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends (including reducing or eliminating anticipated accelerations or increases in the payment of dividends) in the future.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The liquidity of an investment will be determined based on relevant market, trading and investment specific considerations as set out in the Liquidity Program as required by the Liquidity Rule. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount to comparable, more liquid investments and the Fund may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments in a timely fashion or at their expected prices. If illiquid investments exceed 15% of the Fund's net assets, the Liquidity Rule and the Liquidity Program will require that certain remedial actions be taken.**

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

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**LIBOR Replacement Risk. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. All other LIBOR settings and certain other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA") ceased to be published after December 31, 2021. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement ("repo") market and has been used increasingly on a voluntary basis in new instruments and transactions. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate Act was signed into law in the U.S., providing a statutory fallback mechanism to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Federal Reserve Board and based on SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR without adequate fallback provisions. On December 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve Board adopted regulations implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate Act by identifying benchmark rates based on SOFR that will replace LIBOR in different categories of financial contracts after June 30, 2023.**

The regulations include provisions that (i) provide a safe harbor for selection or use of a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; (ii) clarify who may choose the replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; and (iii) ensure that contracts adopting a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board will not be interrupted or terminated following the replacement of LIBOR. These regulations apply only contracts governed by U.S. law, among other limitations. Similar legislation and regulations have been and may be further adopted in other jurisdictions.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Parties to contracts, securities or other instruments using LIBOR may disagree on transition rates or the application of applicable transition regulations, potentially resulting in uncertainty of performance and the possibility of litigation. The Fund may have instruments linked to other interbank offered rates and currencies that may also cease to be published in the future.

The effect of these changes on the Fund will vary based on, among other things, existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and the potential renegotiation of existing contracts. In many cases, if an instrument falls back to an alternative reference rate, including SOFR, the alternative reference rate will not perform the same as LIBOR because the alternative reference rate does not include a credit-sensitive component in the rate calculation. In the event of a credit crisis, floating rate instruments using certain alternative reference rates could perform differently than those instruments using a rate indexed to the interbank lending market.

**Money Market Instruments Risk. The Fund may hold money market instruments. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changes in interest rates or in the credit ratings of the investments, among other things. If a significant amount of a Fund's assets is invested in money market instruments, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than U.S. government money market funds and retail money market funds "float" their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.**

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

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**Operational Risk. BFA and the Fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors such as processing errors or human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, or systems or technology failures, that could negatively impact the Fund. While service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, their methods of operational risk management may differ from the Fund's in the setting of priorities, the personnel and resources available or the effectiveness of relevant controls. BFA, through its monitoring and oversight of service providers, seeks to ensure that service providers take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors. However, it is not possible for BFA or the other Fund service providers to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.**

**Risk of Derivatives. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, such as a security, a commodity (such as gold or silver), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500<sup>®</sup> or the prime lending rate). The Fund will invest in swaps, futures, options or forwards providing exposure to commodities . Compared to securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus the Fund's losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations. Derivatives generally involve the incurrence of leverage.**

When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds or is committed to purchase, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and in some cases, hedging can cause losses that are not offset by gains, and the Fund will recognize losses on both the investment and the hedge. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.

**Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. A position in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be closed only on the exchange on which the contract was made (or a linked exchange). While the Fund plans to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if the Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, a Fund may be required to deliver the instruments underlying the futures contracts it has sold.**

The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (e.g., selling uncovered bond index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Fund does not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor relative to the size of a required margin deposit.

Utilization of futures and options on futures by the Fund involves the risk of loss by the Fund of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom the Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option. The purchase of put or call options will be based upon predictions by BFA as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect.

Because the futures market generally imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day's settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and subjecting the Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.

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**Risk of Swap Agreements. The risk of loss with respect to swaps is generally limited to the net amount of payments that the Fund is contractually obligated to make. Swap agreements are subject to the risk that the swap counterparty will default on its obligations. If such a default occurs, the Fund will have contractual remedies pursuant to the agreements related to the transaction. However, such remedies may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could affect the Fund's rights as a creditor (*e.g.*, the Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it is contractually entitled to receive).**

The Fund is required to post and collect variation margin and initial margin (comprised of specified liquid securities subject to haircuts) in connection with trading of OTC swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps.

Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. Swaps entered into by the Fund through its Subsidiary are not expected to be centrally cleared and thus will expose the Fund to counter-party default risk and illiquidity risk, as liquidity depends on the willingness of counterparties to enter into, and the ability of counterparties to hedge the risks of, such contracts.

**Valuation Risk. In certain circumstances, the Fund's securities may be valued using techniques other than market quotations. The value established for a security may be different from what would be produced through the use of another methodology or if the value had been priced using market quotations. Securities that are valued using methods other than market quotations, including "fair valued" securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their value from one day to the next than would be the case if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell a security for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund could incur a loss if a security is sold for less than its established value.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Many countries with developed markets have recently experienced significant economic pressures. These countries generally tend to rely on the services sectors (*e.g.*, the financial services sector) as the primary source of economic growth and may be susceptible to the risks of individual service sectors. For example, companies in the financial services sector are subject to governmental regulation and, recently, government intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and amount of capital they must maintain. Dislocations in the financial sector and perceived or actual governmental influence over certain financial companies may lead to credit rating downgrades and, as a result, impact, among other things, revenue growth for such companies. If financial companies experience a prolonged decline in revenue growth, certain developed countries that rely heavily on financial companies as an economic driver may experience a correlative slowdown. Concerns have emerged with respect to the economic health of certain developed countries. These concerns primarily stem from heavy indebtedness of many developed countries and their perceived inability to continue to service high debt loads without simultaneously implementing stringent austerity measures. Such concerns have led to tremendous downward pressure on the economies of these countries. As a result, it is possible that interest rates on debt of certain developed countries may rise to levels that make it difficult for such countries to service such debt. Spending on health care and retirement pensions in most developed countries has risen dramatically. Medical innovation, extended life expectancy and higher public expectations are likely to continue the increase in health care and pension costs. Any increase in health care and pension costs will likely have a negative impact on the economic growth of many developed countries. Certain developed countries rely on imports of certain key items, such as crude oil, natural gas, and other commodities. As a result, an increase in demand for, or price fluctuations of, certain commodities may negatively affect developed country economies. Developed market countries generally are dependent on the economies of certain key trading partners. Changes in any one economy may cause an adverse impact on several developed countries. In addition, heavy regulation of, among others, labor and product markets may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.**

**Risk of Investing in Europe. Investing in European countries may expose the Fund to the economic and political risks associated with Europe in general and the specific European countries in which it invests. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one European country can have an adverse impact on other European countries. The Fund makes investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, have significant operations in, or that are listed on at least one securities exchange within member states of the European Union (the "EU"). A number of countries within the EU are also members of the Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") and have adopted the euro as their currency. Eurozone membership requires member states to comply with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Changes in import or export tariffs, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in**

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the exchange rate of the euro and other currencies of certain EU countries which are not in the eurozone, the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. Although certain European countries are not in the eurozone, many of these countries are obliged to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone.

Consequently, these countries must comply with many of the restrictions noted above. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns, government debt levels and the possible default of government debt in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. In order to prevent further economic deterioration, certain countries, without prior warning, can institute "capital controls." Countries may use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering and exiting their country. Such controls may negatively affect the Fund's investments. A default or debt restructuring by any European country would adversely impact holders of that country's debt and sellers of credit default swaps linked to that country's creditworthiness, which may be located in countries other than those listed above. In addition, the credit ratings of certain European countries were downgraded in the past. These events have adversely affected the value and exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect the economies of every country in Europe, including countries that do not use the euro and non-EU member states. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly fashion, is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely impact the value of the Fund's investments in the region.

The United Kingdom (the "U.K.") left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.

Certain European countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect European issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region also could impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.*

**Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector. The energy sector is strongly affected by the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, government regulations and policies, energy production and conservation efforts, technological change, development of alternative energy sources, and other factors that they cannot control. These companies may also lack resources and have limited business lines.The energy sector is cyclical and is highly dependent on commodity prices; prices and supplies of energy may fluctuate significantly over short and long periods of time due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") policies, changes in relationships among OPEC members and between OPEC and oil-importing nations, the regulatory environment, taxation policies, and the economy of the key energy-consuming countries. Commodity prices have recently been subject to increased volatility and declines, which may negatively affect energy-related commodities in which the Fund**

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invests. For example, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of the front month futures contract falling below zero for a period of time.

The value of securities in the energy sector and energy-related commodities may be adversely affected by terrorism, natural disasters or other catastrophes. Disruptions in the oil industry or shifts in fuel consumption may significantly impact companies in this sector. Significant oil and gas deposits are located in emerging markets countries where corruption and security may raise significant risks, in addition to the other risks of investing in emerging markets. Additionally, the Middle East, where much of the energy sector operates, has historically and recently experienced widespread social unrest. The energy sector is highly regulated. Entities operating in the energy sector are subject to significant regulation of nearly every aspect of their operations by governmental agencies. Such regulation can change rapidly or over time in both scope and intensity. Stricter laws, regulations or enforcement policies could be enacted in the future which would likely increase compliance costs and may materially adversely affect the financial performance of companies in the energy sector and energy-related commodities.

**Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. Exposure to the gold market may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile. Similar future market conditions may result in rapid and substantial valuation increases or decreases in the Fund's holdings.**

Factors that may cause a change in the price of gold, include, among other things:

• The strength of the U.S. dollar. Because the price of gold is generally inversely related to the value of the U.S. dollar, a stronger U.S. dollar tends to keep the price of gold lower and more controlled, while a weaker U.S. dollar is likely to drive the price of gold higher. During times of economic uncertainty and when the dollar is weak, investments in gold tend to increase.

• Large sales, including those by governments, central banks and related institutions, which own a significant portion of the aggregate world holdings in gold. If one or more of these institutions decide to sell in amounts large enough to cause a decline in world gold prices, the performance of the Fund may be adversely affected.

• Changes in the supply and demand of goods or services of large users of gold. For example, as demand for consumer goods such as jewelry and electronics increases, the price of gold can rise.

• A significant increase in gold hedging activity by gold producers. Should there be an increase in the level of hedge activity of gold producing companies, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

• A significant change in the attitude of speculators and investors towards gold. Should the speculative community take a negative view towards gold, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted.

Certain factors may trigger a temporary increase in the price of gold. If that is the case, the Fund may be investing in securities at prices affected by the temporarily high prices of gold and may incur losses when the causes for the temporary increase disappear.

The commodity markets generally are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. Treasury securities may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Because U.S. government debt obligations are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, a downgrade could also result in higher interest rates for a range of borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial adverse effect on the U.S. and global economy.**

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A high national debt level may increase market pressures to meet government funding needs, which may drive debt cost higher and lead the government to issue additional debt, thereby increasing refinancing risk. A high national debt also raises concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. If market participants determine that U.S. sovereign debt levels have become unsustainable, the value of the U.S. dollar could decline, thus increasing inflationary pressures, particularly with respect to services outsourced to non-U.S. providers and imported goods and constrain or prevent the U.S. government from implementing effective countercyclical fiscal policy in economic downturns. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period that shareholders own shares of the Fund. Notwithstanding that U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S., circumstances could arise that would prevent the timely payment of interest or principal, which would result in losses to the Fund.

## Proxy Voting Policy
For the Fund, the Board has delegated the voting of proxies for the Fund's securities to BFA pursuant to the Fund's Proxy Voting Policy (the "iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy"), and BFA has adopted policies and procedures (the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BFA, including the Fund.

Under the BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies, BFA will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of the Fund's shareholders, on the one hand, and those of BFA, or any affiliated person of the Fund or BFA, on the other. BFA maintains policies and procedures that are designed to prevent undue influence on BFA's proxy voting activity that might stem from any relationship between the issuer of a proxy (or any dissident shareholder) and BFA, BFA's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates. Most conflicts are managed through a structural separation of BFA's Corporate Governance Group from BFA's employees with sales and client responsibilities. In addition, BFA maintains procedures to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BFA's relationship with the issuer of the proxy or the dissident shareholder. In certain instances, BFA may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copies of the iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy, the BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies and the BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies are attached as Appendices A1, A2 and A3, respectively.

Information with respect to how proxies relating to the Fund's portfolio securities were voted during the 12-month period ended June 30 is available: (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or through the Fund's website at *www.iShares.com*; and (ii) on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

## Portfolio Holdings Information
On each Business Day (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI), prior to the opening of regular trading on the Fund's primary listing exchange, the Fund discloses on its website (<u>www.iShares.com</u>) certain information relating to the portfolio holdings that will form the basis of the Fund's next net asset value per share calculation.

In addition, certain information may also be made available to certain parties:

• **Communications of Data Files: The Fund may make available through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") or through posting on the <u>www.iShares.com</u>, prior to the opening of trading on each business day, a list of the Fund's holdings (generally pro-rata) that Authorized Participants could deliver to the Fund to settle purchases of the Fund (*i.e.* Deposit Securities) or that Authorized Participants would receive from the Fund to settle redemptions of the Fund (*i.e.* Fund Securities). These files are known as the Portfolio Composition File and the Fund Data File (collectively, "Files"). The Files are applicable for the next trading day and are provided to the NSCC and/or posted on <u>www.iShares.com</u> after the close of markets in the U.S.** 

• **Communications with Authorized Participants and Liquidity Providers: Certain employees of BFA are responsible for interacting with Authorized Participants and liquidity providers with respect to discussing custom basket proposals as described in the *Custom Baskets* section of this SAI. As part of these discussions, these employees may discuss with an** 

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Authorized Participant or liquidity provider the securities the Fund is willing to accept for a creation, and securities that the Fund will provide on a redemption.

BFA employees may also discuss portfolio holdings-related information with broker/dealers, in connection with settling the Fund's transactions, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with the disclosure in the Fund's current registration statements.

• **Communications with Listing Exchanges: From time to time, employees of BFA may discuss portfolio holdings information with the applicable primary listing exchange for the Fund as needed to meet the exchange listing standards.** 

• **Communications with Other Portfolio Managers: Certain information may be provided to employees of BFA who manage funds that invest a significant percentage of their assets in shares of an underlying fund as necessary to manage the fund's investment objective and strategy.** 

• **Communication of Other Information: Certain explanatory information regarding the Files is released to Authorized Participants and liquidity providers on a daily basis, but is only done so after the Files are posted to <u>www.iShares.com</u>.** 

• **Third-Party Service Providers: Certain portfolio holdings information may be disclosed to Fund Trustees and their counsel, outside counsel for the Fund, auditors and to certain third-party service providers (*i.e.*, fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure, confidentiality agreement or other obligation is in place with such service providers, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with applicable policies, agreements with the Fund, the terms of the current registration statements and federal securities laws and regulations thereunder.** 

• **Liquidity Metrics: "Liquidity Metrics," which seek to ascertain the Fund's liquidity profile under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology, include but are not limited to: (a) disclosure regarding the number of days needed to liquidate a portfolio or the portfolio's underlying investments; and (b) the percentage of the Fund's NAV invested in a particular liquidity tier under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology. The dissemination of position-level liquidity metrics data and any non-public regulatory data pursuant to the Liquidity Rule (including SEC liquidity tiering) is not permitted unless pre-approved. Disclosure of portfolio-level liquidity metrics prior to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and approval of the Trust's Chief Compliance Officer. Portfolio-level liquidity metrics disclosure subsequent to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires the approval of portfolio management and must be disclosed to all parties requesting the information if disclosed to any party.** 

The Trust's Chief Compliance Officer or his delegate may authorize disclosure of portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures, subject to restrictions on selective disclosure imposed by applicable law. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of portfolio holdings information at least annually.

## Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index
A description of the Fund's Underlying Index is provided below.

With respect to certain underlying indexes of the iShares funds, BFA or its affiliates have held discussions with the applicable index provider regarding their business interest in licensing an index to track a particular market segment and conveyed investment concepts and strategies that could be considered for the index. The index provider designed and constituted such indices using concepts conveyed by BFA or its affiliates. For certain of these indices, the relevant fund may be the first or sole user of the underlying index. In its sole discretion, the index provider determines the composition of the securities and other instruments in such underlying index, the rebalance protocols of the underlying index, the weightings of the securities and other instruments in the underlying index, and any updates to the methodology. From time to time, BFA or its affiliates may also provide input relating to possible methodology changes of such underlying index pursuant to the index provider's consultation process or pursuant to other communications with the index provider.

#### The ICE BofA Commodity Enhanced Carry Total Return Index

#### Number of Components: approximately 10

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**Index Description. The ICE BofA Commodity Enhanced Carry Total Return Index measures the performance of a long-only basket of liquid commodity futures contracts representing the underlying commodities with the largest global production value, where the weights of selected contracts are tilted towards those having a high positive carry.**

**Index Methodology. The Index's constituent contracts and weights are determined based on a methodology established by the ICE BofA Commodity Index eXtra (MLCX). This methodology is designed to provide the foundation for liquid, consistent, representative and cost-efficient benchmarks for measuring commodity market performance. The futures contracts included in the Index are intended to be sufficiently liquid to accommodate the level of trading needed to support trading in the Index. The selection mechanism is therefore based primarily on liquidity. To determine liquidity, the notional value of traded contracts is derived from the total trading volume during the most recent twelve month period from July 1 through June 30, and the value of that trading volume. Eligible contracts are ranked on the basis of their liquidity. A preliminary set of contracts are selected for the index in ranked order, subject to the minimum and maximum requirements set for each market sector. The weight of each index contract is determined on the basis of its associated global production value, which is a measure that is designed to provide a non-biased reflection of the relative economic importance of each commodity contract in the global economy. Each market sector is adequately represented in the Index in relation to its share of the global market, adjusted to avoid excessive exposure to any one market sector. The evaluation of liquidity and global production value are evaluated annually, with selected contracts for the upcoming calendar year implemented at the December month end rebalancing.**

**Component Selection Criteria. The Index is based on the ICE BofA Commodity eXtra Index ("MLCX03") and generally uses the same selection, weighting and calculation methodologies that apply to the MLCX family of indices, but with certain modifications. In particular, the modifications include a monthly rebalancing frequency, a different method for calculating "percentage target weights and a five-day contract roll schedule. In addition, contract production weights are recalculated monthly. On a monthly basis, the Index evaluates the current qualifying contracts selected for inclusion in MLCX03 and ranks those contracts based on their degree of positive carry. The Index contract weights are then adjusted to increase the allocation to the top 10 high-carry commodities and reduce the allocation to the remaining low-carry commodities.**

## Investment Policies
The Board has adopted as fundamental policies the following numbered investment policies, which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities. A vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund is defined in the Investment Company Act as the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a shareholder meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.The Fund has also adopted certain non-fundamental investment policies, including its investment objective. Non-fundamental investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval. Therefore, the Fund may change its investment objective without shareholder approval.

#### Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund may not:

1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts ("REITs"), mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

#### Notations Regarding the Fund's Fundamental Investment Policies

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The following notations are not considered to be part of the Fund's fundamental investment policies and are subject to change without shareholder approval.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to concentration set forth in (1) above, the Investment Company Act does not define what constitutes "concentration" in an industry. The SEC staff has taken the position that investment of 25% or more of a fund's total assets in one or more issuers conducting their principal activities in the same industry or group of industries constitutes concentration. It is possible that interpretations of concentration could change in the future. The policy in (1) above will be interpreted to refer to concentration as that term may be interpreted from time to time. The policy also will be interpreted to permit investment without limit in the following: securities of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities; securities of state, territory, possession or municipal governments and their authorities, agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and repurchase agreements collateralized by any such obligations. Accordingly, issuers of the foregoing securities will not be considered to be members of any industry. There also will be no limit on investment in issuers domiciled in a single jurisdiction or country. Finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Each foreign government will be considered to be a member of a separate industry. Additionally, the policy will be interpreted to not classify commodities as an industry. With respect to the Fund's industry classifications, the Fund currently utilizes any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. The policy also will be interpreted to give broad authority to the Fund as to how to classify issuers within or among industries.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to borrowing money set forth in (2) above, the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to borrow money in amounts of up to one-third of the Fund's total assets from banks for any purpose, and to borrow up to 5% of the Fund's total assets from banks or other lenders for temporary purposes. (The Fund's total assets include the amounts being borrowed.) To limit the risks attendant to borrowing, the Investment Company Act requires the Fund to maintain at all times an "asset coverage" of at least 300% of the amount of its borrowings. Asset coverage means the ratio that the value of the Fund's total assets (including amounts borrowed), minus liabilities other than borrowings, bears to the aggregate amount of all borrowings. Borrowing money to increase portfolio holdings is known as "leveraging." Certain trading practices and investments, such as reverse repurchase agreements, may be considered to be borrowings or involve leverage and thus are subject to the Investment Company Act restrictions. In accordance with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act, when the Fund engages in reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, the Fund may either (i) maintain asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treat such transactions as "derivatives transactions" and comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to such transactions. Short-term credits necessary for the settlement of securities transactions and arrangements with respect to securities lending will not be considered to be borrowings under the policy. Practices and investments that may involve leverage but are not considered to be borrowings are not subject to the policy.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to underwriting set forth in (5) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit a fund from engaging in the underwriting business or from underwriting the securities of other issuers; in fact, in the case of diversified funds, the Investment Company Act permits a fund to have underwriting commitments of up to 25% of its assets under certain circumstances. Those circumstances currently are that the amount of a fund's underwriting commitments, when added to the value of a fund's investments in issuers where a fund owns more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of those issuers, cannot exceed the 25% cap. A fund engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act. Although it is not believed that the application of the 1933 Act provisions described above would cause a fund to be engaged in the business of underwriting, the policy in (5) above will be interpreted not to prevent a fund from engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities, regardless of whether a fund may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act or is otherwise engaged in the underwriting business to the extent permitted by applicable law.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to lending set forth in (7) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit the Fund from making loans (including lending its securities); however, SEC staff interpretations currently prohibit funds from lending more than one-third of their total assets (including lending its securities), except through the purchase of debt obligations or the use of repurchase agreements. In addition, collateral arrangements with respect to options, forward currency and futures transactions and other derivative instruments (as applicable), as well as delays in the settlement of securities transactions, will not be considered loans.

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#### Non-Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except to the extent permitted by the Fund's Prospectus and SAI, as amended from time to time, and applicable law.

The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to purchase securities of other investment companies, except to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act. As a matter of policy, however, the Fund will not purchase shares of any registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust, in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or (G) (the "fund of funds" provisions) of the Investment Company Act, at any time the Fund has knowledge that its shares are purchased by another investment company investor in reliance on the provisions of subparagraph (G) of Section 12(d)(1).

Unless otherwise indicated, all limitations under the Fund's fundamental or non-fundamental investment policies apply only at the time that a transaction is undertaken. Any change in the percentage of the Fund's assets invested in certain securities or other instruments resulting from market fluctuations or other changes in the Fund's total assets will not require the Fund to dispose of an investment until BFA determines that it is practicable to sell or close out the investment without undue market or tax consequences.

## Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Fund on an ongoing basis, at any point a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the 1933 Act must take into account all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, generally are required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Fund are reminded that, pursuant to Rule 153 under the 1933 Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the 1933 Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Listing Exchange generally is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Listing Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available only with respect to transactions on an exchange.

## Management
**Trustees and Officers. The Board has responsibility for the overall management and operations of the Fund, including general supervision of the duties performed by BFA and other service providers. Each Trustee serves until he or she resigns, is removed, dies, retires or becomes incapacitated. The President, Chief Compliance Officer, Treasurer and Secretary shall each hold office until their successors are chosen and qualify, and all other officers shall hold office until he or she resigns or is removed. Trustees who are not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust are referred to as independent trustees ("Independent Trustees").**

The registered investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates (the "BlackRock-advised Funds") are organized into one complex of open-end equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds and ETFs (the "BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex"), one complex of closed-end funds and open-end non-index fixed-income funds (including ETFs) (the "BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex") and one complex of ETFs ("Exchange-Traded Fund Complex") (each, a "BlackRock Fund Complex"). The

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Fund is included in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex. Each Trustee also serves as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust, and, as a result, oversees all of the funds within the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, which consists of 381 funds as of March 1, 2023. With the exception of Robert S. Kapito, Salim Ramji and Charles Park, the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of Mr. Kapito, Mr. Ramji and Mr. Park is c/o BlackRock, Inc., Park Avenue Plaza, 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055. The Board has designated John E. Kerrigan as its Independent Board Chair. Additional information about the Fund's Trustees and officers may be found in this SAI, which is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

#### Interested Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Robert S. Kapito<sup>1</sup><br> (1957) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;President, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (since its formation in 1998) and BlackRock, Inc.'s predecessor entities (since 1988); Trustee, University of Pennsylvania (since 2009); President of Board of Directors, Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2009); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2009). |
| Salim Ramji<sup>2</sup><br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2014); Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments Business (since 2019); Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business (2015-2019); Global Head of Corporate Strategy, BlackRock, Inc. (2014-2015); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (2010-2014). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2019); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2019). |

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<sup>1</sup> Robert S. Kapito is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

<sup>2</sup> Salim Ramji is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

#### Independent Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Kerrigan<br> (1955) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Independent Board Chair<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Investment Officer, Santa Clara University (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005); Independent Board Chair of iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. (since 2022). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Jane D. Carlin<br> (1956) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2015); Risk Committee Chair (since 2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Consultant (since 2012); Member of the Audit Committee (2012-2018), Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee (2017-2018) and Director of PHH Corporation (mortgage solutions) (2012-2018); Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley (2006-2012). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2015); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2015); Member of the Audit Committee (since 2016), Chair of the Audit Committee (since 2020) and Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (since 2016). |
| Richard L. Fagnani<br> (1954) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); Audit Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Partner, KPMG LLP (2002-2016); Director of One Generation Away (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017). |
| Cecilia H. Herbert<br> (1949) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Nominating and Governance and Equity Plus Committee Chairs<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair of the Finance Committee (since 2019) and Trustee and Member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees of Stanford Health Care (since 2016); Trustee of WNET, New York's public media company (since 2011) and Member of the Audit Committee (since 2018), Investment Committee (since 2011) and Personnel Committee (since 2022); Chair (1994-2005) and Member (1992-2021) of the Investment Committee, Archdiocese of San Francisco; Trustee of Forward Funds (14 portfolios) (2009-2018); Trustee of Salient MF Trust (4 portfolios) (2015-2018); Director (1998-2013) and President (2007-2011) of the Board of Directors, Catholic Charities CYO; Trustee (2002-2011) and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (2006-2010) of the Thacher School; Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole (since 2020); Director of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts (since 2021); Member of the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005). |
| Drew E. Lawton<br> (1959) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); 15(c) Committee Chair (since 2017). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director of New York Life Insurance Company (2010-2015). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017); Director of Jackson Financial Inc. (since 2021). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Martinez<br> (1961) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011);<br> Securities Lending Committee Chair<br> (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc. (since 2005); Director of Cloudera Foundation (2017-2020); and Director of Reading Partners (2012-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2003); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2003). |
| Madhav V. Rajan<br> (1964) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Fixed Income Plus Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Dean, and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (since 2017); Advisory Board Member (since 2016) and Director (since 2020) of C.M. Capital Corporation; Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (since 2020); Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2001-2017); Professor of Law (by courtesy), Stanford Law School (2005-2017); Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA Program, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2010-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2011);<br> Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2011). |

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#### Officers

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Armando Senra<br> (1971) | &nbsp;&nbsp;President (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2007); Head of U.S., Canada and Latin America iShares, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2019); Head of Latin America Region, BlackRock, Inc. (2006-2019); Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (1994-2006). |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Trent Walker<br> (1974) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer<br> (since 2020). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since September 2019); Chief Financial Officer of iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, BlackRock Funds, BlackRock Funds II, BlackRock Funds IV, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Funds VI (since 2021); Executive Vice President of PIMCO (2016-2019); Senior Vice President of PIMCO (2008-2015); Treasurer (2013-2019) and Assistant Treasurer (2007-2017) of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds. |
| Charles Park<br> (1967) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex (since 2014); Chief Compliance Officer of BFA (since 2006). |
| Marisa Rolland<br> (1980) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Secretary (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2023); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2018-2022); Vice President, BlackRock, Inc. (2010-2017). |
| Rachel Aguirre<br> (1982) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2018); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2009-2018); Head of U.S. iShares Product (since 2022); Head of EII U.S. Product Engineering (since 2021); Co-Head of EII's Americas Portfolio Engineering (2020-2021); Head of Developed Markets Portfolio Engineering (2016-2019). |
| Jennifer Hsui<br> (1976) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2009); Co-Head of Index Equity (since 2022). |
| James Mauro<br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2010); Head of Fixed Income Index Investments in the Americas and Head of San Francisco Core Portfolio Management (since 2020). |

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The Board has concluded that, based on each Trustee's experience, qualifications, attributes or skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees, each Trustee should serve as a Trustee of the Board. Among the attributes common to all Trustees are their ability to review critically, evaluate, question and discuss information provided to

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them, to interact effectively with the Fund's investment adviser, other service providers, counsel and the independent registered public accounting firm, and to exercise effective business judgment in the performance of their duties as Trustees. A Trustee's ability to perform his or her duties effectively may have been attained through the Trustee's educational background or professional training; business, consulting, public service or academic positions; experience from service as a Board member of the Fund and the other funds in the Trust (and any predecessor funds), other investment funds, public companies, or non-profit entities or other organizations; and/or other life experiences. Also, set forth below is a brief discussion of the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of each Trustee that led the Board to conclude that he or she should serve (or continue to serve) as a Trustee.

Robert S. Kapito has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011. Mr. Kapito has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2009 and a Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. Mr. Kapito served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. In addition, he has over 20 years of experience as part of BlackRock, Inc. and BlackRock's predecessor entities. Mr. Kapito serves as President of BlackRock, Inc., and is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Chairman of the Global Operating Committee. He is responsible for day-to-day oversight of BlackRock's key operating units, including Investment Strategies, Client Businesses, Technology & Operations, and Risk & Quantitative Analysis. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2007, Mr. Kapito served as Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all portfolio management within BlackRock, including the Fixed Income, Equity, Liquidity, and Alternative Investment Groups. Mr. Kapito serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's Advisors. He has also been President of the Board of Directors for the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund since 2002. Mr. Kapito earned a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Salim Ramji has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji is the Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments business. In addition, he is a member of BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors. Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the Asset and Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London and Hong Kong. He has served as a Trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency, since 2007. Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

John E. Kerrigan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Trust's Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board from 2019 to 2021, and as Chair of each Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Kerrigan has served as Chief Investment Officer of Santa Clara University since 2002. Mr. Kerrigan was formerly a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., including the following responsibilities: Managing Director, Institutional Client Division, Western United States. Mr. Kerrigan has been a Director, since 1999, of The BASIC Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner City Children). Mr. Kerrigan has a BA degree from Boston College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder.

Jane D. Carlin has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2015 and Chair of the Risk Committee since 2016. Ms. Carlin has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2015, and Chair of the Risk Committee of each Board since 2016. Ms. Carlin has served as a consultant since 2012 and formerly served as Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012. In addition, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Global Head of the Bank Operational Risk Oversight Department of Credit Suisse Group from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Carlin has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector and has served in a number of legal, regulatory, and risk management positions. Ms. Carlin has served as a member of the Audit Committee and as a Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., each since 2016, and as Chair of the Audit Committee since 2020. Ms. Carlin served as a member of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2018, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2017 to 2018 and as an Independent Director on the Board of PHH Corporation from 2012 to 2018. She previously served as a Director on the Boards of Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank. Ms. Carlin was appointed by

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the United States Treasury to the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, where she served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2012 and Vice Chair and Chair of the Cyber Security Committee from 2009 to 2010. Ms. Carlin has a BA degree in political science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Richard L. Fagnani has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2017, and Chair of the Audit Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Fagnani served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. from April 2017 to June 2017. Mr. Fagnani served as a Senior Audit Partner at KPMG LLP from 2002 to 2016, most recently as the U.S. asset management audit practice leader responsible for setting strategic direction and execution of the operating plan for the asset management audit practice. In addition, from 1977 to 2002, Mr. Fagnani served as an Audit Partner at Andersen LLP, where he developed and managed the asset management audit practice in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fagnani served as a Trustee on the Board of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2014 and as a member of the School of Business Advisory Board at LaSalle University from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of One Generation Away, a non-profit which works to bring healthy food directly to people in need, since 2021. Mr. Fagnani has a BS degree in Accounting from LaSalle University.

Cecilia H. Herbert has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of the Trust since 2022. Ms. Herbert has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Trust's Board from 2016 to 2021, and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board since 2022. Ms. Herbert served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Ms. Herbert served as Trustee of the Montgomery Funds from 1992 to 2003, the Pacific Select Funds from 2004 to 2005, the Forward Funds from 2009 to 2018, the Salient Funds from 2015 to 2018 and the Thrivent Church Loan and Income Fund from 2019 to 2022. She has served as a member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees and Trustee of Stanford Health Care since 2016 and became Chair of the Finance Committee of Stanford Health Care in 2019. She has served as a Trustee of WNET, New York's public media station, since 2011 and a Member of its Audit Committee since 2018. She was appointed to the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee in 2022. She became a member of the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Forum in 2018. She has served as a Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole since 2020 and of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts since 2021. She was President of the Board of Catholic Charities CYO, the largest social services agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 2007 to 2011 and a member of that board from 1992 to 2013. She worked from 1973 to 1990 at J.P. Morgan/Morgan Guaranty Trust doing international corporate finance and corporate lending, retiring as Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Office. Ms. Herbert has been on numerous non-profit boards, chairing investment and finance committees. She holds a double major in economics and communications from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Drew E. Lawton has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of the Trust since 2017. Mr. Lawton has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust, and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of each Board since 2017. Mr. Lawton also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares, Inc. and iShares Trust from 2016 to 2017. Mr. Lawton served as Director of Principal Funds, Inc., Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc. and Principal Exchange-Traded Funds from March 2016 to October 2016. Mr. Lawton has also served as a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk Committees and Director of Jackson Financial Inc. since 2021. Mr. Lawton served in various capacities at New York Life Insurance Company from 2010 to 2015, most recently as a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life Investment Management. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Lawton was the President of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC. Mr. Lawton previously held multiple roles at Fidelity Investments from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Lawton has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas since 2021. Mr. Lawton has a BA degree in Administrative Science from Yale University and an MBA from University of North Texas.

John E. Martinez has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Martinez has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2003, and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Martinez served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Martinez is a Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., providing governance oversight and consulting services to this privately held firm that develops products and strategies for homeowners in managing the equity in their homes. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Martinez served as a Board member for the Cloudera Foundation. Mr. Martinez previously served as Director of Barclays Global Investors ("BGI") UK Holdings, where he provided governance oversight representing BGI's shareholders (Barclays PLC, BGI management shareholders) through oversight of BGI's worldwide activities. Mr. Martinez also previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Index and Markets Group of BGI,

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Chairman of Barclays Global Investor Services and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Group of BGI. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Director and Executive Committee Member for Larkin Street Youth Services. He now serves on the Larkin Street Honorary Board. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Martinez served as a Director for Reading Partners. Mr. Martinez has an AB degree in economics from The University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA degree in finance and statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Madhav V. Rajan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Rajan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2011, and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Rajan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Rajan is the Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also serves as Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, since 2020. He has served on the Advisory Board of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2016 and as a Director of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2020. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Rajan was the Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In April 2017, he received the school's Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service. He has taught accounting for over 25 years to undergraduate, MBA and law students, as well as to senior executives. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Rajan served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and head of the MBA Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rajan served as editor of "The Accounting Review" from 2002 to 2008 and is co-author of "Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis," a leading cost accounting textbook. From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Rajan served on the Board of Directors of Cavium Inc., a semiconductor company. Mr. Rajan holds MS and PhD degrees in Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University.

<u>Board – Leadership Structure and Oversight Responsibilities</u>

Overall responsibility for oversight of the Fund rests with the Board. The Board has engaged BFA to manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis. The Board is responsible for overseeing BFA and other service providers in the operations of the Fund in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act, applicable provisions of state and other laws and the Trust's charter. The Board is currently composed of nine members, seven of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board currently conducts regular in person meetings four times a year. In addition, the Board frequently holds special in person or telephonic meetings or informal conference calls to discuss specific matters that may arise or require action between regular meetings. The Independent Trustees meet regularly outside the presence of management, in executive session or with other service providers to the Trust.

The Board has appointed an Independent Trustee to serve in the role of Board Chair. The Board Chair's role is to preside at all meetings of the Board and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys, and other Trustees generally between meetings. The Board Chair may also perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Board from time to time. The Board has established seven standing Committees: a Nominating and Governance Committee, an Audit Committee, a 15(c) Committee, a Securities Lending Committee, a Risk Committee, an Equity Plus Committee and a Fixed Income Plus Committee to assist the Board in the oversight and direction of the business and affairs of the Fund, and from time to time the Board may establish ad hoc committees or informal working groups to review and address the policies and practices of the Fund with respect to certain specified matters. The Chair of each standing Committee is an Independent Trustee. The role of the Chair of each Committee is to preside at all meetings of the Committee and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys and other Trustees between meetings. Each standing Committee meets regularly to conduct the oversight functions delegated to the Committee by the Board and reports its finding to the Board. The Board and each standing Committee conduct annual assessments of their oversight function and structure. The Board has determined that the Board's leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise independent judgment over management and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees of Independent Trustees and the full Board to enhance effective oversight.

Day-to-day risk management with respect to the Fund is the responsibility of BFA or other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk), subject to the supervision of BFA. The Fund is subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, reputational, counterparty and valuation risks, among others. While there are a number of risk management functions performed by BFA and other service providers, as applicable, it is not possible to identify and eliminate all of the risks applicable to the Fund. The Trustees have an oversight role in this area, satisfying themselves that risk management processes and controls are in place and operating effectively. Risk oversight forms part of the Board's general oversight of the Fund and is addressed as part of various Board and committee activities. In some cases, risk management issues are specifically addressed in presentations and discussions. For example, BFA has an independent

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dedicated Risk and Quantitative Analysis Group ("RQA") that assists BFA in managing fiduciary and corporate risks, including investment, operational, counterparty credit and enterprise risk. Representatives of RQA meet with the Board to discuss their analysis and methodologies, as well as specific risk topics such as operational and counterparty risks relating to the Fund. The Board, directly or through a committee, also reviews reports from, among others, management and the independent registered public accounting firm for the Trust, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by the Fund and management's risk functions. The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer who oversees the implementation and testing of the Trust's compliance program, including assessments by independent third parties, and reports to the Board regarding compliance matters for the Trust and its principal service providers. In testing and maintaining the compliance program, the Chief Compliance Officer (and his or her delegates) assesses key compliance risks affecting the Fund, and addresses them in periodic reports to the Board. In addition, the Audit Committee meets with both the Fund's independent registered public accounting firm and BFA's internal audit group to review risk controls in place that support the Fund as well as test results. Board oversight of risk is also performed as needed between meetings through communications between BFA and the Board. The Independent Trustees have engaged independent legal counsel to assist them in performing their oversight responsibilities. From time to time, the Board may modify the manner in which it conducts risk oversight. The Board's oversight role does not make it a guarantor of the Fund's investment performance or other activities.

**Committees of the Board of Trustees. The members of the Audit Committee are Richard L. Fagnani (Chair), Cecilia H. Herbert and Madhav V. Rajan, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The purposes of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board (i) in its oversight of the Trust's accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and related controls and procedures maintained by or on behalf of the Trust; (ii) in its oversight of the Trust's financial statements and the independent audit thereof; (iii) in selecting, evaluating and, where deemed appropriate, replacing the independent accountants (or nominating the independent accountants to be proposed for shareholder approval in any proxy statement); (iv) in evaluating the independence of the independent accountants; (v) in complying with legal and regulatory requirements that relate to the Trust's accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, compliance controls and independent audits; and (vi) to assume such other responsibilities as may be delegated by the Board. The Audit Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.**

The members of the Nominating and Governance Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), Madhav V. Rajan and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The Nominating and Governance Committee nominates individuals for Independent Trustee membership on the Board and recommends appointments to the Advisory Board. The Nominating and Governance Committee functions include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) reviewing the qualifications of any person properly identified or nominated to serve as an Independent Trustee; (ii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the nominee(s) for appointment as an Independent Trustee by the Board and current Independent Trustees and/or for election as Independent Trustees by shareholders to fill any vacancy for a position of Independent Trustee(s) on the Board; (iii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the size and composition of the Board and Board committees and whether they comply with applicable laws and regulations; (iv) recommending a current Independent Trustee to the Board and current Independent Trustees to serve as Board Chair; (v) periodic review of the Board's retirement policy; and (vi) recommending an appropriate level of compensation for the Independent Trustees for their services as Trustees, members or chairpersons of committees of the Board, Board Chair and any other positions as the Nominating and Governance Committee considers appropriate. The Nominating and Governance Committee does not consider Board nominations recommended by shareholders (acting solely in their capacity as a shareholder and not in any other capacity). The Nominating and Governance Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Each Independent Trustee serves on the 15(c) Committee. The Chair of the 15(c) Committee is Drew E. Lawton. The principal responsibilities of the 15(c) Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for the annual review and renewal of the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements. These responsibilities include: (i) meeting with BlackRock, Inc. in advance of the Board meeting at which the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements are to be considered to discuss generally the process for providing requested information to the Board and the format in which information will be provided; and (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to evaluate the investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements of the Trust. The 15(c) Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Securities Lending Committee are John E. Martinez (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Securities Lending Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of the Trust's securities lending activities. These responsibilities include: (i) requesting that certain information be provided to the Committee for its review and consideration prior to such

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information being provided to the Board; (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to oversee the Trust's securities lending activities and make required findings and approvals; and (iii) providing a recommendation to the Board regarding the annual approval of the Trust's Securities Lending Guidelines and the required findings with respect to, and annual approval of, the Trust's agreement with the securities lending agent. The Securities Lending Committee met five times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Equity Plus Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), John E. Martinez and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Equity Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for equity funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Equity Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are Madhav V. Rajan (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Richard L. Fagnani, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for fixed-income or multi-asset funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Fixed Income Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Risk Committee are Jane D. Carlin (Chair), Richard L. Fagnani and John E. Martinez, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibility of the Risk Committee is to consider and organize on behalf of the Board risk related matters of the Fund so the Board may most effectively structure itself to oversee them. The Risk Committee commenced on January 1, 2016. The Risk Committee met seven times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

As the Chair of the Board, John E. Kerrigan may serve as an ex-officio member of each Committee.

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2022, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by each Trustee in the Fund and in other registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee within the same family of investment companies as the Trust. If a fund is not listed below, the Trustee did not own any securities in that fund as of the date indicated above:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
| Robert S. Kapito |  |  |  |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares High Yield Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares TIPS Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Technology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Select Dividend ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares California Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares National Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Biotechnology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 2000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

---

As of December 31, 2022, none of the Independent Trustees or their immediate family members owned beneficially or of record any securities of BFA (the Fund's investment adviser), the Distributor or any person controlling, controlled by or under common control with BFA or the Distributor.

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**Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members. Effective January 1, 2023, each current Independent Trustee is paid an annual retainer of $440,000 for his or her services as a Board member to the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, together with out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with the Board's policy on travel and other business expenses relating to attendance at meetings. The annual retainer for services as an Advisory Board Member is the same as the annual retainer for services as a Board member. The Independent Chair of the Board is paid an additional annual retainer of $125,000. The Chair of each of the Equity Plus Committee, Fixed Income Plus Committee, Securities Lending Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and 15(c) Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $30,000. The Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $45,000. Each Independent Trustee that served as a director of subsidiaries of the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex is paid an additional annual retainer of $10,000 (plus an additional $1,765 paid annually to compensate for taxes due in the Republic of Mauritius in connection with such Trustee's service on the boards of certain Mauritius-based subsidiaries).**

The table below sets forth the compensation earned by each Independent Trustee and Interested Trustee for services to the Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the aggregate compensation paid to them for services to the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022.

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Commodity<br> Curve Carry<br> Strategy ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Pension or<br> Retirement Benefits Accrued As<br> Part of Trust<br> Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Estimated Annual<br> Benefits Upon<br> Retirement<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total<br> Compensation<br> From the Fund<br> and Fund Complex<sup>2</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;$8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$465000 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;476764 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;475000 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;505000 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;461764 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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<sup>1</sup> No Trustee or officer is entitled to any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust. <br> <sup>2</sup> Also includes compensation for service on the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc.

#### Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities.
The Trustees and officers of the Trust collectively owned less than 1% of the Fund's outstanding shares as of January 31, 2023.

Although the Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants (as defined below), as of January 31, 2023, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund were as follows:

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| State Street Bank and Trust Company<br> 1776 Heritage Drive<br> North Quincy, MA 02171 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;49.86% |
| Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.50% |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association<br> 1111 Polaris Parkway<br> Columbus, OH 43240 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.77% |
| Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.33% |
| National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.69% |

---

**Conflicts of Interest. Certain activities of BFA, BlackRock, Inc. and the other subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. (collectively referred to in this section as "BlackRock") and their respective directors, officers and employees, with respect to the Fund and/or other accounts managed by BlackRock, may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest such as those described below.**

BlackRock is one of the world's largest asset management firms. BlackRock, its subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers and employees, including the business units or entities and personnel who may be involved in the investment activities and business operations of the Fund, are engaged worldwide in businesses, including managing equities, fixed-income securities, cash and alternative investments, and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. These are considerations of which investors in the Fund should be aware, and which may cause conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. These businesses and interests include potential multiple advisory, financial and other relationships with, or interests in, companies and interests in securities or other instruments that may be purchased or sold by the Fund.

BlackRock has proprietary interests in, and may manage or advise with respect to, accounts or funds (including separate accounts and other funds and collective investment vehicles) that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and instruments as the Fund. BlackRock is also a major participant in the global currency, equities, swap and fixed income markets, in each case, for the accounts of clients and, in some cases, on a proprietary basis. As such, BlackRock is or may be actively engaged in transactions in the same securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests. Such activities could affect the prices and availability of the securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests, which could have an adverse impact on the Fund's performance. Such transactions, particularly in respect of most proprietary accounts or client accounts, will be executed independently of the Fund's transactions and thus at prices or rates that may be more or less favorable than those obtained by the Fund.

When BlackRock seeks to purchase or sell the same assets for managed accounts, including the Fund, the assets actually purchased or sold may be allocated among the accounts on a basis determined in its good faith discretion to be equitable. In some cases, this system may adversely affect the size or price of the assets purchased or sold for the Fund. In addition, transactions in investments by one or more other accounts managed by BlackRock may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund, particularly, but not limited to, with respect to small-capitalization, emerging market or less liquid strategies. This may occur with respect to BlackRock-advised accounts when investment decisions regarding the Fund are based on research or other information that is also used to support decisions for other accounts. When BlackRock implements a portfolio decision or strategy on behalf of another account ahead of, or contemporaneously with, similar decisions or strategies for the Fund, market impact, liquidity constraints, or other factors could result in the Fund receiving less favorable trading results and the costs of implementing such decisions or strategies could be increased or the Fund could otherwise be disadvantaged. BlackRock may, in certain cases, elect to implement internal policies and procedures designed to limit such consequences, which may cause the Fund to be unable to engage in certain activities, including purchasing or disposing of securities, when it might otherwise be desirable for it to do so.

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Conflicts may also arise because portfolio decisions regarding the Fund may benefit other accounts managed by BlackRock. For example, the sale of a long position or establishment of a short position by the Fund may impair the price of the same security sold short by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds, and the purchase of a security or covering of a short position in a security by the Fund may increase the price of the same security held by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds. In addition, to the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest its assets in other funds advised by BlackRock, including funds that are managed by one or more of the same portfolio managers, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of Fund purchases and sales, and increased remuneration and profitability for BlackRock, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.

In certain circumstances, BlackRock, on behalf of the Fund, may seek to buy from or sell securities to another fund or account advised by BlackRock. BlackRock may (but is not required to) effect purchases and sales between BlackRock clients ("cross trades"), including the Fund, if BlackRock believes such transactions are appropriate based on each party's investment objectives and guidelines, subject to applicable law and regulation. There may be potential conflicts of interest or regulatory issues relating to these transactions which could limit BlackRock's decision to engage in these transactions for the Fund. BlackRock may have a potentially conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the parties in such transactions. On any occasion when the Fund participates in a cross trade, BlackRock will comply with procedures adopted under applicable rules and SEC guidance.

BlackRock and its clients may pursue or enforce rights with respect to an issuer in which the Fund has invested, and those activities may have an adverse effect on the Fund. As a result, prices, availability, liquidity and terms of the Fund's investments may be negatively impacted by the activities of BlackRock or its clients, and transactions for the Fund may be impaired or effected at prices or terms that may be less favorable than would otherwise have been the case.

The results of the Fund's investment activities may differ significantly from the results achieved by BlackRock for its proprietary accounts or other accounts (including investment companies or collective investment vehicles) which it manages or advises. It is possible that one or more accounts managed or advised by BlackRock and such other accounts will achieve investment results that are substantially more or less favorable than the results achieved by the Fund. Moreover, it is possible that the Fund will sustain losses during periods in which one or more proprietary or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock achieve significant profits. The opposite result is also possible.

From time to time, the Fund may be restricted from purchasing or selling securities, or from engaging in other investment activities because of regulatory, legal or contractual requirements applicable to BlackRock or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock, and/or the internal policies of BlackRock designed to comply with such requirements. As a result, there may be periods, for example, when BlackRock will not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions in certain securities or instruments with respect to which BlackRock is performing services or when position limits have been reached. For example, the investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and accounts under its management may limit the investment opportunities for the Fund in certain emerging and other markets in which limitations are imposed upon the amount of investment, in the aggregate or in individual issuers, by affiliated foreign investors.

In connection with its management of the Fund, BlackRock may have access to certain fundamental analysis and proprietary technical models developed by BlackRock. BlackRock will not be under any obligation, however, to effect transactions on behalf of the Fund in accordance with such analysis and models. In addition, BlackRock will not have any obligation to make available any information regarding its proprietary activities or strategies, or the activities or strategies used for other accounts managed by them, for the benefit of the management of the Fund and it is not anticipated that BlackRock will have access to such information for the purpose of managing the Fund. The proprietary activities or portfolio strategies of BlackRock, or the activities or strategies used for accounts managed by BlackRock or other client accounts could conflict with the transactions and strategies employed by BlackRock in managing the Fund.

The Fund may be included in investment models developed by BlackRock for use by clients and financial advisors. To the extent clients invest in these investment models and increase the assets under management of the Fund, the investment management fee amounts paid by the Fund to BlackRock may also increase. The price, availability and liquidity of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by model-driven investment portfolios, as well as by BlackRock itself and by its advisory clients.

In addition, certain principals and certain employees of the Fund's investment adviser are also principals or employees of other business units or entities within BlackRock. As a result, these principals and employees may have obligations to such

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other business units or entities or their clients and such obligations to other business units or entities or their clients may be a consideration of which investors in the Fund should be aware.

BlackRock may enter into transactions and invest in securities, instruments and currencies on behalf of the Fund in which clients of BlackRock or, to the extent permitted by the SEC and applicable law, BlackRock serves as the counterparty, principal or issuer. In such cases, such party's interests in the transaction will be adverse to the interests of the Fund, and such party may have no incentive to assure that the Fund obtains the best possible prices or terms in connection with the transactions. In addition, the purchase, holding and sale of such investments by the Fund may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock may also create, write or issue derivatives for clients based on the underlying securities, currencies or instruments in which the Fund may invest or on the performance of the Fund. An entity in which BlackRock has a significant minority interest will create, write or issue options which may be based on the performance of certain Funds. BlackRock has the right to receive a portion of the gross revenue earned by such entity. Options writing by such entity on the Fund could potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to the Fund and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

BlackRock has entered into an arrangement with Markit Indices Limited, the index provider for underlying fixed-income indexes used by certain iShares funds, related to derivative fixed-income products that are based on such iShares funds. BlackRock may receive certain payments for licensing intellectual property belonging to BlackRock and for facilitating the provision of data in connection with such derivative products, which may include payments based on the trading volumes of, or revenues generated by, the derivative products. However, BlackRock will not receive any such payments on those derivative products utilized by the Fund or other BlackRock funds or accounts. Other funds and accounts managed by BlackRock may from time to time transact in such derivative products, which could contribute to the viability or success of such derivative products by making them more appealing to funds and accounts managed by third parties, and in turn lead to increased payments to BlackRock. Trading activity in such derivative products could also potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to these iShares funds and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

The Fund may, subject to applicable law, purchase investments that are the subject of an underwriting or other distribution by BlackRock and may also enter into transactions with other clients of BlackRock where such other clients have interests adverse to those of the Fund.

At times, these activities may cause business units or entities within BlackRock to give advice to clients that may cause these clients to take actions adverse to the interests of the Fund. To the extent such transactions are permitted, the Fund will deal with BlackRock on an arm's-length basis.

To the extent authorized by applicable law, BlackRock may act as broker, dealer, agent, lender or adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities for the Fund. It is anticipated that the commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs, financial advisory fees, underwriting and placement fees, sales fees, financing and commitment fees, brokerage fees, other fees, compensation or profits, rates, terms and conditions charged by BlackRock will be in its view commercially reasonable, although BlackRock, including its sales personnel, will have an interest in obtaining fees and other amounts that are favorable to BlackRock and such sales personnel, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. Index based funds may use an index provider that is affiliated with another service provider of the Fund or BlackRock that acts as a broker, dealer, agent, lender or in other commercial capacities for the Fund or BlackRock.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock (and its personnel and other distributors) will be entitled to retain fees and other amounts that they receive in connection with their service to the Fund as broker, dealer, agent, lender, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities. No accounting to the Fund or its shareholders will be required, and no fees or other compensation payable by the Fund or its shareholders will be reduced by reason of receipt by BlackRock of any such fees or other amounts.

When BlackRock acts as broker, dealer, agent, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities in relation to the Fund, BlackRock may take commercial steps in its own interests, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. The Fund will be required to establish business relationships with its counterparties based on the Fund's own credit standing. BlackRock will not have any obligation to allow its credit to be used in connection with the Fund's establishment of its business relationships, nor is it expected that the Fund's counterparties will rely on the credit of BlackRock in evaluating the Fund's creditworthiness.

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BTC, an affiliate of BFA pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, acts as securities lending agent to, and receives a share of securities lending revenues from, the Fund. BlackRock will also receive compensation for managing the reinvestment of the cash collateral from securities lending. There are potential conflicts of interests in managing a securities lending program, including but not limited to: (i) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to increase or decrease the amount of securities on loan or to lend particular securities in order to generate additional risk-adjusted revenue for BlackRock and its affiliates; and (ii) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to allocate loans to clients that would provide more revenue to BlackRock. As described further below, BlackRock seeks to mitigate this conflict by providing its securities lending clients with equal lending opportunities over time in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation.

As part of its securities lending program, BlackRock indemnifies the Fund and certain other clients and/or funds against a shortfall in collateral in the event of borrower default. On a regular basis, BlackRock calculates the potential dollar exposure of collateral shortfall resulting from a borrower default ("shortfall risk") in the securities lending program. BlackRock establishes program-wide borrower limits ("credit limits") to actively manage borrower-specific credit exposure. BlackRock oversees the risk model that calculates projected collateral shortfall values using loan-level factors such as loan and collateral type and market value as well as specific borrower credit characteristics. When necessary, BlackRock may adjust securities lending program attributes by restricting eligible collateral or reducing borrower credit limits. As a result, the management of program-wide exposure as well as BlackRock-specific indemnification exposure may affect the amount of securities lending activity BlackRock may conduct at any given point in time by reducing the volume of lending opportunities for certain loans (including by asset type, collateral type and/or revenue profile).

BlackRock uses a predetermined systematic process in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation over time. In order to allocate a loan to a portfolio: (i) BlackRock as a whole must have sufficient lending capacity pursuant to the various program limits (*i.e.,* indemnification exposure limit and borrower credit limits); (ii) the lending portfolio must hold the asset at the time a loan opportunity arrives; and (iii) the lending portfolio must also have enough inventory, either on its own or when aggregated with other portfolios into one single market delivery, to satisfy the loan request. In doing so, BlackRock seeks to provide equal lending opportunities for all portfolios, independent of whether BlackRock indemnifies the portfolio. Equal opportunities for lending portfolios does not guarantee equal outcomes. Specifically, short and long-term outcomes for individual clients may vary due to asset mix, asset/liability spreads on different securities, and the overall limits imposed by the firm.

BlackRock may decline to make a securities loan on behalf of the Fund, discontinue lending on behalf of the Fund or terminate a securities loan on behalf of the Fund for any reason, including but not limited to regulatory requirements and/or market rules, liquidity considerations, or credit considerations, which may impact Funds by reducing or eliminating the volume of lending opportunities for certain types of loans, loans in particular markets, loans of particular securities or types of securities, or for loans overall.

Purchases and sales of securities and other assets for the Fund may be bunched or aggregated with orders for other BlackRock client accounts, including with accounts that pay different transaction costs solely due to the fact that they have different research payment arrangements. BlackRock, however, is not required to bunch or aggregate orders if portfolio management decisions for different accounts are made separately, or if they determine that bunching or aggregating is not practicable or required, or in cases involving client direction.

Prevailing trading activity frequently may make impossible the receipt of the same price or execution on the entire volume of securities purchased or sold. When this occurs, the various prices may be averaged, and the Fund will be charged or credited with the average price. Thus, the effect of the aggregation may operate on some occasions to the disadvantage of the Fund. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Fund will not be charged the same commission or commission equivalent rates in connection with a bunched or aggregated order.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock may select brokers that furnish BlackRock, the Fund, other BlackRock client accounts or personnel, directly or through correspondent relationships, with research or other appropriate services which provide, in BlackRock's view, appropriate assistance to BlackRock in the investment decision-making process (including with respect to futures, fixed-price offerings and OTC transactions). Such research or other services may include, to the extent permitted by law, research reports on companies, industries and securities; economic and financial data; financial publications; proxy analysis; trade industry seminars; computer data bases; research-oriented software and other services and products. Research or other services obtained in this manner may be used in servicing any or all of the Fund and other BlackRock client accounts, including in connection with BlackRock client accounts other than those that pay commissions to the broker

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relating to the research or other service arrangements. Such products and services may disproportionately benefit other BlackRock client accounts relative to the Fund based on the amount of brokerage commissions paid by the Fund and such other BlackRock client accounts. For example, research or other services that are paid for through one client's commissions may not be used in managing that client's account. In addition, other BlackRock client accounts may receive the benefit, including disproportionate benefits, of economies of scale or price discounts in connection with products and services that may be provided to the Fund and to such other BlackRock client accounts. To the extent that BlackRock uses soft dollars, it will not have to pay for those products and services itself.

BlackRock does not currently enter into arrangements to use the Fund's assets for, or participate in, soft dollars, although BlackRock may receive research that is bundled with the trade execution, clearing, and/or settlement services provided by a particular broker-dealer. To the extent that BlackRock receives research on this basis, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist. For example, the research effectively will be paid by client commissions that also will be used to pay for the execution, clearing, and settlement services provided by the broker-dealer and will not be paid by BlackRock. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may endeavor to execute trades through brokers who, pursuant to such arrangements, provide research or other services in order to ensure the continued receipt of research or other services BlackRock believes are useful in its investment decision-making process. BlackRock may from time to time choose not to engage in the above described arrangements to varying degrees. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may also enter into commission sharing arrangements under which BlackRock may execute transactions through a broker-dealer, and request that the broker-dealer allocate a portion of the commissions or commission credits to another firm that provides research to BlackRock. To the extent that BlackRock engages in commission sharing arrangements, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist.

BlackRock may utilize certain electronic crossing networks ("ECNs") (including, without limitation, ECNs in which BlackRock has an investment or other interest, to the extent permitted by applicable law) in executing client securities transactions for certain types of securities. These ECNs may charge fees for their services, including access fees and transaction fees. The transaction fees, which are similar to commissions or markups/markdowns, will generally be charged to clients and, like commissions and markups/markdowns, would generally be included in the cost of the securities purchased. Access fees may be paid by BlackRock even though incurred in connection with executing transactions on behalf of clients, including the Fund. In certain circumstances, ECNs may offer volume discounts that will reduce the access fees typically paid by BlackRock. BlackRock will only utilize ECNs consistent with its obligation to seek to obtain best execution in client transactions.

BlackRock owns a minority interest in, and is a member of, Members Exchange ("MEMX"), a newly created U.S. stock exchange. Transactions for the Fund may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for execution of orders placed by BlackRock traders on behalf of such Funds. In addition, transactions in Fund shares may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for the execution of such orders.

BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing proxy voting decisions that it makes on behalf of advisory clients, including the Fund, and to help ensure that such decisions are made in accordance with BlackRock's fiduciary obligations to its clients. Nevertheless, notwithstanding such proxy voting policies and procedures, actual proxy voting decisions of BlackRock may have the effect of favoring the interests of other clients or businesses of other divisions or units of BlackRock, provided that BlackRock believes such voting decisions to be in accordance with its fiduciary obligations. For a more detailed discussion of these policies and procedures, see the *Proxy Voting Policy* section of this SAI.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. Increasing the Fund's assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification and may contribute to economies of scale that tend to reduce the Fund's expense ratio. BlackRock reserves the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell into the market or redeem in Creation Units through an Authorized Participant at any time some or all of the shares of the Fund acquired for its own accounts or the account of a BlackRock advisory client. A large sale or redemption of shares of the Fund by BlackRock itself or a BlackRock advisory client could significantly reduce the asset size of the Fund, which might have an adverse effect on the Fund's liquidity, investment flexibility, portfolio diversification, expense ratio or ability to comply with the listing requirements for the Fund.

It is possible that the Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in transactions with, companies in which BlackRock has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by

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entities for which BlackRock provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. In making investment decisions for the Fund, BlackRock is not permitted to obtain or use material non-public information acquired by any unit of BlackRock in the course of these activities. In addition, from time to time, the activities of BlackRock may limit the Fund's flexibility in purchases and sales of securities. As indicated below, BlackRock may engage in transactions with companies in which BlackRock-advised funds or other clients of BlackRock have an investment.

BlackRock, its personnel and other financial service providers may have interests in promoting sales of the Fund. With respect to BlackRock and its personnel, the remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of the Fund or other products may be greater than remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of certain funds or other products that might be provided or offered. BlackRock and its sales personnel may directly or indirectly receive a portion of the fees and commissions charged to the Fund or its shareholders. BlackRock and its advisory or other personnel may also benefit from increased amounts of assets under management. Fees and commissions may also be higher than for other products or services, and the remuneration and profitability to BlackRock and such personnel resulting from transactions on behalf of or management of the Fund may be greater than the remuneration and profitability resulting from other funds or products.

Third parties, including service providers to BlackRock or the Fund, may sponsor events (including, but not limited to, marketing and promotional activities and presentations, educational training programs and conferences) for registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors. There is a potential conflict of interest as such sponsorships may defray the costs of such activities to BlackRock, and may provide an incentive to BlackRock to retain such third parties to provide services to the Fund.

BlackRock may provide valuation assistance to certain clients with respect to certain securities or other investments and the valuation recommendations made for such clients' accounts may differ from the valuations for the same securities or investments assigned by the Fund's pricing vendors, especially if such valuations are based on broker-dealer quotes or other data sources unavailable to the Fund's pricing vendors. While BlackRock will generally communicate its valuation information or determinations to the Fund's pricing vendors and/or fund accountants, there may be instances where the Fund's pricing vendors or fund accountants assign a different valuation to a security or other investment than the valuation for such security or investment determined or recommended by BlackRock.

As disclosed in more detail in the *Determination of Net Asset Value* section in this SAI, when market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value by BFA. BFA has been designated as the Fund's valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act and acts through BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee (the "2a-5 Committee"), with assistance from other BFA pricing committees and in accordance with BFA's policies and procedures (the "Valuation Procedures"). When determining a "fair value price," the 2a-5 Committee seeks to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction. The price generally may not be determined based on what the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. While fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models, fair value represents only a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued by the 2a-5 Committee at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders and may affect the amount of revenue received by BFA with respect to services for which it receives an asset-based fee.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest all or some of its short-term cash investments in any money market fund or similarly-managed private fund advised or managed by BlackRock. In connection with any such investments, the Fund, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, may pay its share of expenses of a money market fund or other similarly-managed private fund in which it invests, which may result in the Fund bearing some additional expenses.

BlackRock and its directors, officers and employees, may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on behalf of the Fund. As a result of differing trading and investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by directors, officers and employees that are the same, different from or made at different times than positions taken for the Fund. To lessen the possibility that the Fund will be

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adversely affected by this personal trading, the Fund, BFA and BlackRock have each adopted a code of ethics in compliance with Section 17(j) of the 1940 Act that restricts securities trading in the personal accounts of investment professionals and others who normally come into possession of information regarding the Fund's portfolio transactions. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.

BlackRock will not purchase securities or other property from, or sell securities or other property to, the Fund, except that the Fund may in accordance with rules or guidance adopted under the 1940 Act engage in transactions with another Fund or accounts that are affiliated with the Fund as a result of common officers, directors, or investment advisers or pursuant to exemptive orders granted to the Fund and/or BlackRock by the SEC. These transactions would be effected in circumstances in which BlackRock determined that it would be appropriate for the Fund to purchase and another client of BlackRock to sell, or the Fund to sell and another client of BlackRock to purchase, the same security or instrument on the same day. From time to time, the activities of the Fund may be restricted because of regulatory requirements applicable to BlackRock and/or BlackRock's internal policies designed to comply with, limit the applicability of, or otherwise relate to such requirements. A client not advised by BlackRock would not be subject to some of those considerations. There may be periods when BlackRock may not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions, or may otherwise restrict or limit its advice in certain securities or instruments issued by or related to companies for which BlackRock is performing advisory or other services or has proprietary positions. For example, when BlackRock is engaged to provide advisory or risk management services for a company, BlackRock may be prohibited from or limited in purchasing or selling securities of that company on behalf of the Fund, particularly where such services result in BlackRock obtaining material non-public information about the company (*e.g.*, in connection with participation in a creditors' committee). Similar situations could arise if personnel of BlackRock serve as directors of companies the securities of which the Fund wishes to purchase or sell. However, if permitted by applicable law, and where consistent with BlackRock's policies and procedures (including the necessary implementation of appropriate information barriers), the Fund may purchase securities or instruments that are issued by such companies, are the subject of an advisory or risk management assignment by BlackRock, or where personnel of BlackRock are directors or officers of the issuer.

The investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and for client accounts may also limit the investment strategies and rights of the Fund. For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, or is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount invested by BlackRock for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BlackRock, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

If certain aggregate ownership thresholds are reached either through the actions of BlackRock or the Fund or as a result of third-party transactions, the ability of BlackRock, on behalf of clients (including the Fund), to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. As a result, BlackRock, on behalf of its clients (including the Fund), may limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise restrict, forgo or limit the exercise of rights (including transferring, outsourcing or limiting voting rights or forgoing the right to receive dividends) when BlackRock, in its sole discretion, deems it appropriate in light of potential regulatory or other restrictions on ownership or other consequences resulting from reaching investment thresholds.

In those circumstances where ownership thresholds or limitations must be observed, BlackRock seeks to allocate limited investment opportunities equitably among clients (including the Fund), taking into consideration benchmark weight and investment strategy. BlackRock has adopted certain controls designed to prevent the occurrence of a breach of any applicable ownership threshold or limits, including, for example, when ownership in certain securities nears an applicable threshold, BlackRock may remove such securities from the list of Deposit Securities to be delivered to the Fund in connection with purchases of Creation Units of such Fund and may limit purchases in such securities to the issuer's weighting in the applicable benchmark used by BlackRock to manage such Fund. If client (including Fund) holdings of an issuer exceed an applicable threshold and BlackRock is unable to obtain relief to enable the continued holding of such investments, it may be necessary to sell down these positions to meet the applicable limitations. In these cases, benchmark overweight positions will be sold prior to benchmark positions being reduced to meet applicable limitations.

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In addition to the foregoing, other ownership thresholds may trigger reporting requirements to governmental and regulatory authorities, and such reports may entail the disclosure of the identity of a client or BlackRock's intended strategy with respect to such security or asset.

BlackRock may not serve as an Authorized Participant in the creation and redemption of iShares ETFs.

BlackRock may maintain securities indices. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, the Fund may seek to license and use such indices as part of its investment strategy. Index based funds that seek to track the performance of securities indices also may use the name of the index or index provider in the fund name. Index providers, including BlackRock (to the extent permitted by applicable law), may be paid licensing fees for use of their index or index name. BlackRock may benefit from the Fund using BlackRock indices by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock is not obligated to license its indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. Any Fund that enters into a license for a BlackRock index cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The custody arrangement described in "Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services" may lead to potential conflicts of interest with BlackRock where BlackRock has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse ordinary operating expenses in order to cap expenses of the Fund (or where BlackRock charges a unitary management fee). This is because the custody arrangements with the Fund's custodian may have the effect of reducing custody fees when the Fund leaves cash balances uninvested. This could be viewed as having the potential to provide BlackRock an incentive to keep high positive cash balances for the Fund in order to offset fund custody fees that BlackRock might otherwise reimburse or pay. However, BlackRock's portfolio managers do not intentionally keep uninvested balances high, but rather make investment decisions that they anticipate will be beneficial to fund performance. For funds without a unitary management fee, when a fund's actual operating expense ratio exceeds a stated cap, a reduction in custody fees reduces the amount of waivers and/or reimbursements BlackRock would be required to make to the fund.

BlackRock may enter into contractual arrangements with third-party service providers to the Fund (*e.g.*, custodians, administrators and index providers) pursuant to which BlackRock receives fee discounts or concessions in recognition of BlackRock's overall relationship with such service providers. BlackRock may also enter into contractual arrangements with such service providers pursuant to which BlackRock incurs additional costs if the service provider's services are terminated with respect to the Fund. To the extent that BlackRock is responsible for paying these service providers out of its management fee, the benefits of any such fee discounts or concessions, or any additional costs, may accrue, in whole or in part, to BlackRock, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to the use or termination of service providers to the Fund.

BlackRock owns or has an ownership interest in certain trading, portfolio management, operations and/or information systems used by Fund service providers. These systems are, or will be, used by the Fund service provider in connection with the provision of services to accounts managed by BlackRock and funds managed and sponsored by BlackRock, including the Fund, that engage the service provider (typically the custodian). The Fund's service provider remunerates BlackRock for the use of the systems. The Fund service provider's payments to BlackRock for the use of these systems may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock's receipt of fees from a service provider in connection with the use of systems provided by BlackRock may create an incentive for BlackRock to recommend that the Fund enter into or renew an arrangement with the service provider.

In recognition of a BlackRock client's overall relationship with BlackRock, BlackRock may offer special pricing arrangements for certain services provided by BlackRock. Any such special pricing arrangements will not apply to the client's investment in the Fund.

Present and future activities of BlackRock (including BFA), its directors, officers and employees, in addition to those described in this section, may give rise to additional conflicts of interest.

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## Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services
**Investment Adviser. BFA serves as investment adviser to the Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, and BFA. BFA is a California corporation indirectly owned by BlackRock, Inc. and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Under the investment advisory agreement, BFA, subject to the supervision of the Board and in conformity with the stated investment policies of the Fund, manages and administers the Trust and the investment of the Fund's assets. BFA is responsible for making investment decisions for the Fund.**

Pursuant to the investment advisory agreement, BFA may, from time to time, in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory or other services with respect to the Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the investment advisory agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion upon appropriate notice at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Fund, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Fund will bear, the management fees, interest expense, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Independent Trustees). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses to reduce the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

For its investment advisory services to the Fund, BFA received a management fee at the annual rate (as a percentage of the Fund's average net assets) set forth below for the fiscal years noted. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary.

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Management Fee<br> for Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 0.38%<sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;09/01/20 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$142387 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$135466 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$19461 |

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<sup>1</sup> BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through March 1, 2024. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to March 1, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $7,893, $4,433 and $0 of its management fees, respectively.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to the Fund continues in effect for two years from its effective date, and thereafter is subject to annual approval by (i) the Board, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, provided that in either event such continuance also is approved by a majority of the Board members who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to the Fund is terminable without penalty, on 60 days' notice, by the Board or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act). The investment advisory agreement is also terminable upon 60 days' notice by BFA and will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

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**Portfolio Managers. As of October 31, 2022, the individuals named as Portfolio Managers in the Fund's Prospectus were also primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of other iShares funds and certain other types of portfolios and/or accounts as follows:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$127422000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9485000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;106 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;34905000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$7294000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1526000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;270000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;282 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1628757000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8776000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4167000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;302 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1626714000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5400000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4230000000 |

---

Pursuant to BFA's policies, investment opportunities are allocated equitably among the Fund and other portfolios and accounts. For example, under certain circumstances, an investment opportunity may be restricted due to limited supply in the market, legal constraints or other factors, in which event the investment opportunity will be allocated equitably among those portfolios and accounts, including the Fund, seeking such investment opportunity. As a consequence, from time to time the Fund may receive a smaller allocation of an investment opportunity than it would have if the Portfolio Managers and BFA and its affiliates did not manage other portfolios or accounts.

Like the Fund, the other portfolios or accounts for which the Portfolio Managers are primarily responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management generally pay an asset-based fee to BFA or its affiliates, as applicable, for its advisory services. One or more of those other portfolios or accounts, however, may pay BFA or its affiliates a performance-based fee in lieu of, or in addition to, an asset-based fee for its advisory services. A portfolio or account with a performance-based fee would pay BFA or its affiliates a portion of that portfolio's or account's gains, or would pay BFA or its affiliates more for its services than would otherwise be the case if BFA or any of its affiliates meets or exceeds specified performance targets. Performance-based fee arrangements could present an incentive for BFA or its affiliates to devote greater resources, and allocate more investment opportunities, to the portfolios or accounts that have those fee arrangements, relative to other portfolios or accounts, in order to earn larger fees. Although BFA and each of its affiliates have an obligation to allocate resources and opportunities equitably among portfolios and accounts and intend to do so, shareholders of the Fund should be aware that, as with any group of portfolios and accounts managed by an investment adviser and/or its affiliates pursuant to varying fee arrangements, including performance-based fee arrangements, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, which may result in the Portfolio Managers favoring those portfolios or accounts with performance-based fee arrangements.

The tables below show, for each Portfolio Manager, the number of portfolios or accounts of the types set forth in the above tables and the aggregate of total assets in those portfolios or accounts with respect to which the investment management fees are based on the performance of those portfolios or accounts as of October 31, 2022:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** | **Richard Mejzak** | **Richard Mejzak** |
| **Types of Accounts** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with<br> Performance-Based<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with<br> Performance-Based<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with<br> Performance-Based<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance-Based Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

*Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview*

The discussion below describes the Portfolio Managers' compensation as of October 31, 2022.

BlackRock, Inc.'s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock, Inc.

Each portfolio manager receives base compensation based on their position with the firm, as well as retirement and other benefits offered to all BlackRock employees. Additionally, each portfolio manager receives discretionary incentive compensation, determined based on several components, including: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the performance of portfolios managed by the portfolio manager and the team relative to the portfolios' investment objectives (which in the case of index ETFs would be how closely the ETF tracks its Underlying Index), and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. Discretionary incentive compensation is paid in cash up to a certain threshold with the remaining portion represented by deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock awards. In some cases, additional deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock may be granted to certain key employees as part of a long-term incentive award to aid in retention, align interests with long-term shareholders and motivate performance.

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As of October 31, 2022, the Portfolio Managers did not beneficially own shares of the Fund.

**Codes of Ethics. The Trust, BFA and the Distributor have adopted codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. The codes of ethics permit personnel subject to the codes of ethics to invest in securities, subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Fund. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.**

**Anti-Money Laundering Requirements. The Fund is subject to the USA PATRIOT Act (the "Patriot Act"). The Patriot Act is intended to prevent the use of the U.S. financial system in furtherance of money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities. Pursuant to requirements under the Patriot Act, the Fund may request information from Authorized Participants to enable it to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of its Authorized Participants. This information will be used to verify the identity of Authorized Participants or, in some cases, the status of financial professionals; it will be used only for compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.**

The Fund reserves the right to reject purchase orders from persons who have not submitted information sufficient to allow the Fund to verify their identity. The Fund also reserves the right to redeem any amounts in the Fund from persons whose identity it is unable to verify on a timely basis. It is the Fund's policy to cooperate fully with appropriate regulators in any investigations conducted with respect to potential money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities.

#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.
State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") serves as administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund under the Master Services Agreement and related Service Schedule (the "Service Module"). State Street's principal address is 1 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111. Pursuant to the Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services with the Trust, State Street provides necessary administrative, legal, tax and accounting and financial reporting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and the Fund. In addition, State Street makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services. Pursuant to the Service Module for Custodial Services with the Trust, State Street maintains, in separate accounts, cash, securities and other assets of the Trust and the Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records and provides other services. State Street is required, upon the order of the Trust, to deliver securities held by State Street and to make payments for securities purchased by the Trust for the Fund. State Street is authorized to appoint certain foreign custodians or foreign custody managers for Fund investments outside the U.S. Pursuant to the Service Module for Transfer Agency Services with the Trust, State Street acts as a transfer agent for the Fund's authorized and issued shares of beneficial interest, and as dividend disbursing agent of the Trust. As compensation for these services, State Street receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset-based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by BFA from its management fee.

The following table sets forth the administration, custodian and transfer agency expenses of the Fund paid by BFA to State Street for the fiscal years noted:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 09/01/20 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$13482 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$18582 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$2937 |

---

JPMorgan serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities under a Custody Services Agreement. JPMorgan's principal address is 383 Madison Avenue, 11<sup>th</sup> Floor, New York, NY 10179. Pursuant to the Custody Services Agreement with BTC and the Trust, JPMorgan provides custody and related services required to facilitate securities lending by the Fund. JPMorgan maintains custody as may be necessary to facilitate Fund securities lending activity in coordination with other funds, maintains custodial records and provides other services. As compensation for these services, JPMorgan receives certain fees and expenses paid by BTC from its compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

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**Distributor. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Fund through the Distributor or its agent only in Creation Units, as described in the Prospectus and below in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Fund shares in amounts less than Creation Units are generally not distributed by the Distributor or its agent. The Distributor or its agent will arrange for the delivery of the Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it or its agents and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it or its agents. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "1934 Act"), and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The Distributor is also licensed as a broker-dealer in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.**

The Distribution Agreement for the Fund provides that it may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days' prior written notice to the other party following (i) the vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers ("Soliciting Dealers") who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Fund shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as described below), Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants and/or investor services organizations.

BFA or its affiliates may, from time to time and from its own resources, pay, defray or absorb costs relating to distribution, including payments out of its own resources to the Distributor, or to otherwise promote the sale of shares.

**Securities Lending. The Fund may engage in securities lending. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, the Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, and BTC acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA, pursuant to a written agreement (the "Securities Lending Agency Agreement").**

If the the were to engage in securities lending, it would retain a portion of the securities lending income and remit the remaining portion to BTC as compensation for its services as securities lending agent. Securities lending income is generally equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral (and excludes collateral investment fees as defined below), and any fees or other payments to and from borrowers of securities. As securities lending agent, BTC bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending, including custodial costs of JPMorgan. To the extent that the the engages in securities lending, the Fund is responsible for fees in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan in a money market fund managed by BFA (the "collateral investment fees"); however, BTC has agreed to reduce the amount of securities lending income it receives in order to effectively limit the collateral investment fees the Fund bears to an annual rate of 0.04%. Such money market fund shares will not be subject to a sales load, redemption fee, distribution fee or service fee.

Under the securities lending program, funds are categorized into one of several specific asset classes. The determination of a fund's asset class category (fixed-income, domestic equity, international equity or fund-of-funds), each of which may be subject to a different fee arrangement, is based on a methodology agreed to by the Trust and BTC.

Pursuant to the Securities Lending Agency Agreement effective through December 31, 2021:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 77% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, effective January 1, 2022:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, (i) international equity funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) fixed-income funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

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(iii) fund-of-funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income (which includes, for this purpose, collateral investment fees) earned across the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex (as defined in the "*Management—Trustees and Officers* section of this SAI) in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement:

(i) each applicable domestic equity fund will receive 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of the securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) each applicable international equity fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(iii) each applicable fixed-income fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

(iv) each applicable fund-of-funds will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

No services have been provided by BTC as the Fund's securities lending agent, and the Fund had no income and fees/compensation related to securities lending activities for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

**Payments by BFA and its Affiliates. BFA and/or its affiliates ("BFA Entities") may pay certain broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks and other financial intermediaries ("Intermediaries") for certain activities related to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products in general. BFA Entities make these payments from their own assets and not from the assets of the Fund. Although a portion of BFA Entities' revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, these payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. BFA Entities make payments for Intermediaries' participation in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Fund and other iShares funds, or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems ("Education Costs"). BFA Entities also make payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs or materials relating to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products ("Publishing Costs"). In addition, BFA Entities make payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products available to their clients, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, develop new products that feature iShares, create educational content about the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products that is featured on an Intermediary's platform, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds and exchange-traded products. BFA Entities may also reimburse expenses or make payments from their own assets to Intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services or other activities that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.**

Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients, what services to provide for various products, or what marketing content to make available to its clients based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, such payments may create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients. These financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products over other investments. The same conflicts of interest and financial incentives exist with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

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In addition to the payments described above, BFA Entities have developed proprietary tools, calculators and related interactive or digital content that is made available through the www.BlackRock.com website at no additional cost to Intermediaries. BlackRock may configure these tools and calculators and localize the content for Intermediaries as part of its customary digital marketing support and promotion of the Fund, other iShares funds, exchange-traded products and BlackRock mutual funds.

As of March 1, 2013, BFA Entities have contractual arrangements to make payments (in addition to payments for Education Costs or Publishing Costs) to one Intermediary, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC ("FBS"). Effective June 4, 2016, this relationship was expanded to include National Financial Services, LLC ("NFS"), an affiliate of FBS. Pursuant to this special, long-term and significant arrangement (the "Marketing Program"), FBS, NFS and certain of their affiliates (collectively "Fidelity") have agreed, among other things, to actively promote iShares funds to customers, investment professionals and other intermediaries and in advertising campaigns as the preferred exchange-traded product, to offer certain iShares funds in certain Fidelity platforms and investment programs, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, and to provide marketing data to BFA Entities. BFA Entities have agreed to facilitate the Marketing Program by, among other things, making certain payments to FBS and NFS for marketing and implementing certain brokerage and investment programs. Upon termination of the arrangement, the BFA Entities will make additional payments to FBS and/or NFS based upon a number of criteria, including the overall success of the Marketing Program and the level of services provided by FBS and NFS during the wind-down period.

In addition, BFA Entities may enter into other contractual arrangements with Intermediaries and certain other third parties that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in iShares funds. Such agreements may include payments by BFA Entities to such Intermediaries and third parties for data collection and provision, technology support, platform enhancement, or educational content, co-marketing and cross-promotional efforts. Payments made pursuant to such arrangements may vary in any year and may be different for different Intermediaries and third parties. In certain cases, the payments described in the preceding sentence may be subject to certain minimum payment levels. As of the date of this SAI, the Intermediaries and other third parties receiving one or more types of the contractual payments described above include (in addition to FBS and NFS): Advisor Credit Exchange, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics, LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, Dorsey Wright and Associates, LLC, Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., Envestnet Asset Management, Inc., FDx Advisors, Inc., LPL Financial LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, Pershing LLC, Public Holdings, Inc., Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Riskalyze, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. Any additions, modifications, or deletions to Intermediaries and other third parties listed above that have occurred since the date of this SAI are not included in the list.

Further, BFA Entities make Education Costs and Publishing Costs payments to other Intermediaries that are not listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. BFA Entities may determine to make such payments based on any number of metrics. For example, BFA Entities may make payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary's services at defined levels or an amount based on the Intermediary's net sales of one or more iShares funds in a year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, BFA anticipates that the payments paid by BFA Entities in connection with the Fund, iShares funds and exchange-traded products in general will be immaterial to BFA Entities in the aggregate for the next year. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments or financial incentives his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made, or financial incentives offered, by the BFA Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for the Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or other exchange-traded products.**

The Fund may participate in certain market maker incentive programs of a national securities exchange in which an affiliate of the Fund would pay a fee to the exchange used for the purpose of incentivizing one or more market makers in the securities of the Fund to enhance the liquidity and quality of the secondary market of securities of the Fund. The fee would then be credited by the exchange to one or more market makers that meet or exceed liquidity and market quality standards with respect to the securities of the Fund. Each market maker incentive program is subject to approval from the SEC. Any such fee payments made to an exchange will be made by an affiliate of the Fund solely for the benefit of the Fund and will not be paid from any Fund assets. Other funds managed by BFA may also participate in such programs.

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## Determination of Net Asset Value
**Valuation of Shares. The NAV for the Fund is generally calculated as of the close of regular trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each business day the NYSE is open. Valuation of assets held by the Fund is as follows:**

**Equity Investments. Equity securities traded on a recognized securities exchange (*e.g.*, NYSE), on separate trading boards of a securities exchange or through a market system that provides contemporaneous transaction pricing information (each an "Exchange") are valued using information obtained via independent pricing services, generally at the closing price or, if an Exchange closing price is not available, the last traded price on that Exchange prior to the time as of which the assets or liabilities are valued. However, under certain circumstances, other means of determining current market value may be used. If an equity security is traded on more than one Exchange, the current market value of the security where it is primarily traded generally will be used. In the event that there are no sales involving an equity security held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such security, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the security, in which case such asset would be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

**Fixed-Income Investments. Fixed-income securities for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued using such securities' current market value. The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using the last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. The pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values, including transaction data (*e.g*., recent representative bids and offers), credit quality information, perceived market movements, news, and other relevant information and by other methods, which may include consideration of: yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type; indications as to values from dealers; general market conditions; and/or other factors and assumptions. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. The amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with 60 days or less remaining to maturity unless such method does not represent fair value. Certain fixed-income investments, including asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, may be valued based on valuation models that consider the estimated cash flows of each tranche of the issuer, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.**

**Options, Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Exchange-traded equity options (except those that are customized) for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the mean of the last bid and ask prices as quoted on the Exchange or the board of trade on which such options are traded. In the event that there is no mean price available for an exchange traded equity option held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such option, the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price, if available, will be used as the value of such option. If no bid or ask price is available on a day on which the Fund values such option, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the option, in which case such option will be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below). Customized exchange-traded equity options, as well as OTC derivatives, may be valued using a mathematical model which may incorporate a number of market data factors. Financial futures contracts and options thereon, which are traded on exchanges, are valued at their last sale price or settle price as of the close of such exchanges. Swap agreements and other derivatives are generally valued daily based upon quotations from market makers or by a pricing service in accordance with the Valuation Procedures.**

**Underlying Funds. Shares of underlying open-end funds (including money market funds) are valued at NAV. Shares of underlying exchange-traded closed-end funds or other ETFs will be valued at their most recent closing price.**

**General Valuation Information. Prices obtained from independent third-party pricing services, broker-dealers or market makers to value the Fund's securities and other assets and liabilities are based on information available at the time the Fund values its assets and liabilities. In the event that a pricing service quotation is revised or updated subsequent to the day on which the Fund valued such security, the revised pricing service quotation generally will be applied prospectively. Such determination will be made considering pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding the revision.**

The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for assets that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation

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methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by the Fund, and the Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. The Fund's ability to value its investment may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

All cash, receivables and current payables are carried on the Fund's books at their fair value.

In the event that application of the methods of valuation discussed above result in a price for a security which is deemed not to be representative of the fair market value of such security, the security will be valued by, under the direction of or in accordance with a method approved by BFA, the Fund's valuation designee, as reflecting fair value. All other assets and liabilities (including securities for which market quotations are not readily available) held by the Fund (including restricted securities) are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by BFA pursuant to the Valuation Procedures. Any assets and liabilities which are denominated in a foreign currency are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates.

Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used in the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

**Fair Value. When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value ("Fair Value Assets"). Fair Value Assets are valued by BFA in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act, the Board of Trustees has designated BFA as the valuation designee for the respective Funds for which it serves as investment adviser. BFA may reasonably conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if, among other things, a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its complete lack of trading, if BFA believes a market quotation from a broker-dealer or other source is unreliable (*e.g.*, where it varies significantly from a recent trade, or no longer reflects the fair value of the security or other asset or liability subsequent to the most recent market quotation), or where the security or other asset or liability is only thinly traded or due to the occurrence of a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation. For this purpose, a "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment, that an event has occurred after the close of trading for an asset or liability but prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund. On any day the NYSE is open and a foreign market or the primary exchange on which a foreign asset or liability is traded is closed, such asset or liability will be valued using the prior day's price, provided that BFA is not aware of any significant event or other information that would cause such price to no longer reflect the fair value of the asset or liability, in which case such asset or liability would be treated as a Fair Value Asset.**

BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving methodologies by investment type and significant inputs used in the fair valuation of Fund assets or liabilities. In addition, the Fund's accounting agent assists BFA by periodically endeavoring to confirm the prices it receives from all third-party pricing services, index providers and broker-dealers and regularly evaluating the values assigned to the securities and other assets and liabilities of the Fund. The pricing of all Fair Value Assets is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof.

When determining the price for a Fair Value Asset, BFA will seek to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction on the date on which the asset or liability is being valued, and does not seek to determine the price the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. Fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. When determining the fair value of an investment, one or more fair value methodologies may be used (depending on certain factors, including the asset type). For example, the investment may be initially priced based on the original cost of the investment or, alternatively, using proprietary or third-party models that may rely upon one or more unobservable inputs. Prices of actual, executed or historical transactions in the relevant investment (or comparable instruments) or, where appropriate, an appraisal by a third-party experienced in the valuation of similar instruments, may also be used as a basis for establishing the fair value of an investment.

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The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

The Fund's annual audited financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), follow the requirements for valuation set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"), which defines and establishes a framework for measuring fair value under US GAAP and expands financial statement disclosure requirements relating to fair value measurements.

Generally, ASC 820 and other accounting rules applicable to funds and various assets in which they invest are evolving. Such changes may adversely affect the Fund. For example, the evolution of rules governing the determination of the fair market value of assets or liabilities, to the extent such rules become more stringent, would tend to increase the cost and/or reduce the availability of third-party determinations of fair market value. This may in turn increase the costs associated with selling assets or affect their liquidity due to the Fund's inability to obtain a third-party determination of fair market value.

## Brokerage Transactions
Subject to policies established by the Board, BFA is primarily responsible for the execution of the Fund's portfolio transactions and the allocation of brokerage. BFA does not execute transactions through any particular broker or dealer, but seeks to obtain the best net results for the Fund, taking into account such factors as price (including the applicable brokerage commission or dealer spread), size of order, difficulty of execution, operational facilities of the firm and the firm's risk and skill in positioning blocks of securities. While BFA generally seeks reasonable trade execution costs, the Fund does not necessarily pay the lowest spread or commission available, and payment of the lowest commission or spread is not necessarily consistent with obtaining the best price and execution in particular transactions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, BFA may select a broker based partly upon brokerage or research services provided to BFA and its clients, including the Fund. In return for such services, BFA may cause the Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if BFA determines in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to the services provided.

In selecting brokers or dealers to execute portfolio transactions, BFA seeks to obtain the best price and most favorable execution for the Fund and may take into account a variety of factors including: (i) the size, nature and character of the security or instrument being traded and the markets in which it is purchased or sold; (ii) the desired timing of the transaction; (iii) BFA's knowledge of the expected commission rates and spreads currently available; (iv) the activity existing and expected in the market for the particular security or instrument, including any anticipated execution difficulties; (v) the full range of brokerage services provided; (vi) the broker's or dealer's capital; (vii) the quality of research and research services provided; (viii) the reasonableness of the commission, dealer spread or its equivalent for the specific transaction; and (ix) BFA's knowledge of any actual or apparent operational problems of a broker or dealer. Brokers may also be selected because of their ability to handle special or difficult executions, such as may be involved in large block trades, thinly traded securities, or other circumstances.

Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act ("Section 28(e)") permits a U.S. investment adviser, under certain circumstances, to cause an account to pay a broker or dealer a commission for effecting a transaction in securities that exceeds the amount another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting the same transaction in recognition of the value of brokerage and research services provided by that broker or dealer. This includes commissions paid on riskless principal transactions in securities under certain conditions.

From time to time, the Fund may purchase new issues of securities in a fixed price offering. In these situations, the broker may be a member of the selling group that will, in addition to selling securities, provide BFA with research services. FINRA has adopted rules expressly permitting these types of arrangements under certain circumstances. Generally, the broker will provide research "credits" in these situations at a rate that is higher than that available for typical secondary market transactions. These arrangements may not fall within the safe harbor of Section 28(e).

OTC issues, including most fixed-income securities such as corporate debt and U.S. Government securities, are normally traded on a "net" basis without a stated commission, through dealers acting for their own account and not as brokers. The Fund will primarily engage in transactions with these dealers or deal directly with the issuer unless a better price or execution

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could be obtained by using a broker. Prices paid to a dealer with respect to both foreign and domestic securities will generally include a "spread," which is the difference between the prices at which the dealer is willing to purchase and sell the specific security at the time, and includes the dealer's normal profit.

Under the 1940 Act, persons affiliated with the Fund and persons who are affiliated with such affiliated persons are prohibited from dealing with the Fund as principal in the purchase and sale of securities unless a permissive order allowing such transactions is obtained from the SEC. Since transactions in the OTC market usually involve transactions with the dealers acting as principal for their own accounts, the Fund will not deal with affiliated persons and affiliated persons of such affiliated persons in connection with such transactions. The Fund will not purchase securities during the existence of any underwriting or selling group relating to such securities of which BFA, BRIL or any affiliated person (as defined in the 1940 Act) thereof is a member except pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board in accordance with Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act.

Purchases of money market instruments by the Fund are made from dealers, underwriters and issuers. The Fund does not currently expect to incur any brokerage commission expense on such transactions because money market instruments are generally traded on a "net" basis with dealers acting as principal for their own accounts without a stated commission. The price of the security, however, usually includes a profit to the dealer.

BFA may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions.

Securities purchased in underwritten offerings include a fixed amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter's concession or discount. When securities are purchased or sold directly from or to an issuer, no commissions or discounts are paid.

Investment decisions for the Fund and for other investment accounts managed by BFA and the other Affiliates are made independently of each other in light of differing conditions. A variety of factors will be considered in making investment allocations. These factors include: (i) investment objectives or strategies for particular accounts, including sector, industry, country or region and capitalization weightings; (ii) tax considerations of an account; (iii) risk or investment concentration parameters for an account; (iv) supply or demand for a security at a given price level; (v) size of available investment; (vi) cash availability and liquidity requirements for accounts; (vii) regulatory restrictions; (viii) minimum investment size of an account; (ix) relative size of account; and (x) such other factors as may be approved by BlackRock's general counsel. Moreover, investments may not be allocated to one client account over another based on any of the following considerations: (i) to favor one client account at the expense of another; (ii) to generate higher fees paid by one client account over another or to produce greater performance compensation to BlackRock; (iii) to develop or enhance a relationship with a client or prospective client; (iv) to compensate a client for past services or benefits rendered to BlackRock or to induce future services or benefits to be rendered to BlackRock; or (v) to manage or equalize investment performance among different client accounts. BFA and the other Affiliates may deal, trade and invest for their own respective accounts in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest.

Initial public offerings ("IPOs") of securities may be over-subscribed and subsequently trade at a premium in the secondary market. When BFA is given an opportunity to invest in such an initial offering or "new" or "hot" issue, the supply of securities available for client accounts is often less than the amount of securities the accounts would otherwise take. In order to allocate these investments fairly and equitably among client accounts over time, each portfolio manager or a member of his or her respective investment team will indicate to BFA's trading desk their level of interest in a particular offering with respect to eligible clients' accounts for which that team is responsible. IPOs of U.S. equity securities will be identified as eligible for particular client accounts that are managed by portfolio teams who have indicated interest in the offering based on market capitalization of the issuer of the security and the investment mandate of the client account and in the case of international equity securities, the country where the offering is taking place and the investment mandate of the client account. Generally, shares received during the IPO will be allocated among participating client accounts within each investment mandate on a *pro rata* basis. This *pro rata* allocation may result in the Fund receiving less of a particular security than if pro-rating had not occurred. All allocations of securities will be subject, where relevant, to share minimums established for accounts and compliance constraints. In situations where supply is too limited to be allocated among all accounts for which the investment is eligible, portfolio managers may rotate such investment opportunities among one or more accounts so long as

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the rotation system provides for fair access for all client accounts over time. Other allocation methodologies that are considered by BFA to be fair and equitable to clients may be used as well.

Because different accounts may have differing investment objectives and policies, BFA may buy and sell the same securities at the same time for different clients based on the particular investment objective, guidelines and strategies of those accounts. For example, BFA may decide that it may be entirely appropriate for a growth fund to sell a security at the same time a value fund is buying that security. To the extent that transactions on behalf of more than one client of BFA or the other Affiliates during the same period increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, there may be an adverse effect on price. For example, sales of a security by BlackRock on behalf of one or more of its clients may decrease the market price of such security, adversely impacting other BlackRock clients that still hold the security. If purchases or sales of securities arise for consideration at or about the same time that would involve the Fund or other clients or funds for which BFA or another Affiliate act as investment manager, transactions in such securities will be made, insofar as feasible, for the respective funds and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all.

In certain instances, BFA may find it efficient for purposes of seeking to obtain best execution, to aggregate or "bunch" certain contemporaneous purchases or sale orders of its advisory accounts and advisory accounts of affiliates. In general, all contemporaneous trades for client accounts under management by the same portfolio manager or investment team will be bunched in a single order if the trader believes the bunched trade would provide each client with an opportunity to achieve a more favorable execution at a potentially lower execution cost. The costs associated with a bunched order will be shared *pro rata* among the clients in the bunched order. Generally, if an order for a particular portfolio manager or management team is filled at several different prices through multiple trades, all accounts participating in the order will receive the average price (except in the case of certain international markets where average pricing is not permitted). While in some cases this practice could have a detrimental effect upon the price or value of the security as far as the Fund is concerned, in other cases it could be beneficial to the Fund. Transactions effected by BFA or the other Affiliates on behalf of more than one of its clients during the same period may increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, causing an adverse effect on price. The trader will give the bunched order to the broker-dealer that the trader has identified as being able to provide the best execution of the order. Orders for purchase or sale of securities will be placed within a reasonable amount of time of the order receipt and bunched orders will be kept bunched only long enough to execute the order.

There were no brokerage commissions paid on behalf of the Fund for the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020.

The Fund did not pay any brokerage commissions to BRIL, an affiliate of BFA, or to any other broker-dealer that is part of the BlackRock group of companies, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The Fund's purchase and sale orders for securities may be combined with those of other investment companies, clients or accounts that BlackRock manages or advises. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities of the Fund and one or more other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Fund and the other accounts in a manner deemed equitable to all by BlackRock. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Fund is concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower transaction costs will be beneficial to the Fund. BlackRock may deal, trade and invest for its own account in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest. BlackRock may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions. The Fund will not deal with affiliates in principal transactions unless permitted by applicable SEC rules or regulations, or by SEC exemptive order.

Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year. High turnover rates may result in comparatively greater brokerage expenses. The table below sets forth the portfolio turnover rates of the Fund for the fiscal years noted:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2021** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% |

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## Additional Information Concerning the Trust
**Shares. The Trust currently consists of 16 separate investment series or portfolios called funds. The Trust issues shares of beneficial interests in the funds with no par value. The Board may designate additional iShares funds.**

Each share issued by a fund has a *pro rata* interest in the assets of that fund. Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the relevant fund, and in the net distributable assets of such fund on liquidation.

Each share has one vote with respect to matters upon which the shareholder is entitled to vote. In any matter submitted to shareholders for a vote, each fund shall hold a separate vote, provided that shareholders of all affected funds will vote together when: (i) required by the 1940 Act, or (ii) the Trustees determine that the matter affects the interests of more than one fund.

Under Delaware law, the Trust is not required to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. The policy of the Trust is not to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. All shares (regardless of the fund) have noncumulative voting rights in the election of members of the Board. Under Delaware law, Trustees of the Trust may be removed by vote of the shareholders.

Following the creation of the initial Creation Unit(s) of shares of a fund and immediately prior to the commencement of trading in such fund's shares, a holder of shares may be a "control person" of the fund, as defined in Rule 0-1 under the 1940 Act. A fund cannot predict the length of time for which one or more shareholders may remain a control person of the fund.

Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to iShares U.S. ETF Trust, c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC, 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, beneficial owners of more than 5% of the shares of a fund may be subject to the reporting provisions of Section 13 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. In addition, absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, officers and trustees of a fund and beneficial owners of 10% of the shares of a fund ("Insiders") may be subject to the insider reporting, short-swing profit and short sale provisions of Section 16 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. Beneficial owners and Insiders should consult with their own legal counsel concerning their obligations under Sections 13 and 16 of the 1934 Act and existing guidance provided by the SEC staff.

In accordance with the Trust's current Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust"), the Board may, without shareholder approval (unless such shareholder approval is required by the Declaration of Trust or applicable law, including the 1940 Act), authorize certain funds to merge, reorganize, consolidate, sell all or substantially all of their assets, or take other similar actions with, to or into another fund. The Trust or a fund may be terminated by a majority vote of the Board, or the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders of the Trust or such fund entitled to vote on termination; however, in certain circumstances described in the Declaration of Trust, only a majority vote of the Board is required. Although the shares are not automatically redeemable upon the occurrence of any specific event, the Declaration of Trust provides that the Board will have the unrestricted power to alter the number of shares in a Creation Unit. Therefore, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Board, in its sole discretion, could determine to permit the shares to be redeemable in aggregations smaller than Creation Units or to be individually redeemable. In such circumstance, the Trust or a fund may make redemptions in-kind, for cash or for a combination of cash or securities. Further, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Trust or a fund might elect to pay cash redemptions to all shareholders, with an in-kind election for shareholders owning in excess of a certain stated minimum amount.

**DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund. Shares of the Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.**

DTC was created in 1973 to enable electronic movement of securities between its participants ("DTC Participants"), and NSCC was established in 1976 to provide a single settlement system for securities clearing and to serve as central counterparty for securities trades among DTC Participants. In 1999, DTC and NSCC were consolidated within The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") and became wholly-owned subsidiaries of DTCC. The common stock of DTCC is

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owned by the DTC Participants, but NYSE and FINRA, through subsidiaries, hold preferred shares in DTCC that provide them with the right to elect one member each to the DTCC board of directors. Access to the DTC system is available to entities, such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly ("Indirect Participants").

Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as "Beneficial Owners") is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in shares of the Fund.

Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee to be charged to the Trust a listing of the shares of the Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Share distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares of the Trust. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall credit immediately DTC Participants' accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in shares of the Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a "street name," and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.

The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants. DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to shares of the Trust at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.

**Distribution of Shares. In connection with the Fund's launch, the Fund was seeded through the sale of one or more Creation Units by the Fund to one or more initial investors. Initial investors participating in the seeding may be Authorized Participants, a lead market maker or other third party investor or an affiliate of the Fund or the Fund's adviser. Each such initial investor may sell some or all of the shares underlying the Creation Unit(s) held by them pursuant to the registration statement for the Fund (each, a "Selling Shareholder"), which shares have been registered to permit the resale from time to time after purchase. The Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale by the Selling Shareholders of these shares.**

Selling Shareholders may sell shares owned by them directly or through broker-dealers, in accordance with applicable law, on any national securities exchange on which the shares may be listed or quoted at the time of sale, through trading systems, in the OTC market or in transactions other than on these exchanges or systems at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected through brokerage transactions, privately negotiated trades, block sales, entry into options or other derivatives transactions or through any other means authorized by applicable law. Selling Shareholders may redeem the shares held in Creation Unit size by them through an Authorized Participant.

Any Selling Shareholder and any broker-dealer or agents participating in the distribution of shares may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act, in connection with such sales.

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Any Selling Shareholder and any other person participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

## Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
**General. The Trust issues and sells shares of the Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor or its agent, without a sales load, at a price based on the Fund's NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order received by the Distributor or its agent in proper form. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to be placed earlier in the day. The following table sets forth the number of shares of the Fund that constitute a Creation Unit for the Fund and the approximate value of such Creation Unit as of November 30, 2022:**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Shares Per<br> Creation Unit** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Approximate<br> Value Per<br> Creation<br> Unit (U.S.$)** |
| 50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$1344445.90 |

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In its discretion, the Trust reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of the Fund's shares that constitute a Creation Unit. The Board reserves the right to declare a split or a consolidation in the number of shares outstanding of the Fund, and to make a corresponding change in the number of shares constituting a Creation Unit, in the event that the per share price in the secondary market rises (or declines) to an amount that falls outside the range deemed desirable by the Board.

A "Business Day" with respect to the Fund is any day the Fund is open for business, including any day when it satisfies redemption requests as required by Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act. The Fund is open for business any day on which the Listing Exchange on which the Fund is listed for trading is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, the Listing Exchange observes the following holidays, as observed: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

**Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of Creation Units of the Fund is generally cash. However, in some cases the consideration consists of a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) ("Deposit Securities" or "Creation Basket") and the Cash Component computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to creation requests received in proper form. The Fund Deposit represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of the Fund. Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, to purchases of Creation Units of shares of the Fund until such time as the next-announced Fund Deposit is made available.**

The "Cash Component" is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares (per Creation Unit) and the "Deposit Amount," which is an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities, and serves to compensate for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the Deposit Amount. Payment of any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities are the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant purchasing a Creation Unit.

The Fund's current policy is to accept cash in substitution for the Deposit Securities it might otherwise accept as in-kind consideration for the purchase of Creation Units. The Fund may, at times, elect to receive Deposit Securities (*i.e.*, the in-kind deposit of a designated portfolio of securities and other instruments) and a Cash Component as consideration for the purchase of Creation Units. If the Fund elects to accept Deposit Securities, a purchaser's delivery of the Deposit Securities together with the Cash Component will constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will represent the consideration for a Creation Unit of the Fund. Please see the *Cash Purchase Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the Deposit Security method for further information on purchasing Creation Units of the Fund.

The identity and number of shares of the Deposit Securities change pursuant to changes in the composition of the Fund's portfolio and as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by BFA with a view to

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the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities constituting the Underlying Index.

The Fund Deposit may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Deposit Securities portion of the Fund Deposit through "systematic rounding." The rounding methodology "rounds up" position sizes of securities in the Deposit Securities (which in turn reduces the cash portion). However, the methodology limits the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Fund Deposit.

Fund Deposits may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when instruments are not available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) when instruments are not eligible for transfer through DTC or the clearing process (as discussed below); (iii) when instruments that the Authorized Participant (or an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) are not able to be traded due to a trading restriction; (iv) when delivery of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant (or by an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws; (v) in connection with distribution payments to be made by the Fund; or (vi) in certain other situations.

**Cash Purchase Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified (Creation Units of the Fund are generally offered solely for cash), they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof. In the case of a partial or full cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser.**

**Procedures for Creation of Creation Units. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit of the Fund, an entity must be: (i) a "Participating Party," *i.e*., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the "Clearing Process"), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC, or (ii) a DTC Participant, and must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units ("Authorized Participant Agreement") (discussed below). A member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units is referred to as an "Authorized Participant." All shares of the Fund, however created, will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.**

**Role of the Authorized Participant. Creation Units may be purchased only by or through a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units (an "Authorized Participant"). Such Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of such Authorized Participant Agreement and on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that such Authorized Participant will make available in advance of each purchase of shares an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component, once the NAV of a Creation Unit is next determined after receipt of the purchase order in proper form, together with the transaction fees described below. An Authorized Participant, acting on behalf of an investor, may require the investor to enter into an agreement with such Authorized Participant with respect to certain matters, including payment of the Cash Component. Investors who are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not be a DTC Participant or may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that orders to purchase Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant. As a result, purchase orders placed through an Authorized Participant may result in additional charges to such investor. The Trust does not expect to enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with more than a small number of DTC Participants. A list of current Authorized Participants may be obtained from the Distributor. The Distributor has adopted guidelines regarding Authorized Participants' transactions in Creation Units that are made available to all Authorized Participants. These guidelines set forth the processes and standards for Authorized Participants to transact with the Distributor and its agents in connection with creation and redemption transactions. In addition, the Distributor may be appointed as the proxy of the Authorized Participant and may be granted a power of attorney under its Authorized Participant Agreement.**

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**Purchase Orders. To initiate an order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit to the Distributor or its agent an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund, in proper form, generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day to receive that day's NAV. The Distributor or its agent will notify BFA and the custodian of such order. The custodian will then provide such information to any appropriate sub-custodian. Procedures and requirements governing the delivery of the Fund Deposit are set forth in the procedures handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a creation request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request. Those placing orders to purchase Creation Units through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor or its agent by the Cutoff Time (as defined below) on such Business Day.**

The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the Fund, immediately available or same day funds estimated by the Fund to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with the applicable purchase transaction fees. Those placing orders should ascertain the deadline for cash transfers by contacting the operations department of the broker or depositary institution effectuating the transfer of the Cash Component. This deadline is likely to be significantly earlier than the Cutoff Time of the Fund. Investors should be aware that an Authorized Participant may require orders for purchases of shares placed with it to be in the particular form required by the individual Authorized Participant.

The Authorized Participant is responsible for any and all expenses and costs incurred by the Fund, including any applicable cash amounts, in connection with any purchase order.

**Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. Creation Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent pursuant to procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure, may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or its agent or an Authorized Participant. The Fund's deadline specified above for the submission of purchase orders is referred to as the Fund's "Cutoff Time." The Distributor or its agent, in their discretion, may permit the submission of such orders and requests by or through an Authorized Participant at any time (including on days on which the Listing Exchange is not open for business) via communication through the facilities of the Distributor's or its agent's proprietary website maintained for this purpose. Purchase orders and redemption requests, if accepted by the Trust, will be processed based on the NAV next determined after such acceptance in accordance with the Fund's Cutoff Times as provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement and disclosed in this SAI.**

**Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. Subject to the conditions that (i) an irrevocable purchase order has been submitted by the Authorized Participant (either on its own or another investor's behalf) and (ii) arrangements satisfactory to the Fund are in place for payment of the Cash Component and any other cash amounts which may be due, the Fund will accept the order, subject to the Fund's right (and the right of the Distributor and BFA) to reject any order until acceptance, as set forth below.**

Once the Fund has accepted an order, upon the next determination of the NAV of the shares, the Fund will confirm the issuance of a Creation Unit, against receipt of payment, at such NAV. The Distributor or its agent will then transmit a confirmation of acceptance to the Authorized Participant that placed the order.

The Fund reserves the right to reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent provided that a rejection or revocation of a creation order does not violate Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act. For example, the Fund may reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent if (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of the Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered do not conform to the identity and number of shares specified, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities is not legally required or would, in the opinion of the Trust, be unlawful or have an adverse effect on the Fund or its shareholders (*e.g*., jeopardize the Fund's tax status); or (v) circumstances outside the control of the Fund, the Distributor or its agent and BFA make it impracticable to process purchase orders. The Distributor or its agent shall notify a prospective purchaser of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such purchaser of its rejection of such order. The Fund, State Street, the sub-custodian and the Distributor or its agent are under

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no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for failure to give such notification.

**Issuance of a Creation Unit. Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When the sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the securities included in the Fund Deposit (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian or sub-custodians, the Distributor or its agent and BFA shall be notified of such delivery and the Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit. Creation Units are generally issued on a "T+2 basis" (*i.e.*, two Business Days after trade date). The Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law.**

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor, the Fund will issue Creation Units to such Authorized Participant, notwithstanding the fact that the corresponding Fund Deposits have not been received in part or in whole, in reliance on the undertaking of the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Deposit Securities as soon as possible, which undertaking shall be secured by such Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to buy Deposit Securities for the Fund. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the contractual settlement date. Information concerning the Fund's current procedures for collateralization of missing Deposit Securities is available from the Distributor or its agent. The Authorized Participant Agreement will permit the Fund to buy the missing Deposit Securities at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Fund of purchasing such securities and the collateral including, without limitation, liability for related brokerage, borrowings and other charges.

Authorized Participants who create shares on a day when one or more constituents of the Underlying Index is experiencing a market disruption event could bear additional costs associated with increased market risk. In the case of a creation received on a day when a market disruption event is ongoing, Authorized Participants will need to post additional collateral to receive shares; this collateral will be used to cover adverse price moves on the affected futures, with the residual, if any, returned upon resolution of the market disruption event.

In certain cases, Authorized Participants may create and redeem Creation Units on the same trade date and in these instances, the Fund reserves the right to settle these transactions on a net basis or require a representation from the Authorized Participants that the creation and redemption transactions are for separate beneficial owners. All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by the Fund and the Fund's determination shall be final and binding.

#### Costs Associated with Creation Transactions.
A standard creation transaction fee is imposed to offset the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant creates a Creation Unit, and is the same, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a purchase consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Deposit Securities to the Fund. Certain fees/costs associated with creation transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to acquire Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth the Fund's standard creation transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $225 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit.

**Redemption of Creation Units. Shares of the Fund may be redeemed by Authorized Participants only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Distributor or its agent and only on a Business Day. The Fund will not redeem shares in amounts less than Creation Units. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the secondary market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of shares to constitute a Creation Unit that could be redeemed by an Authorized Participant. Beneficial owners also may sell shares in the secondary market.**

The Fund generally redeems Creation Units solely for cash. However, the Fund reserves the right to distribute securities and other instruments in-kind as payment for Creation Units being redeemed. Please see the *Cash Redemption Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the in-kind method for further information on redeeming Creation Units of the Fund.

The Fund publishes the designated portfolio of securities and other instruments (including any portion of such securities and other instruments for which cash may be substituted) that will be applicable to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day ("Fund Securities" or "Redemption Basket"), and an amount of cash (the "Cash Amount," as described below) in order to effect redemptions of Creation Units of the Fund. Such Fund Securities and Cash Amount will remain in effect until such time as the next announced composition of the Fund Securities and Cash Amount is made available. The Fund Securities and Cash Amount are subject to possible amendment or correction. Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities that are applicable to creations of Creation Units. Procedures and requirements governing redemption transactions are set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time.

If redemptions are not paid in cash, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of Fund Securities and other instruments, plus the Cash Amount, which is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares being redeemed, as next determined after the receipt of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of Fund Securities and other instruments, less a redemption transaction fee (as described below).

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security or other instrument in certain circumstances, including: (i) when the delivery of a Fund Security or other instrument to the Authorized Participant (or to an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws or due to a trading restriction; (ii) when the delivery of a Fund Security or other instruments to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Fund Security or other instruments by the Authorized Participant due to restrictions under applicable securities or other local laws; (iii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in unfavorable tax treatment; (iv) when a Fund Security cannot be settled or otherwise delivered in time to facilitate an in-kind redemption; or (v) in certain other situations. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder. The Fund generally redeems Creation Units for cash. The Redemption Basket may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Fund Securities portion of the Redemption Basket through systematically rounding. The rounding methodology allows position sizes of securities in the Fund Securities to be "rounded up," while limiting the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Redemption Basket. Redemption Baskets may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

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**Cash Redemption Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units are available or specified (Creation Units of the Fund are generally redeemed solely for cash), they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof. In the case of partial or full cash redemption, the Authorized Participant receives the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.**

#### Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions.
A redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by the Fund. The standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and is the same regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed by an Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a redemption consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from the Fund to their account on their order. Certain fees/costs associated with redemption transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to dispose of Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth the Fund's standard redemption transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Redemption<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $225 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit, inclusive of the standard redemption transaction fee.

**Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemption requests for Creation Units of the Fund must be submitted to the Distributor or its agent by or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable request to redeem shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to redeem Creation Units to be placed earlier that day. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a redemption request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request.**

The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant who has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement. At any time, only a limited number of broker-dealers will have an Authorized Participant Agreement in effect. Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant. Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the shares to the Fund's transfer agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.

A redemption request is considered to be in "proper form" if: (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Fund's transfer agent the Creation Unit redeemed through the book-entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the Listing Exchange closing time on any Business Day on which the redemption request is submitted; (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the Fund is received by the Distributor or its agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified above; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement are properly followed.

Upon receiving a redemption request, the Distributor or its agent shall notify the Fund and the Fund's transfer agent of such redemption request. The tender of an investor's shares for redemption and the distribution of the securities and/or cash

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included in the redemption payment made in respect of Creation Units redeemed will be made through DTC and the relevant Authorized Participant to the Beneficial Owner thereof as recorded on the book-entry system of DTC or the DTC Participant through which such investor holds, as the case may be, or by such other means specified by the Authorized Participant submitting the redemption request.

A redeeming Authorized Participant, whether on its own account or acting on behalf of a Beneficial Owner, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the portfolio securities are customarily traded, to which account such portfolio securities will be delivered.

Authorized Participants who redeem shares on a day when one or more constituents of the Underlying Index is experiencing a market disruption event could bear additional costs associated with increased market risk. In the case of a redemption received on a day when a market disruption event is ongoing, Authorized Participants will receive monetary proceeds, subject to applicable law, once the execution price has been finalized, either because the market disruption event has resolved or because the counterparty has closed out the position (whichever is earlier).

Deliveries of redemption proceeds by the Fund are generally made within two Business Days (*i.e.,* "T+2"). The Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law. If the Fund includes a foreign investment in its basket, and if a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming Authorized Participants prevents timely delivery of the foreign investment in response to a redemption request, the Fund may delay delivery of the foreign investment more than seven days if the Fund delivers the foreign investment as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 days.

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant's agreement with the Distributor or its agent, in the event an Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation Unit to be redeemed to the Fund, at or prior to the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request, the Distributor or its agent will accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request and shall be held by State Street and marked-to-market daily. The fees of State Street and any sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant Agreement permits the Fund to acquire shares of the Fund at any time and subjects the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the aggregate of the cost to the Fund of purchasing such shares, plus the value of the Cash Amount, and the value of the collateral together with liability for related brokerage and other charges.

The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to the Fund: (i) for any period during which the Listing Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the Listing Exchange is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the shares of the Fund's portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.

**Custom Baskets. Creation and Redemption baskets may differ and the Fund may accept "custom baskets." A custom basket may include any of the following: (i) a basket that is composed of a non-representative selection of the Fund's portfolio holdings; (ii) a representative basket that is different from the initial basket used in transactions on the same business day; or (iii) a basket that contains bespoke cash substitutions for a single Authorized Participant. The Fund has adopted policies and procedures that govern the construction and acceptance of baskets, including heightened requirements for certain types of custom baskets. Such policies and procedures provide the parameters for the construction and acceptance of custom baskets that are in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, establish processes for revisions to, or deviations from, such parameters, and specify the titles and roles of the employees of BFA who are required to review each custom basket for compliance with those parameters. In addition, when constructing custom baskets for redemptions, the tax efficiency of the Fund may be taken into account. The policies and procedures distinguish among different types of custom baskets that may be used for the Fund and impose different requirements for different types of custom baskets in order to seek to mitigate against potential risks of conflicts and/or overreaching by an Authorized Participant. BlackRock has established a governance process to oversee basket compliance for the Fund, as set forth in the Fund's policies and procedures.**

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**Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units. An Authorized Participant generally will recognize either gain or loss upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units. This gain or loss is calculated by taking the market value of the Creation Units purchased over the Authorized Participant's aggregate basis in the Deposit Securities exchanged therefor. However, the IRS may apply the wash sales rules to determine that any loss realized upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units is not currently deductible. Authorized Participants should consult their own tax advisors.**

Current U.S. federal income tax laws dictate that capital gain or loss realized from the redemption of Creation Units will generally create long-term capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the Creation Units for more than one year, or short-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Units were held for one year or less, if the Creation Units are held as capital assets.

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## Taxes
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of the Fund. This summary does not address all of the potential U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be applicable to the Fund or to all categories of investors, some of which may be subject to special tax rules. Current and prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the specific U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of investing in the Fund. The summary is based on the laws and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof in effect on the date of this SAI, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect.

**Regulated Investment Company Qualifications. The Fund intends to qualify for treatment as a separate RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, the Fund must annually distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (which includes dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements. Among such other requirements are the following: (i) at least 90% of the Fund's annual gross income must be derived from dividends, interest, payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock or securities or non-U.S. currencies, other income (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect to its business of investing in such stock, securities or currencies, and net income derived from interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships (*i.e.,* partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than partnerships that derive at least 90% of their income from interest, dividends, capital gains and other traditionally permitted RIC income); and (ii) at the close of each quarter of the Fund's taxable year, (a) at least 50% of the market value of the Fund's total assets must be represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs and other securities, with such other securities limited for purposes of this calculation in respect of any one issuer to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund's assets and not greater than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (b) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund's total assets may be invested in the securities (other than U.S. government securities or the securities of other RICs) of any one issuer, of two or more issuers of which 20% or more of the voting stock is held by the Fund and that are engaged in the same or similar trades or businesses or related trades or businesses, or the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships.**

The Fund may be able to cure a failure to derive at least 90% of its income from the sources specified above or a failure to diversify its holdings in the manner described above by paying a tax and/or by disposing of certain assets. If, in any taxable year, the Fund fails one of these tests and does not timely cure the failure, the Fund will be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation and distributions to its shareholders will not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

Although, in general, the passive loss rules of the Internal Revenue Code do not apply to RICs, such rules do apply to a RIC with respect to items attributable to interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships. The Fund's investments in partnerships, including in qualified publicly-traded partnerships, may result in the Fund being subject to state, local, or non-U.S. income, franchise or withholding tax liabilities.

**Taxation of RICs. As a RIC, the Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders, provided that it satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. To satisfy the minimum distribution requirement, the Fund must distribute to its shareholders at least the sum of (i) 90% of its "investment company taxable income" (*i.e.,* income other than its net realized long-term capital gain over its net realized short-term capital loss), plus or minus certain adjustments, and (ii) 90% of its net tax-exempt income for the taxable year. The Fund will be subject to income tax at regular corporate rates on any taxable income or gains that it does not distribute to its shareholders. If the Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC or fails to meet the distribution requirement, all of its taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, distributions to individuals should be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income and distributions to corporate shareholders generally should be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Although the Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and its capital gains for each taxable year, the Fund may decide to retain a portion of its income or gains if the Fund determines that doing so is in the interest of its shareholders. The Fund will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent any such income or**

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gains are not distributed. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC in any year, it must pay out its earnings and profits accumulated in that year in order to qualify again as a RIC. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two taxable years, the Fund may be required to recognize any net built-in gains with respect to certain of its assets (*i.e.,* the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if the Fund had been liquidated) if it qualifies as a RIC in a subsequent year.

The Subsidiary will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax. The Subsidiary will, however, be considered a controlled foreign corporation, and the Fund will be required to include as income annually amounts earned by the Subsidiary during that year. The Fund will be subject to the distribution requirements described above on such Subsidiary income, whether or not the Subsidiary makes a distribution to the Fund during the taxable year. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

In addition, the Fund's income from the Subsidiary will be treated as ordinary income. If the Fund were able to invest directly in commodity-linked derivatives, its gains and losses would generally be treated as 60% long-term and 40% short-term gain or loss, to the extent such derivatives are subject to the rules for Section 1256 futures contracts. See "Taxation of Certain Derivatives" below.

**Excise Tax. The Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus at least 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the 12 months ended October 31 of such year. For this purpose, however, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by the Fund that is subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed by year-end. In addition, the minimum amounts that must be distributed in any year to avoid the excise tax will be increased or decreased to reflect any underdistribution or overdistribution, as the case may be, from the previous year. The Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax.**

**Net Capital Loss Carryforwards. Net capital loss carryforwards may be applied against any net realized capital gains in each succeeding year, until they have been reduced to zero.**

In the event that the Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Internal Revenue Code, the loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of the Fund, if any, may be subject to limitation.

As of October 31, 2022, the tax year-end of the Fund, the Fund had non-expiring capital loss carryforwards in the amount of $992 available to offset future realized capital gains.

**Taxation of U.S. Shareholders. Dividends and other distributions by the Fund are generally treated under the Internal Revenue Code as received by the shareholders at the time the dividend or distribution is made. However, any dividend or distribution declared by the Fund in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in such a month shall be deemed to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year and to have been paid by the Fund not later than such December 31, provided such dividend is actually paid by the Fund during January of the following calendar year.**

The Fund intends to distribute annually to its shareholders substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers). However, if the Fund retains for investment an amount equal to all or a portion of its net long-term capital gains in excess of its net short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers), it will be subject to a corporate tax (at a flat rate of 21%) on the amount retained. In that event, the Fund will designate such retained amounts as undistributed capital gains in a notice to its shareholders who (a) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gains, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount, (b) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on the undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent their credits exceed their liabilities, if any, and (c) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in their shares by an amount equal to the excess of the amount in clause (a) over

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the amount in clause (b). Organizations or persons not subject to U.S. federal income tax on such capital gains will be entitled to a refund of their *pro rata* share of such taxes paid by the Fund upon filing appropriate returns or claims for refund with the IRS.

Distributions of net realized long-term capital gains, if any, that the Fund reports as capital gains dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, whether paid in cash or in shares and regardless of how long a shareholder has held shares of the Fund. All other dividends of the Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits ("regular dividends") are generally subject to tax as ordinary income, subject to the discussion of qualified dividend income below. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.

If an individual receives a regular dividend qualifying for the long-term capital gains rates and such dividend constitutes an "extraordinary dividend," and the individual subsequently recognizes a loss on the sale or exchange of stock in respect of which the extraordinary dividend was paid, then the loss will be long-term capital loss to the extent of such extraordinary dividend. An "extraordinary dividend" on common stock for this purpose is generally a dividend (i) in an amount greater than or equal to 10% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within an 85-day period, or (ii) in an amount greater than 20% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within a 365-day period.

Distributions in excess of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of a shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund, and as a capital gain thereafter (if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets). Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. Shareholders receiving dividends or distributions in the form of additional shares should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of money that the shareholders receiving cash dividends or distributions will receive and should have a cost basis in the shares received equal to such amount.

A 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on net investment income, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain from investments, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

Investors considering buying shares just prior to a dividend or capital gain distribution should be aware that, although the price of shares purchased at that time may reflect the amount of the forthcoming distribution, such dividend or distribution may nevertheless be taxable to them. If the Fund is the holder of record of any security on the record date for any dividends payable with respect to such security, such dividends will be included in the Fund's gross income not as of the date received but as of the later of (a) the date such security became ex-dividend with respect to such dividends (*i.e.*, the date on which a buyer of the security would not be entitled to receive the declared, but unpaid, dividends); or (b) the date the Fund acquired such security. Accordingly, in order to satisfy its income distribution requirements, the Fund may be required to pay dividends based on anticipated earnings, and shareholders may receive dividends in an earlier year than would otherwise be the case.

In certain situations, the Fund may, for a taxable year, defer all or a portion of its net capital loss (or if there is no net capital loss, then any net long-term or short-term capital loss) realized after October and its late-year ordinary loss (defined as the sum of (i) the excess of post-October foreign currency and passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") losses over post-October foreign currency and PFIC gains and (ii) the excess of post-December ordinary losses over post-December ordinary income) until the next taxable year in computing its investment company taxable income and net capital gain, which will defer the recognition of such realized losses. Such deferrals and other rules regarding gains and losses realized after October (or December) may affect the tax character of shareholder distributions.

**Sales of Shares. Upon the sale or exchange of shares of the Fund, a shareholder will realize a taxable gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund. A redemption of shares by the Fund will be treated as a sale for this purpose. Such gain or loss will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder's hands and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for more than one year and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized on a sale or exchange will be disallowed to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced, including replacement through the reinvesting of dividends or capital gains distributions, or by an option or contract to acquire substantially identical shares, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition of the shares. In such a case, the basis of the shares**

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acquired will be increased to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss realized by a shareholder on the sale of Fund shares held by the shareholder for six months or less will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any distributions or deemed distributions of long-term capital gains received by the shareholder with respect to such share. The Medicare contribution tax described above will apply to the sale of Fund shares.

If a shareholder incurs a sales charge in acquiring shares of the Fund, disposes of those shares within 90 days and then, on or before January 31 of the following calendar year, acquires shares in a mutual fund for which the otherwise applicable sales charge is reduced by reason of a reinvestment right (*e.g.*, an exchange privilege), the original sales charge will not be taken into account in computing gain/loss on the original shares to the extent the subsequent sales charge is reduced. Instead, the disregarded portion of the original sales charge will be added to the tax basis of the newly acquired shares. Furthermore, the same rule also applies to a disposition of the newly acquired shares made within 90 days of the second acquisition. This provision prevents shareholders from immediately deducting the sales charge by shifting their investments within a family of mutual funds.

**Backup Withholding. In certain cases, the Fund will be required to withhold at a 24% rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury such amounts withheld from any distributions paid to a shareholder who: (i) has failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; (ii) is subject to backup withholding by the IRS; (iii) has failed to certify to the Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding; or (iv) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amount withheld may be credited against a shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability.**

**Sections 351 and 362. The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Sections 351 and 362 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. If the Fund's basis in such securities on the date of deposit was less than market value on such date, the Fund, upon disposition of the securities, would recognize more taxable gain or less taxable loss than if its basis in the securities had been equal to market value. It is not anticipated that the Trust will exercise the right of rejection except in a case where the Trust determines that accepting the order could result in material adverse tax consequences to the Fund or its shareholders. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.**

**Taxation of Certain Derivatives. The Fund's transactions in zero coupon securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward contracts, options and futures contracts (including options and futures contracts on non-U.S. currencies), to the extent permitted, will be subject to special provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to "hedging transactions" and "straddles") that, among other consequences, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (*i.e.*, may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer Fund losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also (a) will require the Fund to mark-to-market certain types of the positions in its portfolio (*i.e.*, treat them as if they were closed out at the end of each year) and (b) may cause the Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to pay dividends or make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. The Fund will monitor its transactions, will make the appropriate tax elections and will make the appropriate entries in its books and records when it acquires any zero coupon security, non-U.S. currency, forward contract, option, futures contract or hedged investment in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and prevent disqualification of the Fund as a RIC.**

The Fund's investments in so-called "Section 1256 contracts," such as regulated futures contracts, most non-U.S. currency forward contracts traded in the interbank market and options on most security indexes, are subject to special tax rules. All Section 1256 contracts held by the Fund at the end of its taxable year are required to be marked to their market value, and any unrealized gain or loss on those positions will be included in the Fund's income as if each position had been sold for its fair market value at the end of the taxable year. The resulting gain or loss will be combined with any gain or loss realized by the Fund from positions in Section 1256 contracts closed during the taxable year. Provided such positions were held as capital assets and were not part of a "hedging transaction" nor part of a "straddle," 60% of the resulting net gain or loss will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% of such net gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, regardless of the period of time the positions were actually held by the Fund.

As a result of entering into swap contracts, the Fund may make or receive periodic net payments. The Fund may also make or receive a payment when a swap is terminated prior to maturity through an assignment of the swap or other closing

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transaction. Periodic net payments will generally constitute ordinary income or deductions, while termination of a swap will generally result in capital gain or loss (which will be a long-term capital gain or loss if the Fund has been a party to the swap for more than one year). With respect to certain types of swaps, the Fund may be required to currently recognize income or loss with respect to future payments on such swaps or may elect under certain circumstances to mark such swaps to market annually for tax purposes as ordinary income or loss.

**Qualified Dividend Income. Distributions by the Fund of investment company taxable income (including any short-term capital gains), whether received in cash or shares, will be taxable either as ordinary income or as qualified dividend income, which is eligible to be taxed at long-term capital gain rates to the extent the Fund receives qualified dividend income on the securities it holds and the Fund reports the distribution as qualified dividend income. Qualified dividend income is, in general, dividend income from taxable U.S. corporations (but generally not from U.S. REITs) and certain non-U.S. corporations (*e.g.*, non-U.S. corporations that are not PFICs and which are incorporated in a possession of the U.S. or in certain countries with a comprehensive tax treaty with the U.S., or the stock of which is readily tradable on an established securities market in the U.S. (where the dividends are paid with respect to such stock)). Substitute payments received by the Fund for securities lent out by the Fund will not be qualified dividend income.**

A dividend from the Fund will not be treated as qualified dividend income to the extent that: (i) the shareholder has not held the shares on which the dividend was paid for 61 days during the 121-day period that begins on the date that is 60 days before the date on which the shares become ex-dividend with respect to such dividend or the Fund fails to satisfy those holding period requirements with respect to the securities it holds that paid the dividends distributed to the shareholder (or, in the case of certain preferred stocks, the holding requirement of 91 days during the 181-day period beginning on the date that is 90 days before the date on which the stock becomes ex-dividend with respect to such dividend); (ii) the Fund or the shareholder is under an obligation (whether pursuant to a short sale or otherwise) to make related payments with respect to substantially similar or related property; or (iii) the shareholder elects to treat such dividend as investment income under Section 163(d)(4)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. Dividends received by the Fund from a REIT or another RIC may be treated as qualified dividend income only to the extent the dividend distributions are attributable to qualified dividend income received by such REIT or other RIC. It is expected that dividends received by the Fund from a REIT and distributed to a shareholder generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income. However, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026, a non-corporate taxpayer who is a direct REIT shareholder may claim a 20% "qualified business income" deduction for ordinary REIT dividends, and a RIC may report dividends as eligible for this deduction to the extent the RIC's income is derived from ordinary REIT dividends (reduced by allocable RIC expenses). A shareholder may treat the dividends as such provided the RIC and the shareholder satisfy applicable holding period requirements. Distributions by the Fund of its net short-term capital gains will be taxable as ordinary income.

**Corporate Dividends Received Deduction. Dividends paid by the Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations may qualify for the U.S. federal dividends received deduction for corporations. A 46-day minimum holding period during the 90-day period that begins 45 days prior to ex-dividend date (or 91-day minimum holding period during the 180 period beginning 90 days prior to ex-dividend date for certain preference dividends) during which risk of loss may not be diminished is required for the applicable shares, at both the Fund and shareholder level, for a dividend to be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Restrictions may apply if indebtedness, including a short sale, is attributable to the investment.**

**Excess Inclusion Income. Under current law, the Fund serves to block unrelated business taxable income ("UBTI") from being realized by its tax-exempt shareholders. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a tax-exempt shareholder could realize UBTI by virtue of its investment in the Fund if shares in the Fund constitute debt-financed property in the hands of the tax-exempt shareholder within the meaning of Section 514(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. Certain types of income received by the Fund from REITs, real estate mortgage investment conduits, taxable mortgage pools or other investments may cause the Fund to report some or all of its distributions as "excess inclusion income." To Fund shareholders, such excess inclusion income may: (i) constitute taxable income, as UBTI for those shareholders who would otherwise be tax-exempt such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) accounts, Keogh plans, pension plans and certain charitable entities; (ii) not be offset by otherwise allowable deductions for tax purposes; (iii) not be eligible for reduced U.S. withholding for non-U.S. shareholders even from tax treaty countries; and (iv) cause the Fund to be subject to tax if certain "disqualified organizations," as defined by the Internal Revenue Code, are Fund shareholders. If a charitable remainder annuity trust or a charitable remainder unitrust (each as defined in Section 664 of the Internal Revenue Code) has UBTI for a taxable year, a 100% excise tax on the UBTI is imposed on the trust.**

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The Fund tries to avoid investing in REITs that are expected to generate excess inclusion income, but the Fund may not always be successful in doing so. Because information about a REIT's investments may be inadequate or inaccurate, or because a REIT may change its investment program, the Fund may not be successful in avoiding the consequences described above. Avoidance of investments in REITs that generate excess inclusion income may require the Fund to forego otherwise attractive investment opportunities.

**Reporting. If a shareholder recognizes a loss with respect to the Fund's shares of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a RIC are not exempted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer's treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.**

#### Other Taxes. Dividends, distributions and redemption proceeds may also be subject to additional state, local and non-U.S. taxes depending on each shareholder's particular situation.
**Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders. Dividends paid by the Fund to non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or a reduced rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty to the extent derived from investment income and short-term capital gains. Dividends paid by the Fund from net tax-exempt income or long-term capital gains are generally not subject to such withholding tax. In order to obtain a reduced rate of withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will be required to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E certifying its entitlement to benefits under a treaty. The withholding tax does not apply to regular dividends paid to a non-U.S. shareholder who provides an IRS Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the non-U.S. shareholder were a U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to additional "branch profits tax" imposed at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate). A non-U.S. shareholder who fails to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form may be subject to backup withholding at the appropriate rate.**

Properly-reported dividends are generally exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax where they (i) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified net interest income" (generally, the Fund's U.S. source interest income, other than certain contingent interest and interest from obligations of a corporation or partnership in which the Fund is at least a 10% shareholder or partner, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income) or (ii) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified short-term capital gains" (generally, the excess of the Fund's net short-term capital gain over the Fund's long-term capital loss for such taxable year). However, depending on its circumstances, the Fund may report all, some or none of its potentially eligible dividends as such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains and/or treat such dividends, in whole or in part, as ineligible for this exemption from withholding. In order to qualify for this exemption from withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will need to comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its non-U.S. status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or substitute Form). In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if the Fund reports the payment as qualified net interest income or qualified short-term capital gain. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.

Special rules may apply to a foreign shareholder receiving a Fund distribution if at least 50% of the Fund's assets consist of interests in U.S. real property interests, including certain REITs and U.S. real property holding corporations (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations). Fund distributions that are attributable to gain from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest will be taxable as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding at a 30% or lower treaty rate if the foreign shareholder held no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. If the foreign shareholder held at least 5% of the Fund's shares, the distribution would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business within the U.S. and the foreign shareholder would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 21% and would generally be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return.

Similar consequences would generally apply to a foreign shareholder's gain on the sale of Fund shares unless the Fund is domestically controlled (meaning that more than 50% of the value of the Fund's shares is held by U.S. shareholders) or the foreign shareholder owns no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of sale. Finally, a domestically controlled Fund may be required to recognize a portion of its gain on the in-kind distribution of

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certain U.S. real property interests. Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in the Fund.

The rules laid out in the previous paragraph, other than the withholding rules, will apply notwithstanding the Fund's participation in a wash sale transaction or its payment of a substitute dividend.

Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in a Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to: (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders; and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to: (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event an intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

Shares of the Fund held by a non-U.S. shareholder at death will be considered situated within the U.S. and subject to the U.S. estate tax.

The foregoing discussion is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such shares, including consequences under state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date of this SAI. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.

## Financial Statements
The Fund's audited Financial Statements, including the Consolidated Financial Highlights, appearing in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) to Shareholders and the report therein of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, are hereby incorporated by reference in this SAI. The Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the referenced audited financial statements, is available upon request and without charge.

## Miscellaneous Information

#### Counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, located at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, is counsel to the Trust.
**Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, located at Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, serves as the Trust's independent registered public accounting firm, audits the Fund's financial statements, and may perform other services.**

**Shareholder Communications to the Board. The Board has established a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders may contact the Board by mail. Correspondence should be addressed to iShares Board of Trustees, c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors, iShares Fund Administration, 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Shareholder communications to the Board should include the following information: (i) the name and address of the shareholder; (ii) the number of shares owned by the shareholder; (iii) the Fund(s) of which the shareholder owns shares; and (iv) if these shares**

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are owned indirectly through a broker, financial intermediary or other record owner, the name of the broker, financial intermediary or other record owner. All correspondence received as set forth above shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Trust and reported to the Board.

**Investors' Rights. The Fund relies on the services of BFA and its other service providers, including the Distributor, administrator, custodian and transfer agent. Further information about the duties and roles of these service providers is set out in this SAI. Investors who acquire shares of the Fund are not parties to the relevant agreement with these service providers and do not have express contractual rights against the Fund or its service providers, except certain institutional investors that are Authorized Participants may have certain express contractual rights with respect to the Distributor under the terms of the relevant Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors may have certain legal rights under federal or state law against the Fund or its service providers. In the event that an investor considers that it may have a claim against the Fund, or against any service provider in connection with its investment in the Fund, such investor should consult its own legal advisor.**

By contract, Authorized Participants irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State or U.S. federal court sitting in New York City over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Authorized Participant Agreement. Jurisdiction over other claims, whether by investors or Authorized Participants, will turn on the facts of the particular case and the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is brought.

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## Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy

#### BlackRock U.S. Registered Funds

#### Open-End Fund Proxy Voting Policy

#### Procedures Governing Delegation of Proxy Voting to Fund Advisers

#### August 1, 2022

#### Open-End Mutual Funds (including money market funds)

#### iShares and BlackRock ETFs
The Boards of Trustees/Directors ("Directors") of open-end funds (the "Funds") advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors or BlackRock Advisors, LLC ("BlackRock"), have the responsibility for the oversight of voting proxies relating to portfolio securities of the Funds, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to delegate the responsibility to vote proxies to BlackRock, subject to the principles outlined in this Policy, as part of BlackRock's authority to manage, acquire and dispose of account assets, all as contemplated by the Funds' respective investment management agreements.

BlackRock has adopted guidelines and procedures (together and as from time to time amended, the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BlackRock.

BlackRock will cast votes on behalf of each of the Funds on specific proxy issues in respect of securities held by each such Fund (or may refrain from voting) in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines.

BlackRock will report on an annual basis to the Directors on (1) a summary of all proxy votes that BlackRock has made on behalf of the Funds in the preceding year together with a representation that all votes were in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines, and (2) any changes to the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines that have not previously been reported.

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## Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles

#### January 2020

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| [Introduction to BlackRock](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Philosophy on corporate governance](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Corporate governance, engagement and voting](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [- Boards and directors](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-5 |
| [- Auditors and audit-related issues](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-6 |
| [- Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Compensation and benefits](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Environmental and social issues](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-8 |
| [- General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Oversight](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Vote execution](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-10 |
| [- Conflicts management policies and procedures](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-11 |
| [- Voting guidelines](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |
| [- Reporting and vote transparency](#xx_c9e8a8f0-d1e7-4813-8ece-592398133e37_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |

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#### INTRODUCTION TO BLACKROCK
BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. We manage assets on behalf of institutional and individual clients, across a full spectrum of investment strategies, asset classes and regions. Our client base includes pension plans, endowments, foundations, charities, official institutions, insurers and other financial institutions, as well as individuals around the world.

#### PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") activities are focused on maximizing long-term value for our clients. BIS does this through engagement with boards and management of investee companies and, for those clients who have given us authority, through voting at shareholder meetings.

We believe that there are certain fundamental rights attached to shareholding. Companies and their boards should be accountable to shareholders and structured with appropriate checks and balances to ensure that they operate in shareholders' best interests. Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and there should be one vote for one share. Shareholders should have the right to elect, remove and nominate directors, approve the appointment of the auditor and to amend the corporate charter or by-laws. Shareholders should be able to vote on matters that are material to the protection of their investment, including but not limited to, changes to the purpose of the business, dilution levels and pre-emptive rights, and the distribution of income and capital structure. In order to make informed decisions, we believe that shareholders have the right to sufficient and timely information.

Our primary focus is on the performance of the board of directors. As the agent of shareholders, the board should set the company's strategic aims within a framework of prudent and effective controls, which enables risk to be assessed and managed. The board should provide direction and leadership to management and oversee management's performance. Our starting position is to be supportive of boards in their oversight efforts on shareholders' behalf and we would generally expect to support the items of business they put to a vote at shareholder meetings. Votes cast against or withheld from resolutions proposed by the board are a signal that we are concerned that the directors or management have either not acted in the best interests of shareholders or have not responded adequately to shareholder concerns. We assess voting matters on a case-by-case basis and in light of each company's unique circumstances taking into consideration regional best practices and long-term value creation.

These principles set out our approach to engaging with companies, provide guidance on our position on corporate governance and outline how our views might be reflected in our voting decisions. Corporate governance practices can vary internationally, so our expectations in relation to individual companies are based on the legal and regulatory framework of each local market. However, we believe there are overarching principles of corporate governance that apply globally and provide a framework for more detailed, market-specific assessments.

We believe BlackRock has a responsibility in relation to monitoring and providing feedback to companies, sometimes known as "stewardship." These ownership responsibilities include engaging with management or board members on corporate governance matters, voting proxies in the best long-term economic interests of our clients, and engaging with regulatory bodies to ensure a sound policy framework consistent with promoting long-term shareholder value creation. We also believe in the responsibility to our clients to have appropriate resources and oversight structures. Our approach is set out in the section below titled "BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities" and is further detailed in a <u>team profile on our website</u>.

#### CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING
We recognize that accepted standards of corporate governance differ between markets, but we believe there are sufficient common threads globally to identify an overarching set of principles. The objective of our investment stewardship activities is the protection and enhancement of the value of our clients' investments in public corporations. Thus, these principles focus on practices and structures that we consider to be supportive of long-term value creation. We discuss below the principles under six key themes. In our regional and market-specific voting guidelines we explain how these principles inform our voting decisions in relation to specific resolutions that may appear on the agenda of a shareholder meeting in the relevant market.

The six key themes are:

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• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions

• Compensation and benefits

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections

At a minimum, we expect companies to observe the accepted corporate governance standards in their domestic market or to explain why doing so is not in the interests of shareholders. Where company reporting and disclosure is inadequate or the approach taken is inconsistent with our view of what is in the best interests of shareholders, we will engage with the company and/or use our vote to encourage a change in practice. In making voting decisions, we perform independent research and analysis, such as reviewing relevant information published by the company and apply our voting guidelines to achieve the outcome we believe best protects our clients' long-term economic interests. We also work closely with our active portfolio managers, and may take into account internal and external research.

BlackRock views engagement as an important activity; engagement provides us with the opportunity to improve our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that investee companies are facing and their governance structures. Engagement also allows us to share our philosophy and approach to investment and corporate governance with companies to enhance their understanding of our objectives. Our engagements often focus on providing our feedback on company disclosures, particularly where we believe they could be enhanced. There are a range of approaches we may take in engaging companies depending on the nature of the issue under consideration, the company and the market.

BlackRock's engagements emphasize direct dialogue with corporate leadership on the governance issues identified in these principles that have a material impact on financial performance. These engagements enable us to cast informed votes aligned with clients' long-term economic interests. We generally prefer to engage in the first instance where we have concerns and give management time to address or resolve the issue. As a long-term investor, we are patient and persistent in working with our portfolio companies to have an open dialogue and develop mutual understanding of governance matters, to promote the adoption of best practices and to assess the merits of a company's approach to its governance. We monitor the companies in which we invest and engage with them constructively and privately where we believe doing so helps protect shareholders' interests. We do not try to micro-manage companies, or tell management and boards what to do. We present our views as a long-term shareholder and listen to companies' responses. The materiality and immediacy of a given issue will generally determine the level of our engagement and whom we seek to engage at the company, which could be management representatives or board directors.

#### Boards and directors
The performance of the board is critical to the economic success of the company and to the protection of shareholders' interests. Board members serve as agents of shareholders in overseeing the strategic direction and operation of the company. For this reason, BlackRock focuses on directors in many of our engagements and sees the election of directors as one of our most important responsibilities in the proxy voting context.

We expect the board of directors to promote and protect shareholder interests by:

• establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure

• supporting and overseeing management in setting long-term strategic goals, applicable measures of value-creation and milestones that will demonstrate progress, and steps taken if any obstacles are anticipated or incurred

• ensuring the integrity of financial statements

• making independent decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals

• establishing appropriate executive compensation structures

• addressing business issues, including environmental and social issues, when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance

There should be clear definitions of the role of the board, the committees of the board and senior management such that the responsibilities of each are well understood and accepted. Companies should report publicly the approach taken to

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governance (including in relation to board structure) and why this approach is in the best interest of shareholders. We will seek to engage with the appropriate directors where we have concerns about the performance of the board or the company, the broad strategy of the company, or the performance of individual board members. We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable.

BlackRock believes that directors should stand for re-election on a regular basis. We assess directors nominated for election or re-election in the context of the composition of the board as a whole. There should be detailed disclosure of the relevant credentials of the individual directors in order for shareholders to assess the caliber of an individual nominee. We expect there to be a sufficient number of independent directors on the board to ensure the protection of the interests of all shareholders. Common impediments to independence may include but are not limited to:

• current or former employment at the company or a subsidiary within the past several years

• being, or representing, a shareholder with a substantial shareholding in the company

• interlocking directorships

• having any other interest, business or other relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

BlackRock believes that the operation of the board is enhanced when there is a clearly independent, senior non-executive director to chair it or, where the chairman is also the CEO (or is otherwise not independent), an independent lead director. The role of this director is to enhance the effectiveness of the independent members of the board through shaping the agenda, ensuring adequate information is provided to the board and encouraging independent participation in board deliberations. The lead independent board director should be available to shareholders in those situations where a director is best placed to explain and justify a company's approach.

To ensure that the board remains effective, regular reviews of board performance should be carried out and assessments made of gaps in skills or experience amongst the members. BlackRock believes it is beneficial for new directors to be brought onto the board periodically to refresh the group's thinking and to ensure both continuity and adequate succession planning. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the multiple dimensions of diversity, including personal factors such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. The board should review these dimensions of the current directors and how they might be augmented by incoming directors. We believe that directors are in the best position to assess the optimal size for the board, but we would be concerned if a board seemed too small to have an appropriate balance of directors or too large to be effective.

There are matters for which the board has responsibility that may involve a conflict of interest for executives or for affiliated directors. BlackRock believes that shareholders' interests are best served when the board forms committees of fully independent directors to deal with such matters. In many markets, these committees of the board specialize in audit, director nominations and compensation matters. An ad hoc committee might also be formed to decide on a special transaction, particularly one with a related party or to investigate a significant adverse event.

#### Auditors and audit-related issues
Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements, which should provide a true and fair picture of a company's financial condition. We will hold the members of the audit committee or equivalent responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or ad hoc notifications of material financial weakness.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor being free of any impediments to being an effective check on management. To that end, we believe it is important that auditors are, and are seen to be, independent. Where the audit firm provides services to the company in addition to the audit, the fees earned should be disclosed and explained. Audit committees should have in place a procedure for assessing annually the independence of the auditor.

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#### Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions
The capital structure of a company is critical to its owners, the shareholders, as it impacts the value of their investment and the priority of their interest in the company relative to that of other equity or debt investors. Pre-emptive rights are a key protection for shareholders against the dilution of their interests.

Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and we believe strongly in one vote for one share as a guiding principle that supports good corporate governance. Shareholders, as the residual claimants, have the strongest interest in protecting company value, and voting power should match economic exposure.

We are concerned that the creation of a dual share class may result in an over-concentration of power in the hands of a few shareholders, thus disenfranchising other shareholders and amplifying the potential conflict of interest, which the one share, one vote principle is designed to mitigate. However, we recognize that in certain circumstances, companies may have a valid argument for dual-class listings, at least for a limited period of time. We believe that such companies should review these dual-class structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Additionally, they should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal in the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

In assessing mergers, asset sales or other special transactions, BlackRock's primary consideration is the long-term economic interests of shareholders. Boards proposing a transaction need to clearly explain the economic and strategic rationale behind it. We will review a proposed transaction to determine the degree to which it enhances long-term shareholder value. We would prefer that proposed transactions have the unanimous support of the board and have been negotiated at arm's length. We may seek reassurance from the board that executives' and/or board members' financial interests in a given transaction have not adversely affected their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own. Where the transaction involves related parties, we would expect the recommendation to support it to come from the independent directors and it is good practice to be approved by a separate vote of the non-conflicted shareholders.

BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to dispose of company shares in the open market without unnecessary restriction. In our view, corporate mechanisms designed to limit shareholders' ability to sell their shares are contrary to basic property rights. Such mechanisms can serve to protect and entrench interests other than those of the shareholders. We believe that shareholders are broadly capable of making decisions in their own best interests. We expect any so-called 'shareholder rights plans' proposed by a board to be subject to shareholder approval upon introduction and periodically thereafter for continuation.

#### Compensation and benefits
BlackRock expects a company's board of directors to put in place a compensation structure that incentivizes and rewards executives appropriately and is aligned with shareholder interests, particularly generating sustainable long-term shareholder returns. We would expect the compensation committee to take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the key individuals the board is trying to incentivize. We encourage companies to ensure that their compensation plans incorporate appropriate and challenging performance conditions consistent with corporate strategy and market practice. We use third party research, in addition to our own analysis, to evaluate existing and proposed compensation structures. We hold members of the compensation committee or equivalent board members accountable for poor compensation practices or structures.

BlackRock believes that there should be a clear link between variable pay and company performance that drives shareholder returns. We are not supportive of one-off or special bonuses unrelated to company or individual performance. We acknowledge that the use of peer group evaluation by compensation committees can help ensure competitive pay; however, we are concerned when increases in total compensation at a company are justified solely on peer benchmarking rather than outperformance. We support incentive plans that foster the sustainable achievement of results relative to competitors. The vesting timeframes associated with incentive plans should facilitate a focus on long -term value creation. We believe consideration should be given to building claw back provisions into incentive plans such that executives would be required to forgo rewards when they are not justified by actual performance. Compensation committees should guard against contractual arrangements that would entitle executives to material compensation for early termination of their contract. Finally, pension contributions and other deferred compensation arrangements should be reasonable in light of market practice.

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Non-executive directors should be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the time and effort expended in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. Additionally, these compensation arrangements should not risk compromising their independence or aligning their interests too closely with those of the management, whom they are charged with overseeing.

#### Environmental and social issues
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well -managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses.

Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate -related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry -specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification processes in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors.

In deciding our course of action, we will assess the company's disclosures and the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social or political judgments on behalf of clients. Our consideration of these E&S factors is consistent with protecting the long-term economic interest of our clients' assets. We expect investee companies to comply,

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at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where local laws or regulations that significantly impact the company's operations are contradictory or ambiguous to global norms.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long - term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate -related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections
BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to timely and detailed information on the financial performance and viability of the companies in which they invest. In addition, companies should also publish information on the governance structures in place and the rights of shareholders to influence these. The reporting and disclosure provided by companies help shareholders assess whether their economic interests have been protected and the quality of the board's oversight of management. We believe shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including changes to governance mechanisms, to submit proposals to the shareholders' meeting and to call special meetings of shareholders.

#### BLACKROCK'S OVERSIGHT OF ITS INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES

#### Oversight
We hold ourselves to a very high standard in our investment stewardship activities, including proxy voting. This function is executed by a team called BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") which is comprised of BlackRock employees who do not have other responsibilities other than their roles in BIS. BIS is considered an investment function. The team does not have sales responsibilities.

BlackRock maintains three regional advisory committees ("Stewardship Advisory Committees") for (a) the Americas; (b) Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); and (c) Asia-Pacific, generally consisting of senior BlackRock investment professionals and/or senior employees with practical boardroom experience. The regional Stewardship Advisory Committees review and advise on amendments to the proxy voting guidelines covering markets within each respective region ("Guidelines").

In addition to the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees, the Investment Stewardship Global Oversight Committee ("Global Committee") is a risk-focused committee, comprised of senior representatives from various BlackRock investment teams, BlackRock's Deputy General Counsel, the Global Head of Investment Stewardship ("Global Head"), and other senior executives with relevant experience and team oversight.

The Global Head has primary oversight of the activities of BIS, including voting in accordance with the Guidelines, which require the application of professional judgment and consideration of each company's unique circumstances. The Global Committee reviews and approves amendments to these Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles. The Global

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Committee also reviews and approves amendments to the regional Guidelines, as proposed by the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees.

In addition, the Global Committee receives and reviews periodic reports regarding the votes cast by BIS, as well as regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other risk oversight considerations. The Global Committee reviews these reports in an oversight capacity as informed by the BIS corporate governance engagement program and Guidelines.

BIS carries out engagement with companies, monitors and executes proxy votes, and conducts vote operations (including maintaining records of votes cast) in a manner consistent with the relevant Guidelines. BIS also conducts research on corporate governance issues and participates in industry discussions to keep abreast of important developments in the corporate governance field. BIS may utilize third parties for certain of the foregoing activities and performs oversight of those third parties. BIS may raise complicated or particularly controversial matters for internal discussion with the relevant investment teams and/or refer such matters to the appropriate regional Stewardship Advisory Committees for review, discussion and guidance prior to making a voting decision.

#### Vote execution
We carefully consider proxies submitted to funds and other fiduciary account(s) ("Fund" or "Funds") for which we have voting authority. BlackRock votes (or refrains from voting) proxies for each Fund for which we have voting authority based on our evaluation of the best long-term economic interests of shareholders, in the exercise of our independent business judgment, and without regard to the relationship of the issuer of the proxy (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) to the Fund, the Fund's affiliates (if any), BlackRock or BlackRock's affiliates, or BlackRock employees (see "Conflicts management policies and procedures", below).

When exercising voting rights, BlackRock will normally vote on specific proxy issues in accordance with the Guidelines for the relevant market. The Guidelines are reviewed regularly and are amended consistent with changes in the local market practice, as developments in corporate governance occur, or as otherwise deemed advisable by BlackRock's Stewardship Advisory Committees. BIS may, in the exercise of their professional judgment, conclude that the Guidelines do not cover the specific matter upon which a proxy vote is required or that an exception to the Guidelines would be in the best long - term economic interests of BlackRock's clients.

In the uncommon circumstance of there being a vote with respect to fixed income securities or the securities of privately held issuers, the decision generally will be made by the Fund's portfolio managers and/or BIS based on their assessment of the particular transactions or other matters at issue.

In certain markets, proxy voting involves logistical issues which can affect BlackRock's ability to vote such proxies, as well as the desirability of voting such proxies. These issues include but are not limited to: (i) untimely notice of shareholder meetings; (ii) restrictions on a foreigner's ability to exercise votes; (iii) requirements to vote proxies in person; (iv) "share- blocking" (requirements that investors who exercise their voting rights surrender the right to dispose of their holdings for some specified period in proximity to the shareholder meeting); (v) potential difficulties in translating the proxy; (vi) regulatory constraints; and (vii) requirements to provide local agents with unrestricted powers of attorney to facilitate voting instructions. We are not supportive of impediments to the exercise of voting rights such as share-blocking or overly burdensome administrative requirements.

As a consequence, BlackRock votes proxies on a "best-efforts" basis. In addition, BIS may determine that it is generally in the best interests of BlackRock's clients not to vote proxies if the costs (including but not limited to opportunity costs associated with share-blocking constraints) associated with exercising a vote are expected to outweigh the benefit the client would derive by voting on the proposal.

Portfolio managers have full discretion to vote the shares in the Funds they manage based on their analysis of the economic impact of a particular ballot item. Portfolio managers may from time to time reach differing views on how best to maximize economic value with respect to a particular investment. Therefore, portfolio managers may, and sometimes do, vote shares in the Funds under their management differently from one another. However, because BlackRock's clients are mostly long-term investors with long-term economic goals, ballots are frequently cast in a uniform manner.

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#### Conflicts management policies and procedures
BIS maintains the following policies and procedures that seek to prevent undue influence on BlackRock's proxy voting activity. Such influence might stem from any relationship between the investee company (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) and BlackRock, BlackRock's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates, or BlackRock employees. The following are examples of sources of perceived or potential conflicts of interest:

• BlackRock clients who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock business partners or third parties who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock employees who may sit on the boards of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Significant BlackRock, Inc. investors who may be issuers of securities held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Securities of BlackRock, Inc. or BlackRock investment funds held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• BlackRock, Inc. board members who serve as senior executives of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

BlackRock has taken certain steps to mitigate perceived or potential conflicts including, but not limited to, the following:

• Adopted the Guidelines which are designed to protect and enhance the economic value of the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

• Established a reporting structure that separates BIS from employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles. In addition, BlackRock seeks to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers, dissident shareholders or shareholder proponents are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock's relationship with such parties. Clients or business partners are not given special treatment or differentiated access to BIS. BIS prioritizes engagements based on factors including but not limited to our need for additional information to make a voting decision or our view on the likelihood that an engagement could lead to positive outcome(s) over time for the economic value of the company. Within the normal course of business, BIS may engage directly with BlackRock clients, business partners and/or third parties, and/or with employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles, in discussions regarding our approach to stewardship, general corporate governance matters, client reporting needs, and/or to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met.

• Determined to engage, in certain instances, an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, or as may be otherwise required by applicable law. In such circumstances, the independent fiduciary provides BlackRock's proxy voting agent with instructions, in accordance with the Guidelines, as to how to vote such proxies, and BlackRock's proxy voting agent votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary's determination. BlackRock uses an independent fiduciary to vote proxies of (i) any company that is affiliated with BlackRock, Inc., (ii) any public company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors, (iii) The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (iv) any public company of which a BlackRock, Inc. board member serves as a senior executive, and (v) companies when legal or regulatory requirements compel BlackRock to use an independent fiduciary. In selecting an independent fiduciary, we assess several characteristics, including but not limited to: independence, an ability to analyze proxy issues and vote in the best economic interest of our clients, reputation for reliability and integrity, and operational capacity to accurately deliver the assigned votes in a timely manner. We may engage more than one independent fiduciary, in part in order to mitigate potential or perceived conflicts of interest at an independent fiduciary. The Global Committee appoints and reviews the performance of the independent fiduciar(ies), generally on an annual basis.

When so authorized, BlackRock acts as a securities lending agent on behalf of Funds. With regard to the relationship between securities lending and proxy voting, BlackRock's approach is driven by our clients' economic interests. The decision whether to recall securities on loan to vote is based on a formal analysis of the revenue producing value to clients of loans, against the assessed economic value of casting votes. Generally, we expect that the likely economic value to clients of casting votes would be less than the securities lending income, either because, in our assessment, the resolutions being voted on will not have significant economic consequences or because the outcome would not be affected by BlackRock recalling loaned securities in order to vote. BlackRock also may, in our discretion, determine that the value of voting outweighs the cost of recalling shares, and thus recall shares to vote in that instance.

Periodically, BlackRock reviews our process for determining whether to recall securities on loan in order to vote and may modify it as necessary.

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#### Voting guidelines
The issue-specific Guidelines published for each region/country in which we vote are intended to summarize BlackRock's general philosophy and approach to issues that may commonly arise in the proxy voting context in each market where we invest. These Guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. BIS applies the Guidelines on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the individual circumstances of each company and the specific issue under review. As such, these Guidelines do not indicate how BIS will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots.

#### Reporting and vote transparency
We inform clients about our engagement and voting policies and activities through direct communication and through disclosure on our website. Each year we publish an annual report, an annual engagement and voting statistics report, and our full voting record to our website. On a quarterly basis, we publish regional reports which provide an overview of our investment stewardship engagement and voting activities during the quarter, including market developments, speaking engagements, and engagement and voting statistics. Additionally, we make public our market-specific voting guidelines for the benefit of clients and companies with whom we engage.

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## Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Introduction | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Voting guidelines | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Boards and directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Independence | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Responsiveness to shareholders | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Shareholder rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board composition and effectiveness | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board size | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Classified board of directors / staggered terms | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Contested director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Cumulative voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director compensation and equity programs | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Majority vote requirements | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Risk oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Separation of chairman and CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Auditors and audit-related issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Capital structure proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equal voting rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Blank check preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase in authorized common shares | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase or issuance of preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Stock splits | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Poison pill plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Executive Compensation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay") | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Claw back proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Employee stock purchase plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equity compensation plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Golden parachutes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Option exchanges | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Pay-for-Performance plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Supplemental executive retirement plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| Environmental and social issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Climate risk | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Corporate political activities | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| General corporate governance matters | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Bundled proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Exclusive forum provisions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Multi-jurisdictional companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Other business | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reincorporation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- IPO governance | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Shareholder Protections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Proxy access | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to act by written consent | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to call a special meeting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Simple majority voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |

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These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the BlackRock Investment Stewardship Global Corporate Governance Guidelines & Engagement Principles (See Appendix A2 of this SAI).

#### INTRODUCTION
BlackRock, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "BlackRock") seek to make proxy voting decisions in the manner most likely to protect and enhance the economic value of the securities held in client accounts. The following issue-specific proxy voting guidelines (the "Guidelines") are intended to summarize BlackRock Investment Stewardship's general philosophy and approach to corporate governance issues that most commonly arise in proxy voting for U.S. securities. These Guidelines are not intended to limit the analysis of individual issues at specific companies and are not intended to provide a guide to how BlackRock will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots, as well as our expectations of boards of directors. They are applied with discretion, taking into consideration the range of issues and facts specific to the company and the individual ballot item.

#### VOTING GUIDELINES
These guidelines are divided into eight key themes which group together the issues that frequently appear on the agenda of annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders:

• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure

• Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions

• Executive compensation

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters

• Shareholder protections

#### BOARDS AND DIRECTORS

#### Director elections
In general, BlackRock supports the election of directors as recommended by the board in uncontested elections. However, we believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held account able. We may withhold votes from directors or members of particular board committees in certain situations, as indicated below.

#### Independence
We expect a majority of the directors on the board to be independent. In addition, all members of key committees, including audit, compensation, and nominating / governance committees, should be independent. Our view of independence may vary slightly from listing standards.

In particular, common impediments to independence in the U.S. may include:

• Employment as a senior executive by the company or a subsidiary within the past five years

• An equity ownership in the company in excess of 20%

• Having any other interest, business, or relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

We may vote against directors serving on key committees that we do not consider to be independent.

When evaluating controlled companies, as defined by the U.S. stock exchanges, we will only vote against insiders or affiliates who sit on the audit committee, but not other key committees.

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#### Oversight
We expect the board to exercise appropriate oversight over management and business activities of the company. We will consider voting against committee members and / or individual directors in the following circumstances:

• Where the board has failed to exercise oversight with regard to accounting practices or audit oversight, we will consider voting against the current audit committee, and any other members of the board who may be responsible. For example, this may apply to members of the audit committee during a period when the board failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing if substantial accounting irregularities suggest insufficient oversight by that committee

• Members of the compensation committee during a period in which executive compensation appears excessive relative to performance and peers, and where we believe the compensation committee has not already substantially addressed this issue

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where the board is not comprised of a majority of independent directors. However, this would not apply in the case of a controlled company

• Where it appears the director has acted (at the company or at other companies) in a manner that compromises his / her reliability to represent the best long-term economic interests of shareholders

• Where a director has a pattern of poor attendance at combined board and applicable key committee meetings. Excluding exigent circumstances, BlackRock generally considers attendance at less than 75% of the combined board and applicable key committee meetings by a board member to be poor attendance

• Where a director serves on an excess number of boards, which may limit his / her capacity to focus on each board's requirements. The following illustrates the maximum number of boards on which a director may serve, before he / she is considered to be over-committed:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Public<br> Company CEO** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**# Outside<br> Public Boards\*** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total # of<br> Public Boards** |
| Director A | &nbsp;&nbsp;x | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| Director B |  | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |

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\* In addition to the company under review

#### Responsiveness to shareholders
We expect a board to be engaged and responsive to its shareholders. Where we believe a board has not substantially addressed shareholder concerns, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

• The independent chair or lead independent director, members of the nominating / governance committee, and / or the longest tenured director(s), where we observe a lack of board responsiveness to shareholders, evidence of board entrenchment, and / or failure to promote adequate board succession planning

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where board member(s) at the most recent election of directors have received withhold votes from more than 30% of shares voted and the board has not taken appropriate action to respond to shareholder concerns. This may not apply in cases where BlackRock did not support the initial withhold vote

• The independent chair or lead independent director and / or members of the nominating / governance committee, where a board fails to implement shareholder proposals that receive a majority of votes cast at a prior shareholder meeting, and the proposals, in our view, have a direct and substantial impact on shareholders' fundamental rights or long-term economic interests

#### Shareholder rights
We expect a board to act with integrity and to uphold governance best practices. Where we believe a board has not acted in the best interests of its shareholders, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

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• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board implements or renews a poison pill without shareholder approval

• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board amends the charter / articles / bylaws such that the effect may be to entrench directors or to significantly reduce shareholder rights

• Members of the compensation committee where the company has repriced options without shareholder approval

• If a board maintains a classified structure, it is possible that the director(s) with whom we have a particular concern may not be subject to election in the year that the concern arises. In such situations, if we have a concern regarding a committee or committee chair that is not up for re-election, we will generally register our concern by withholding votes from all available members of the relevant committee

#### Board composition and effectiveness
We encourage boards to periodically renew their membership to ensure relevant skills and experience within the boardroom. To this end, regular performance reviews and skills assessments should be conducted by the nominating / governance committee.

Furthermore, we expect boards to be comprised of a diverse selection of individuals who bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in order to create a constructive debate of competing views and opinions in the boardroom. We recognize that diversity has multiple dimensions. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the full breadth of diversity including personal factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. In addition to other elements of diversity, we encourage companies to have at least two women directors on their board. Our publicly available <u>commentary</u> explains our approach to engaging on board diversity.

We encourage boards to disclose their views on:

• The mix of competencies, experience, and other qualities required to effectively oversee and guide management in light of the stated long-term strategy of the company

• The process by which candidates are identified and selected, including whether professional firms or other sources outside of incumbent directors' networks have been engaged to identify and / or assess candidates

• The process by which boards evaluate themselves and any significant outcomes of the evaluation process, without divulging inappropriate and / or sensitive details

• The consideration given to board diversity, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnicity, race, age, experience, geographic location, skills, and perspective in the nomination process

While we support regular board refreshment, we are not opposed in principle to long-tenured directors, nor do we believe that long board tenure is necessarily an impediment to director independence. A variety of director tenures within the boardroom can be beneficial to ensure board quality and continuity of experience.

Our primary concern is that board members are able to contribute effectively as corporate strategy evolves and business conditions change, and that all directors, regardless of tenure, demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to shareholders. We acknowledge that no single person can be expected to bring all relevant skill sets to a board; at the same time, we generally do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to have any particular director on the board solely by virtue of a singular background or specific area of expertise.

Where boards find that age limits or term limits are the most efficient and objective mechanism for ensuring periodic board refreshment, we generally defer to the board's determination in setting such limits.

To the extent that we believe that a company has not adequately accounted for diversity in its board composition within a reasonable timeframe, we may vote against the nominating / governance committee for an apparent lack of commitment to board effectiveness.

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#### Board size
We typically defer to the board in setting the appropriate size and believe directors are generally in the best position to assess the optimal board size to ensure effectiveness. However, we may oppose boards that appear too small to allow for effective shareholder representation or too large to function efficiently.

#### CEO and management succession planning
There should be a robust CEO and senior management succession plan in place at the board level that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. We expect succession planning to cover both long-term planning consistent with the strategic direction of the company and identified leadership needs over time, as well as short-term planning in the event of an unanticipated executive departure. We encourage the company to explain its executive succession planning process, including where accountability lies within the boardroom for this task, without prematurely divulging sensitive information commonly associated with this exercise.

#### Classified board of directors / staggered terms
We believe that directors should be re-elected annually and that classification of the board generally limits shareholders' rights to regularly evaluate a board's performance and select directors. While we will typically support proposals requesting board de-classification, we may make exceptions, should the board articulate an appropriate strategic rationale for a classified board structure, such as when a company needs consistency and stability during a time of transition, e.g. newly public companies or companies undergoing a strategic restructuring. A classified board structure may also be justified at non-operating companies in certain circumstances. We would, however, expect boards with a classified structure to periodically review the rationale for such structure and consider when annual elections might be appropriate.

Without a voting mechanism to immediately address concerns of a specific director, we may choose to vote against or withhold votes from the available slate of directors by default (see "Shareholder rights" for additional detail).

#### Contested director elections
The details of contested elections, or proxy contests, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We evaluate a number of factors, which may include: the qualifications of the dissident and management candidates; the validity of the concerns identified by the dissident; the viability of both the dissident's and management's plans; the likelihood that the dissident's solutions will produce the desired change; and whether the dissident represents the best option for enhancing long-term shareholder value.

#### Cumulative voting
We believe that a majority vote standard is in the best long-term interest of shareholders. It ensures director accountability via the requirement to be elected by more than half of the votes cast. As such, we will generally oppose proposals requesting the adoption of cumulative voting, which may disproportionately aggregate votes on certain issues or director candidates.

#### Director compensation and equity programs
We believe that compensation for directors should be structured to attract and retain the best possible directors, while also aligning their interests with those of shareholders. We believe director compensation packages that are based on the company's long-term value creation and include some form of long-term equity compensation are more likely to meet this goal. In addition, we expect directors to build meaningful share ownership over time.

#### Majority vote requirements
BlackRock believes that directors should generally be elected by a majority of the shares voted and will normally support proposals seeking to introduce bylaws requiring a majority vote standard for director elections. Majority voting standards assist in ensuring that directors who are not broadly supported by shareholders are not elected to serve as their representatives. Some companies with a plurality voting standard have adopted a resignation policy for directors who do not receive support from at least a majority of votes cast. Where we believe that the company already has a sufficiently robust majority voting process in place, we may not support a shareholder proposal seeking an alternative mechanism.

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#### Risk oversight
Companies should have an established process for identifying, monitoring, and managing key risks. Independent directors should have ready access to relevant management information and outside advice, as appropriate, to ensure they can properly oversee risk management. We encourage companies to provide transparency around risk measurement, mitigation, and reporting to the board. We are particularly interested in understanding how risk oversight processes evolve in response to changes in corporate strategy and / or shifts in the business and related risk environment. Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

#### Separation of chairman and CEO
We believe that independent leadership is important in the boardroom. In the U.S. there are two commonly accepted structures for independent board leadership: 1) an independent chairman; or 2) a lead independent director when the roles of chairman and CEO are combined.

In the absence of a significant governance concern, we defer to boards to designate the most appropriate leadership structure to ensure adequate balance and independence.

In the event that the board chooses a combined chair / CEO model, we generally support the designation of a lead independent director if they have the power to: 1) provide formal input into board meeting agendas; 2) call meetings of the independent directors; and 3) preside at meetings of independent directors. Furthermore, while we anticipate that most directors will be elected annually, we believe an element of continuity is important for this role for an extended period of time to provide appropriate leadership balance to the chair / CEO.

The following table illustrates examples of responsibilities under each board leadership model:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Separate<br> Chair Model** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair / CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair |
| Board Meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;Attends full meetings of the board of directors<br> Authority to call meetings of independent directors<br> Briefs CEO on issues arising from executive sessions | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors |
| Agenda | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, consulting with the lead director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Collaborates with chair / CEO to set board agenda and board information | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, in conjunction with CEO |
| Board Communications | &nbsp;&nbsp;Communicates with all directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning |

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#### AUDITORS AND AUDIT-RELATED ISSUES
BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements to provide a complete and accurate portrayal of a company's financial condition. Consistent with our approach to voting on boards of directors, we seek to hold the audit committee of the board responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function at a company, and may withhold votes from the audit committee members where the board has failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing. We look to

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the audit committee report for insight into the scope of the audit committee responsibilities, including an overview of audit committee processes, issues on the audit committee agenda, and key decisions taken by the audit committee. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or material weakness disclosures, and we expect timely disclosure and remediation of accounting irregularities.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor effectively fulfilling its role. To that end, we favor an independent auditor. In addition, to the extent that an auditor fails to reasonably identify and address issues that eventually lead to a significant financial restatement, or the audit firm has violated standards of practice that protect the interests of shareholders, we may also vote against ratification.

From time to time, shareholder proposals may be presented to promote auditor independence or the rotation of audit firms. We may support these proposals when they are consistent with our views as described above.

#### CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROPOSALS

#### Equal voting rights
BlackRock believes that shareholders should be entitled to voting rights in proportion to their economic interests. We believe that companies that look to add or already have dual or multiple class share structures should review these structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Companies should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal on the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

#### Blank check preferred stock
We frequently oppose proposals requesting authorization of a class of preferred stock with unspecified voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights ("blank check" preferred stock) because they may serve as a transfer of authority from shareholders to the board and as a possible entrenchment device. We generally view the board's discretion to establish voting rights on a when-issued basis as a potential anti-takeover device, as it affords the board the ability to place a block of stock with an investor sympathetic to management, thereby foiling a takeover bid without a shareholder vote.

Nonetheless, we may support the proposal where the company:

• Appears to have a legitimate financing motive for requesting blank check authority

• Has committed publicly that blank check preferred shares will not be used for anti-takeover purposes

• Has a history of using blank check preferred stock for financings

• Has blank check preferred stock previously outstanding such that an increase would not necessarily provide further anti-takeover protection but may provide greater financing flexibility

#### Increase in authorized common shares
BlackRock considers industry-specific norms in our analysis of these proposals, as well as a company's history with respect to the use of its common shares. Generally, we are predisposed to support a company if the board believes additional common shares are necessary to carry out the firm's business. The most substantial concern we might have with an increase is the possibility of use of common shares to fund a poison pill plan that is not in the economic interests of shareholders.

#### Increase or issuance of preferred stock
We generally support proposals to increase or issue preferred stock in cases where the company specifies the voting, dividend, conversion, and other rights of such stock where the terms of the preferred stock appear reasonable.

#### Stock splits
We generally support stock splits that are not likely to negatively affect the ability to trade shares or the economic value of a share. We generally support reverse stock splits that are designed to avoid delisting or to facilitate trading in the stock, where the reverse split will not have a negative impact on share value (e.g*.* one class is reduced while others remain at pre- split

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levels). In the event of a proposal for a reverse split that would not also proportionately reduce the company's authorized stock, we apply the same analysis we would use for a proposal to increase authorized stock.

#### MERGERS, ASSET SALES, AND OTHER SPECIAL TRANSACTIONS
BlackRock's primary concern is the best long-term economic interests of shareholders. While merger, asset sales, and other special transaction proposals vary widely in scope and substance, we closely examine certain salient features in our analyses, such as:

• The degree to which the proposed transaction represents a premium to the company's trading price. We consider the share price over multiple time periods prior to the date of the merger announcement. In most cases, business combinations should provide a premium. We may consider comparable transaction analyses provided by the parties' financial advisors and our own valuation assessments. For companies facing insolvency or bankruptcy, a premium may not apply

• There should be clear strategic, operational, and / or financial rationale for the combination

• Unanimous board approval and arm's-length negotiations are preferred. We will consider whether the transaction involves a dissenting board or does not appear to be the result of an arm's-length bidding process. We may also consider whether executive and / or board members' financial interests in a given transaction appear likely to affect their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own

• We prefer transaction proposals that include the fairness opinion of a reputable financial advisor assessing the value of the transaction to shareholders in comparison to recent similar transactions

#### Poison pill plans
Where a poison pill is put to a shareholder vote by management, our policy is to examine these plans individually. Although we oppose most plans, we may support plans that include a reasonable "qualifying offer clause." Such clauses typically require shareholder ratification of the pill and stipulate a sunset provision whereby the pill expires unless it is renewed.

These clauses also tend to specify that an all cash bid for all shares that includes a fairness opinion and evidence of financing does not trigger the pill, but forces either a special meeting at which the offer is put to a shareholder vote, or the board to seek the written consent of shareholders where shareholders could rescind the pill at their discretion. We may also support a pill where it is the only effective method for protecting tax or other economic benefits that may be associated with limiting the ownership changes of individual shareholders.

We generally vote in favor of shareholder proposals to rescind poison pills.

#### Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns
We generally do not support shareholder proposals seeking the reimbursement of proxy contest expenses, even in situations where we support the shareholder campaign. We believe that introducing the possibility of such reimbursement may incentivize disruptive and unnecessary shareholder campaigns.

#### EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
We note that there are both management and shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. We generally vote on these proposals as described below, except that we typically oppose shareholder proposals on issues where the company already has a reasonable policy in place that we believe is sufficient to address the issue. We may also oppose a shareholder proposal regarding executive compensation if the company's history suggests that the issue raised is not likely to present a problem for that company.

#### Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay")
In cases where there is a Say on Pay vote, BlackRock will respond to the proposal as informed by our evaluation of compensation practices at that particular company and in a manner that appropriately addresses the specific question posed to shareholders. In a commentary on our website, entitled "<u>BlackRock Investment Stewardship's approach to executive compensation</u>," we explain our beliefs and expectations related to executive compensation practices, our Say on Pay analysis framework, and our typical approach to engagement and voting on Say on Pay.

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#### Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions
BlackRock will generally support triennial pay frequency votes, but we defer to the board to determine the appropriate timeframe upon which pay should be reviewed. In evaluating pay, we believe that the compensation committee is responsible for constructing a plan that appropriately incentivizes executives for long-term value creation, utilizing relevant metrics and structure to ensure overall pay and performance alignment. In a similar vein, we defer to the board to establish the most appropriate timeframe for review of pay structure, absent a change in strategy that would suggest otherwise.

However, we may support an annual pay frequency vote in some situations, for example, where we conclude that a company has failed to align pay with performance. In these circumstances, we will also consider voting against the compensation committee members.

#### Claw back proposals
We generally favor recoupment from any senior executive whose compensation was based on faulty financial reporting or deceptive business practices. In addition to fraudulent acts, we also favor recoupment from any senior executive whose behavior caused direct financial harm to shareholders, reputational risk to the company, or resulted in a criminal investigation, even if such actions did not ultimately result in a material restatement of past results. This includes, but is not limited to, settlement agreements arising from such behavior and paid for directly by the company. We typically support shareholder proposals on these matters unless the company already has a robust claw back policy that sufficiently addresses our concerns.

#### Employee stock purchase plans
We believe these plans can provide performance incentives and help align employees' interests with those of shareholders. The most common form of employee stock purchase plan ("ESPP") qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. We will typically support qualified ESPP proposals.

#### Equity compensation plans
BlackRock supports equity plans that align the economic interests of directors, managers, and other employees with those of shareholders. We believe that boards should establish policies prohibiting the use of equity awards in a manner that could disrupt the intended alignment with shareholder interests (e.g. the use of stock as collateral for a loan; the use of stock in a margin account; the use of stock or an unvested award in hedging or derivative transactions). We may support shareholder proposals requesting the establishment of such policies.

Our evaluation of equity compensation plans is based on a company's executive pay and performance relative to peers and whether the plan plays a significant role in a pay-for-performance disconnect. We generally oppose plans that contain "evergreen" provisions, which allow for the unlimited increase of shares reserved without requiring further shareholder approval after a reasonable time period. We also generally oppose plans that allow for repricing without shareholder approval. We may also oppose plans that provide for the acceleration of vesting of equity awards even in situations where an actual change of control may not occur. We encourage companies to structure their change of control provisions to require the termination of the covered employee before acceleration or special payments are triggered.

#### Golden parachutes
We generally view golden parachutes as encouragement to management to consider transactions that might be beneficial to shareholders. However, a large potential pay-out under a golden parachute arrangement also presents the risk of motivating a management team to support a sub-optimal sale price for a company. When determining whether to support or oppose an advisory vote on a golden parachute plan, we normally support the plan unless it appears to result in payments that are excessive or detrimental to shareholders. In evaluating golden parachute plans, BlackRock may consider several factors, including:

• Whether we believe that the triggering event is in the best interest of shareholders

• Whether management attempted to maximize shareholder value in the triggering event

• The percentage of total premium or transaction value that will be transferred to the management team, rather than shareholders, as a result of the golden parachute payment

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• Whether excessively large excise tax gross-up payments are part of the pay-out

• Whether the pay package that serves as the basis for calculating the golden parachute payment was reasonable in light of performance and peers

• Whether the golden parachute payment will have the effect of rewarding a management team that has failed to effectively manage the company

It may be difficult to anticipate the results of a plan until after it has been triggered; as a result, BlackRock may vote against a golden parachute proposal even if the golden parachute plan under review was approved by shareholders when it was implemented.

We may support shareholder proposals requesting that implementation of such arrangements require shareholder approval. We generally support proposals requiring shareholder approval of plans that exceed 2.99 times an executive's current salary and bonus, including equity compensation.

#### Option exchanges
We believe that there may be legitimate instances where underwater options create an overhang on a company's capital structure and a repricing or option exchange may be warranted. We will evaluate these instances on a case-by-case basis. BlackRock may support a request to reprice or exchange underwater options under the following circumstances:

• The company has experienced significant stock price decline as a result of macroeconomic trends, not individual company performance

• Directors and executive officers are excluded; the exchange is value neutral or value creative to shareholders; tax, accounting, and other technical considerations have been fully contemplated

• There is clear evidence that absent repricing, the company will suffer serious employee incentive or retention and recruiting problems

BlackRock may also support a request to exchange underwater options in other circumstances, if we determine that the exchange is in the best interest of shareholders.

#### Pay-for-Performance plans
In order for executive compensation exceeding $1 million USD to qualify for federal tax deductions, related to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ("OBRA") requires companies to link compensation for the company's top five executives to disclosed performance goals and submit the plans for shareholder approval. The law further requires that a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors administer these plans. Because the primary objective of these proposals is to preserve the deductibility of such compensation, we generally favor approval in order to preserve net income.

#### Supplemental executive retirement plans
BlackRock may support shareholder proposals requesting to put extraordinary benefits contained in Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans ("SERP") agreements to a shareholder vote unless the company's executive pension plans do not contain excessive benefits beyond what is offered under employee-wide plans.

#### ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well-managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses. Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry-specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an

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overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification process in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

• Publish disclosures in line with industry specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

• Disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors. In deciding our course of action, we will assess the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social, ethical, or political judgments on behalf of clients, but rather, to protect the ir long-term economic interests as shareholders. We expect investee companies to comply, at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where such laws or regulations are contradictory or ambiguous.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long- term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain

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instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### Corporate political activities
Companies may engage in certain political activities, within legal and regulatory limits, in order to influence public policy consistent with the companies' values and strategies, and thus serve shareholders' best long-term economic interests. These activities can create risks, including: the potential for allegations of corruption; the potential for reputational issues associated with a candidate, party, or issue; and risks that arise from the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations associated with corporate political activity. We believe that companies which choose to engage in political activities should develop and maintain robust processes to guide these activities and to mitigate risks, including a level of board oversight.

When presented with shareholder proposals requesting increased disclosure on corporate political activities, we may consider the political activities of that company and its peers, the existing level of disclosure, and our view regarding the associated risks. We generally believe that it is the duty of boards and management to determine the appropriate level of disclosure of all types of corporate activity, and we are generally not supportive of proposals that are overly prescriptive in nature. We may decide to support a shareholder proposal requesting additional reporting of corporate political activities where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or actual harm to shareholders' interests, and where we believe the company has not already provided shareholders with sufficient information to assess the company's management of the risk.

Finally, we believe that it is not the role of shareholders to suggest or approve corporate political activities; therefore we generally do not support proposals requesting a shareholder vote on political activities or expenditures.

#### GENERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MATTERS

#### Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes
We generally support such proposals unless the agenda contains items that we judge to be detrimental to shareholders' best long-term economic interests.

#### Bundled proposals
We believe that shareholders should have the opportunity to review substantial governance changes individually without having to accept bundled proposals. Where several measures are grouped into one proposal, BlackRock may reject certain positive changes when linked with proposals that generally contradict or impede the rights and economic interests of shareholders.

#### Exclusive forum provisions
BlackRock generally supports proposals to seek exclusive forum for certain shareholder litigation. In cases where a board unilaterally adopts exclusive forum provisions that we consider unfavorable to the interests of shareholders, we will vote against the independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee.

#### Multi-jurisdictional companies
Where a company is listed on multiple exchanges or incorporated in a country different from its primary listing, we will seek to apply the most relevant market guideline(s) to our analysis of the company's governance structure and specific proposals on the shareholder meeting agenda. In doing so, we typically consider the governance standards of the company's primary listing, the market standards by which the company governs itself, and the market context of each specific proposal on the agenda. If the relevant standards are silent on the issue under consideration, we will use our professional judgment as to what voting outcome would best protect the long-term economic interests of investors. We expect that companies will disclose the rationale for their selection of primary listing, country of incorporation, and choice of governance structures, in particular where there is conflict between relevant market governance practices.

#### Other business

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We oppose giving companies our proxy to vote on matters where we are not given the opportunity to review and understand those measures and carry out an appropriate level of shareholder oversight.

#### Reincorporation
Proposals to reincorporate from one state or country to another are most frequently motivated by considerations of anti- takeover protections, legal advantages, and / or cost savings. We will evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the economic and strategic rationale behind the company's proposal to reincorporate. In all instances, we will evaluate the changes to shareholder protection under the new charter / articles / bylaws to assess whether the move increases or decreases shareholder protections. Where we find that shareholder protections are diminished, we may support reincorporation if we determine that the overall benefits outweigh the diminished rights.

#### IPO governance
We expect boards to consider and disclose how the corporate governance structures adopted upon initial public offering ("IPO") are in shareholders' best long-term interests. We also expect boards to conduct a regular review of corporate governance and control structures, such that boards might evolve foundational corporate governance structures as company circumstances change, without undue costs and disruption to shareholders. In our <u>letter on unequal voting structures</u>, we articulate our view that "one vote for one share" is the preferred structure for publicly-traded companies. We also recognize the potential benefits of dual class shares to newly public companies as they establish themselves; however, we believe that these structures should have a specific and limited duration. We will generally engage new companies on topics such as classified boards and supermajority vote provisions to amend bylaws, as we believe that such arrangements may not be in the best interest of shareholders in the long-term.

We will typically apply a one-year grace period for the application of certain director-related guidelines (including, but not limited to, director independence and over-boarding considerations), during which we expect boards to take steps to bring corporate governance standards in line with our expectations.

Further, if a company qualifies as an emerging growth company (an "EGC") under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), we will give consideration to the NYSE and NASDAQ governance exemptions granted under the JOBS Act for the duration such a company is categorized as an EGC. We expect an EGC to have a totally independent audit committee by the first anniversary of its IPO, with our standard approach to voting on auditors and audit-related issues applicable in full for an EGC on the first anniversary of its IPO.

#### SHAREHOLDER PROTECTIONS

#### Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws
We believe that shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including on changes to governance mechanisms and amendments to the charter / articles / bylaws. We may vote against certain directors where changes to governing documents are not put to a shareholder vote within a reasonable period of time, in particular if those changes have the potential to impact shareholder rights (see "Director elections" herein). In cases where a board's unilateral adoption of changes to the charter / articles / bylaws promotes cost and operational efficiency benefits for the company and its shareholders, we may support such action if it does not have a negative effect on shareholder rights or the company's corporate governance structure.

When voting on a management or shareholder proposal to make changes to the charter / articles / bylaws, we will consider in part the company's and / or proponent's publicly stated rationale for the changes, the company's governance profile and history, relevant jurisdictional laws, and situational or contextual circumstances which may have motivated the proposed changes, among other factors. We will typically support changes to the charter / articles / bylaws where the benefits to shareholders, including the costs of failing to make those changes, demonstrably outweigh the costs or risks of making such changes.

#### Proxy access
We believe that long-term shareholders should have the opportunity, when necessary and under reasonable conditions, to nominate directors on the company's proxy card.

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In our view, securing the right of shareholders to nominate directors without engaging in a control contest can enhance shareholders' ability to meaningfully participate in the director election process, stimulate board attention to shareholder interests, and provide shareholders an effective means of directing that attention where it is lacking. Proxy access mechanisms should provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to use this right without stipulating overly restrictive or onerous parameters for use, and also provide assurances that the mechanism will not be subject to abuse by short-term investors, investors without a substantial investment in the company, or investors seeking to take control of the board.

In general, we support market-standardized proxy access proposals, which allow a shareholder (or group of up to 20 shareholders) holding three percent of a company's outstanding shares for at least three years the right to nominate the greater of up to two directors or 20% of the board. Where a standardized proxy access provision exists, we will generally oppose shareholder proposals requesting outlier thresholds.

#### Right to act by written consent
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to solicit votes by written consent provided that: 1) there are reasonable requirements to initiate the consent solicitation process (in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests); and 2) shareholders receive a minimum of 50% of outstanding shares to effectuate the action by written consent. We may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others, or if the proposal is written to discourage the board from incorporating appropriate mechanisms to avoid the waste of corporate resources when establishing a right to act by written consent. Additionally, we may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent if the company already provides a shareholder right to call a special meeting that we believe offers shareholders a reasonable opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting.

#### Right to call a special meeting
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to call a special meeting in cases where a reasonably high proportion of shareholders (typically a minimum of 15% but no higher than 25%) are required to agree to such a meeting before it is called, in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests. However, we may oppose this right in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others. We generally believe that a right to act via written consent is not a sufficient alternative to the right to call a special meeting.

#### Simple majority voting
We generally favor a simple majority voting requirement to pass proposals. Therefore, we will support the reduction or the elimination of supermajority voting requirements to the extent that we determine shareholders' ability to protect their economic interests is improved. Nonetheless, in situations where there is a substantial or dominant shareholder, supermajority voting may be protective of public shareholder interests and we may support supermajority requirements in those situations.

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IS-SAI-CCRV-0323

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## iShares<sup>®</sup> U.S. ETF Trust
Statement of Additional Information

Dated March 1, 2023

This Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the current prospectus (the "Prospectus") for the following series of iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust"):

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Ticker** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Listing Exchange** |
| iShares Gold Strategy ETF (the "Fund") | &nbsp;&nbsp;IAUF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Cboe BZX |

---

The Prospectus for the Fund is dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. The Financial Statements and Notes contained in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) and [Semi-Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522187742/d360218dncsrs.htm) of the Trust for the Fund are incorporated by reference into and are deemed to be part of this SAI. A copy of the Prospectus, Annual Report and Semi-Annual Report may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting *www.iShares.com*. The Fund's Prospectus is incorporated by reference into this SAI.

References to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act" or the "1940 Act"), or other applicable law, will include any rules promulgated thereunder and any guidance, interpretations or modifications by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), SEC staff or other authority with appropriate jurisdiction, including court interpretations, and exemptive, no action or other relief or permission from the SEC, SEC staff or other authority.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

------

#### **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| [General Description of the Trust and the Fund](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Exchange Listing and Trading](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Investment Strategies and Risks](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Derivatives](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Diversification Status](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures and Options](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lending Portfolio Securities](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk Management](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Options on Futures Contracts](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulation Regarding Derivatives](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreements](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reverse Repurchase Agreements](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Swap Agreements](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Future Developments](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| [General Considerations and Risks](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodity Forward Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Dividend-Paying Stock Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Illiquid Investments Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Companies](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Replacement Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Money Market Instruments Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Issuers Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Operational Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Derivatives](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Swap Agreements](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Valuation Risk](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Developed Countries](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Europe](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in North America](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Gold](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| [Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| [Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Bloomberg Composite Gold Index](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [Investment Policies](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Continuous Offering](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Management](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Trustees and Officers](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Committees of the Board of Trustees](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_27) | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Conflicts of Interest](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| [Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_40) | &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Adviser](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_40) | &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Portfolio Managers](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Codes of Ethics](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_43) | &nbsp;&nbsp;43 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Anti-Money Laundering Requirements](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_43) | &nbsp;&nbsp;43 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_44) | &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distributor](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_44) | &nbsp;&nbsp;44 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_45) | &nbsp;&nbsp;45 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Payments by BFA and its Affiliates](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;46 |
| [Determination of Net Asset Value](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_47) | &nbsp;&nbsp;47 |
| [Brokerage Transactions](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_50) | &nbsp;&nbsp;50 |
| [Additional Information Concerning the Trust](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_52) | &nbsp;&nbsp;52 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shares](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_52) | &nbsp;&nbsp;52 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_53) | &nbsp;&nbsp;53 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distribution of Shares](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| [Creation and Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[General](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fund Deposit](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Purchase Method](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Procedures for Creation of Creation Units](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Role of the Authorized Participant](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Purchase Orders](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |

---

ii

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_gold-_e8df50ac-6bde-4c6e-9ff7-2bbb813ec09d_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuance of a Creation Unit](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Creation Transactions](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Redemption Method](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Redemption Orders](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custom Baskets](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units](#xx_8ea5f0a9-8dea-48af-8654-35196af97c3a_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| [Taxes](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulated Investment Company Qualifications](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of RICs](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excise Tax](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Net Capital Loss Carryforwards](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of U.S. Shareholders](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sales of Shares](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Backup Withholding](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sections 351 and 362](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Certain Derivatives](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Qualified Dividend Income](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Corporate Dividends Received Deduction](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excess Inclusion Income](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reporting](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Other Taxes](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| [Financial Statements](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| [Miscellaneous Information](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Counsel](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shareholder Communications to the Board](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investors' Rights](#xx_9ff30b46-37f8-416a-a6bb-dcf0dce03553_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| [Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_6b014569-bee0-46ad-b0cf-a6278fd80c05_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-1 |
| [Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_6b014569-bee0-46ad-b0cf-a6278fd80c05_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-2 |
| [Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_b132a566-e26b-4c62-bfcd-b966d1195909_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-13 |

---

iii

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_gold-_e8df50ac-6bde-4c6e-9ff7-2bbb813ec09d_sai_toc)

## General Description of the Trust and the Fund
The Trust currently consists of 16 investment series or portfolios. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on June 21, 2011 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. The offering of the Trust's shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This SAI relates solely to the Fund.

The Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., and generally seeks to track the investment results of the specific benchmark index identified in the Fund's Prospectus (the "Underlying Index").

The Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value per share ("NAV") only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each, a "Creation Unit"), generally in exchange for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) (the "Deposit Securities" or "Creation Basket"), together with the deposit of a specified cash payment (the "Cash Component"). Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. (the "Listing Exchange" or "Cboe BZX"), a national securities exchange. Shares of the Fund are traded in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below the Fund's NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Units by Authorized Participants (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units-Role of the Authorized Participant* section of this SAI) and, generally, in exchange for portfolio securities and a Cash Amount (as defined in the *Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI). Creation Units typically are a specified number of shares, generally 50,000 or multiples thereof.

The Trust reserves the right to permit or require that creations and redemptions of shares are effected fully or partially in cash. Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities, subject to various conditions, including a requirement that the Authorized Participant maintain with the Trust collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to purchase Deposit Securities. See the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Transaction fees and other costs associated with creations or redemptions that include a cash portion may be higher than the transaction fees and other costs associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, conditions with respect to creations and redemptions of shares and fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of SEC rules and regulations applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.

## Exchange Listing and Trading
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the *Shareholder Information* section of the Fund's Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, that section of the Prospectus.

Shares of the Fund are listed for trading, and trade throughout the day, on the Listing Exchange and in other secondary markets. Shares of the Fund may also be listed on certain non-U.S. exchanges. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Listing Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of the Fund will continue to be met. The Listing Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of the Fund from listing if, among other things: (i) the Fund is no longer eligible to operate in reliance on Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act; (ii) any of the other listing requirements are not continuously maintained; or (iii) any event shall occur or condition shall exist that, in the opinion of the Listing Exchange, makes further dealings on the Listing Exchange inadvisable. The Listing Exchange will also remove shares of the Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Fund.

As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker, as well as other charges.

The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Fund in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Fund or an investor's equity interest in the Fund.

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## Investment Strategies and Risks
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index, which is designed to track the price performance of gold. The Underlying Index is composed of exchange-traded gold futures contracts and one or more exchange-traded products ("ETPs") backed by or linked to physical gold. The Fund operates as an index fund and is not actively managed. Adverse performance of an instrument in the Fund's portfolio will ordinarily not result in the elimination of the instrument from the Fund's portfolio.

In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Fund invests in a combination of (i) exchange-traded gold futures contracts and other exchange-traded or over-the-counter ("OTC") derivatives (*i.e*., forward contracts, futures, options and swaps) that correlate to the investment returns of physical gold, based on the notional value of such derivative instruments; and (ii) ETPs backed by or linked to physical gold, which may include the iShares Gold Trust (the "Gold Trust") ((i) and (ii) together, the "Gold Investments"). The Gold Trust, whose assets consist primarily of gold held by a custodian on behalf of the Gold Trust, seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of gold. The Fund may invest up to 20% of the Fund's assets in OTC derivatives. The Fund additionally aims to generate interest income and capital appreciation through a cash management strategy consisting primarily of cash and cash equivalents and short-term government obligations (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments").

The Fund engages in representative sampling, which is investing in a sample of securities and/or other instruments selected by BFA to have a collective investment profile similar to that of the Fund's Underlying Index. Securities and/or other instruments selected have aggregate investment characteristics (based on market capitalization value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as yield, credit rating, maturity and duration) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Fund's Underlying Index. A fund that uses representative sampling generally does not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments that are in its underlying index.

The ETPs held by the Fund may invest in physical gold bullion or OTC or exchange-traded derivatives on gold bullion, such as forward contracts, futures, options and swaps. The ETPs held by the Fund may be sponsored by an affiliate of BFA or by an unaffiliated entity, and may be structured as, among others, exchange-traded commodities that track the price of gold or exchange-traded notes with interest and/or principal payments linked to the price of gold.

The Fund seeks to gain exposure to the Gold Investments by investing through a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. Unlike the Fund, the Subsidiary is not an investment company registered under the 1940 Act. The Subsidiary invests solely in the Gold Investments and cash and cash equivalents.

In compliance with Sub-Chapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Gold Investments held in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to the gold market consistent with current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in the Gold Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets is invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments, including repurchase agreements, money market instruments, U.S. government and agency securities, treasury inflation-protected securities and sovereign debt obligations of non-U.S. countries. The Fund invests in Fixed-Income Investments for investment purposes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's investments in derivatives.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

Although the Fund does not seek leveraged returns, certain instruments used by the Fund may have a leveraging effect as described below.

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Investments in the Subsidiary are expected to provide the Fund with exposure to investment returns of the Gold Investments within the limitations of Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code, as discussed below. The Subsidiary is a company organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands, whose registered office is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KYI-1104, Cayman Islands. The Subsidiary's affairs are overseen by a board of directors, which is composed of Shannon Ghia, Secretary of the Trust, and Rachel Aguirre, Assistant Secretary of the Trust. The Fund is the sole shareholder of the Subsidiary, and shares of the Subsidiary will not be sold or offered to other investors.

The Fund gains exposure to the investment returns of the Gold Investments indirectly by investing in the Subsidiary. To the extent that BlackRock believes that such instruments provide suitable exposure to gold, the Fund's investment in the Subsidiary will likely increase. BlackRock manages the assets of the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so.

BlackRock also provides certain administrative services for the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so. The Subsidiary has a contract for the provision of custody, transfer agency, and accounting agent services with the same or with affiliates of the same service providers that provide those services to the Fund.

Generally, the Fund and the Subsidiary test for compliance with investment policies and restrictions, including asset segregation requirements, on a consolidated basis for 1940 Act purposes, calculated in accordance with SEC staff guidance, where applicable. For compliance with federal income tax requirements, the Fund and the Subsidiary expect to comply with the asset segregation requirements on a stand-alone basis, with instruments requiring physical settlement being classified on a market value rather than on a notional basis. The Subsidiary is also expected to comply with the other applicable 1940 Act requirements, including those related to custody and affiliated transactions.

The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Fund's Prospectus or this SAI, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. However, the Fund wholly owns and controls the Subsidiary, and the Fund and the Subsidiary are managed by BFA. The Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board" or the "Trustees") has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. As noted above, the Subsidiary is subject to the same investment restrictions and limitations, and follows the same compliance policies and procedures, as the Fund. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Fund's Prospectus and this SAI and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely suffer decreased investment returns.

The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues new regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

**Borrowing. The Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet payments due from redemptions or to facilitate the settlement of securities or other transactions.**

The purchase of securities or other assets while borrowings are outstanding may have the effect of leveraging the Fund. The incurrence of leverage increases the Fund's exposure to risk, and borrowed funds are subject to interest costs that will reduce net income. Purchasing securities while borrowings are outstanding creates special risks, such as the potential for greater volatility in the NAV of Fund shares and in the yield on the Fund's portfolio. In addition, the interest expenses from borrowings may exceed the income generated by the Fund's portfolio and, therefore, the amount available (if any) for distribution to shareholders as dividends may be reduced. BFA may determine to maintain outstanding borrowings if it expects that the benefits to the Fund's shareholders will outweigh the current reduced return.

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Certain types of borrowings by the Fund must be made from a bank or may result in the Fund being subject to covenants in credit agreements relating to asset coverage, portfolio composition requirements and other matters. It is not anticipated that observance of such covenants would impede BFA's management of the Fund's portfolio in accordance with the Fund's investment objectives and policies. However, a breach of any such covenants not cured within the specified cure period may result in acceleration of outstanding indebtedness and require the Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

**Derivatives. The Fund may use instruments referred to as derivatives. Derivatives are financial instruments the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity (such as gold or oil), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500 Index or the prime lending rate). Derivatives allow the Fund to increase or decrease the level of risk to which the Fund is exposed more quickly and efficiently than transactions in other types of instruments. The Fund may use derivatives for hedging purposes. The Fund may also use derivatives for speculative purposes to seek to enhance returns. The use of a derivative is speculative if the Fund is primarily seeking to achieve gains, rather than to offset the risk of other positions. When the Fund invests in a derivative for speculative purposes, the Fund will be fully exposed to the risks of loss of that derivative, which may sometimes be greater than the derivative's cost. Unless otherwise permitted, the Fund may not use any derivatives to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly.**

**Diversification Status. The Fund is classified as "non-diversified." A non-diversified fund is a fund that is not limited by the 1940 Act with regard to the percentage of its assets that may be invested in the securities of a single issuer. The securities of a particular issuer (or securities of issuers in particular industries) may constitute a significant percentage of the investment portfolio of such a fund. This may adversely affect the fund's performance or subject the fund's shares to greater price volatility than that experienced by more diversified investment companies.**

The Fund intends to maintain the required level of diversification and otherwise conduct its operations so as to qualify as a RIC for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code, and to relieve the Fund of any liability for U.S. federal income tax to the extent that its earnings are distributed to shareholders, provided that the Fund satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. Compliance with the diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code may limit the investment flexibility of the Fund and may make it less likely that the Fund will meet its investment objective.

**Futures and Options. The Fund may invest in options and futures. The Fund may also purchase call options or write put options. A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security or asset at a specified price ("exercise price") within a specified period of time. A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security or asset at an exercise price within a specified period of time. The initial purchaser of a call option pays the "writer" a premium, which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised.**

**Lending Portfolio Securities. The Fund may lend portfolio securities to certain borrowers that BFA determines to be creditworthy, including borrowers affiliated with BFA. The borrowers provide collateral that is maintained in an amount at least equal to the current market value of the securities loaned. No securities loan shall be made on behalf of the Fund if, as a result, the aggregate value of all securities loans of the Fund exceeds one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received). The Fund may terminate a loan at any time and obtain the return of the securities loaned. The Fund receives, by way of substitute payment, the value of any interest or cash or non-cash distributions paid on the loaned securities that it would have otherwise received if the securities were not on loan.**

With respect to loans that are collateralized by cash, the borrower may be entitled to receive a fee based on the amount of cash collateral. The Fund is compensated by any positive difference between the amount earned on the reinvestment of cash collateral and the fee paid to the borrower. In the case of collateral other than cash, the Fund is compensated by a fee paid by the borrower equal to a percentage of the market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral received by the Fund for such loans, and uninvested cash, may be reinvested in certain short-term instruments either directly on behalf of the Fund or through one or more joint accounts or money market funds, including those affiliated with BFA; such investments are subject to investment risk.

The Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to an exemptive order from the SEC permitting it to lend portfolio securities to borrowers affiliated with the Fund and to retain an affiliate of the Fund to act as securities lending agent. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA. BTC administers the lending program in accordance

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with guidelines approved by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board," the trustees of which are the "Trustees"). JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan") serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.

Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including operational risk (i.e., the risk of losses resulting from problems in the settlement and accounting process), "gap" risk (i.e., the risk of a mismatch between the return on cash collateral reinvestments and the fees the Fund has agreed to pay a borrower), foreign exchange risk (i.e., the risk of a shortfall at default when a cash collateral investment is denominated in a currency other than the currency of the assets being loaned due to movements in foreign exchange rates), and credit, legal, counterparty and market risks (including the risk that market events could lead the Fund to recall loaned securities or to lend less or not at all, which could lead to reduced securities lending revenue). If a securities lending counterparty were to default, the Fund would be subject to the risk of a possible delay in receiving collateral or in recovering the loaned securities, or to a possible loss of rights in the collateral. In the event a borrower does not return the Fund's securities as agreed, the Fund's ability to participate in a corporate action event may be impacted, or the Fund may experience losses if the proceeds received from liquidating the collateral do not at least equal the value of the loaned security at the time the collateral is liquidated, plus the transaction costs incurred in purchasing replacement securities. This latter event could trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. The Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan. Substitute payments received by the Fund representing dividends paid on securities loaned out by the Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. BTC will take into account the tax effects on shareholders caused by this difference in connection with the Fund's securities lending program. Substitute payments received on tax-exempt securities loaned out will not be tax-exempt income. There could also be changes in the status of issuers under applicable laws and regulations, including tax regulations, that may impact the regulatory or tax treatment of loaned securities and could, for example, result in a delay in the payment of dividend equivalent payments owed to the Fund (as permitted by applicable law).

Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these requirements, as well as potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect the Fund's ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

**Liquidity Risk Management. Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act (the "Liquidity Rule") requires open-end funds, including exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") such as the Fund, to establish a liquidity risk management program (the "Liquidity Program") and enhance disclosures regarding fund liquidity. As required by the Liquidity Rule, the Fund has implemented a Liquidity Program, and the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust, has appointed BFA as the administrator of the Liquidity Program. Under the Liquidity Program, BFA assesses, manages, and periodically reviews the Fund's liquidity risk and classifies each investment held by the Fund as a "highly liquid investment," "moderately liquid investment," "less liquid investment" or "illiquid investment." The Liquidity Rule defines "liquidity risk" as the risk that the Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by the Fund without significant dilution of the remaining investors' interest in the Fund. The liquidity of the Fund's portfolio investments is determined based on relevant market, trading and investment-specific considerations under the Liquidity Program. There are exclusions from certain portions of the liquidity risk management program requirements for "in-kind" ETFs, as defined in the Liquidity Rule. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, the Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.**

**Options on Futures Contracts. The Fund may invest in options on futures contracts. An option on a futures contract, as contrasted with the direct investment in such a contract, gives the purchaser the right, in return for the premium paid, to assume a position in the underlying futures contract at a specified exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option. Upon exercise of an option, the delivery of the futures position by the writer of the option to the holder of the option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated balance in the writer's futures margin account that represents the amount by which the market price of the futures contract exceeds (in the case of a call) or is less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option on the futures contract. The potential for loss related to the purchase of an option on a futures contract is limited to the premium paid for the option plus transaction costs. Because the value of the option is fixed at the point of sale, there are no daily cash payments by the purchaser to reflect changes in the value of the underlying contract; however, the value of the option changes daily and that change would be reflected in the NAV of the Fund. The potential for loss related to writing call options is unlimited. The potential for loss related to writing put options is limited to the agreed upon price per share, also known as the "strike price," less the premium received from writing the put.**

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**Regulation Regarding Derivatives. The CFTC subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if a fund that is advised by the investment adviser either (i) invests, directly or indirectly, more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps ("CFTC Derivatives") or (ii) markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC Derivatives above the prescribed levels, the Fund is considered a "commodity pool" under the CEA. Accordingly, BFA, the Fund's investment adviser, has registered as a commodity pool operator and is subject to CFTC regulation with respect to the Fund. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association.**

Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards, and non-deliverable forwards ("NDFs"), are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Swaps, NDFs and certain other derivatives traded in the OTC market are subject to variation margin and initial margin requirements. Implementation of the margining and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading, reporting and documentation of swaps and other derivatives have impacted and may continue to impact the costs to the Fund of trading these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in the Fund.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into Derivatives Transactions (as defined below) and certain other transactions notwithstanding the restrictions on the issuance of "senior securities" under Section 18 of the Investment Company Act. Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, among other things, prohibits open-end funds, including the Fund, from issuing or selling any "senior security," other than borrowing from a bank (subject to a requirement to maintain 300% "asset coverage").

Under Rule 18f-4, "Derivatives Transactions" include the following: (1) any swap, security-based swap (including a contract for differences), futures contract, forward contract, option (excluding purchased options), any combination of the foregoing, or any similar instrument, under which the Fund is or may be required to make any payment or delivery of cash or other assets during the life of the instrument or at maturity or early termination, whether as margin or settlement payment or otherwise; (2) any short sale borrowing; (3) reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g*., recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, and borrowed bonds), if the Fund elects to treat these transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4; and (4) when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g.,* firm and standby commitments, including to-be-announced ("TBA") commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities, unless the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision").

Unless the Fund is relying on the Limited Derivatives User Exception (as defined below), the Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to its Derivatives Transactions. Rule 18f-4, among other things, requires the Fund to adopt and implement a comprehensive written derivatives risk management program ("DRMP") and comply with a relative or absolute limit on Fund leverage risk calculated based on value-at-risk ("VaR"). The DRMP is administered by a "derivatives risk manager," who is appointed by the Board, including a majority of Independent Directors/Trustees, and periodically reviews the DRMP and reports to the Board.

Rule 18f-4 provides an exception from the DRMP, VaR limit and certain other requirements if the Fund's "derivatives exposure" (as defined in Rule 18f-4) is limited to 10% of its net assets (as calculated in accordance with Rule 18f-4) and the Fund adopts and implements written policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks (the "Limited Derivatives User Exception").

**Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price, thereby determining the yield during the purchaser's holding period. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price, and, in the event of a default by the seller, the Fund may suffer time delays and incur costs or losses in connection with the disposition of the collateral.**

In any repurchase transaction, the collateral for a repurchase agreement may include: (i) cash items; (ii) obligations issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; or (iii) obligations that, at the time the repurchase agreement is

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entered into, are determined to (A) have exceptionally strong capacity to meet their financial obligations and (B) are sufficiently liquid such that they can be sold at approximately their carrying value in the ordinary course of business within seven days.

Repurchase agreements pose certain risks for the Fund, should it decide to utilize them. Such risks are not unique to the Fund, but are inherent in repurchase agreements. The Fund seeks to minimize such risks, but because of the inherent legal uncertainties involved in repurchase agreements, such risks cannot be eliminated. Lower quality collateral and collateral with a longer maturity may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality collateral and collateral with a shorter maturity. If the repurchase agreement counterparty were to default, lower quality collateral may be more difficult to liquidate than higher quality collateral. Should the counterparty default and the amount of collateral not be sufficient to cover the counterparty's repurchase obligation, the Fund would likely retain the status of an unsecured creditor of the counterparty (*i.e.*, the position the Fund would normally be in if it were to hold, pursuant to its investment policies, other unsecured debt securities of the defaulting counterparty) with respect to the amount of the shortfall. As an unsecured creditor, the Fund would be at risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.

**Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. Generally, the effect of such transactions is that the Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are advantageous only if the Fund has an opportunity to earn a rate of interest on the cash derived from these transactions that is greater than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required to be paid may not always be available, and the Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique only when BFA believes it will be advantageous to the Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any increase or decrease in the value of the Fund's assets. The use of reverse repurchase agreements is a form of leverage, and the proceeds obtained by the Fund through reverse repurchase agreements may be invested in additional securities.**

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.,* recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, borrowed bonds) notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that the Fund either (i) complies with the 300% asset coverage ratio with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treats such transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4. (See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.)

**Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments. The Fund may invest in short-term instruments, including money market instruments, on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity or for other reasons. Money market instruments are generally short-term investments that may include, but are not limited to: (i) shares of money market funds (including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA); (ii) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (including government-sponsored enterprises); (iii) negotiable certificates of deposit ("CDs"), bankers' acceptances, fixed-time deposits and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks (including non-U.S. branches) and similar institutions; (iv) commercial paper rated, at the date of purchase, "Prime-1" by Moody's<sup>®</sup> Investors Service, Inc., "F-1" by Fitch Ratings, Inc., or "A-1" by S&P Global, Inc., a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies ("S&P Global Ratings"), or if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by BFA; (v) non-convertible corporate debt securities (*e.g.*, bonds and debentures) with remaining maturities at the date of purchase of not more than 397 days and that have been determined to present minimal credit risks, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act; (vi) repurchase agreements; and (vii) short-term U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of non-U.S. banks (including U.S. branches) that, in the opinion of BFA, are of comparable quality to obligations of U.S. banks that may be purchased by the Fund. Any of these instruments may be purchased on a current or forward-settled basis. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Bankers' acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.**

**Swap Agreements. Swap agreements are contracts between parties in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to the other party based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount. In return, the other party agrees to make periodic payments to the first party based on the return (or a differential in rate of return) earned or realized on the underlying investment or notional amount. Swap agreements will usually be performed on a net basis, with the Fund receiving or paying only the net amount of the two payments. The net amount of the excess, if any, of the Fund's obligations over its entitlements with respect to each swap is accrued on a daily basis.**

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The use of swaps is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions. These transactions generally do not involve the delivery of securities or other underlying assets.

**Future Developments. The Board may, in the future, authorize the Fund to invest in securities contracts and investments, other than those listed in this SAI and in the Prospectus, provided they are consistent with the Fund's investment objective and do not violate any of its investment restrictions or policies.**

## General Considerations and Risks
A discussion of some of the principal risks associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the Prospectus.

An investment in the Fund should be made with an understanding that the value of the Fund's portfolio securities may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of stocks in general, and other factors that affect the market. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

Set forth below is more detailed information regarding the types of instruments in which the Fund may invest, strategies BFA may employ in pursuit of the Fund's investment objective and related risks.

**Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the NAV of Fund shares and in the return on the Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cause the Fund to incur interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce the Fund's return. Borrowing may cause the Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.**

**Commodity Forward Risk. A commodity forward is a customized, non-standardized agreement that obligates one party to buy, and the other party to sell, a specific quantity of an underlying commodity for an agreed-upon price at a future date, usually for physical delivery. Commodity forwards that are settled by a cash payment at maturity are referred to as "non-deliverable forwards." Because commodity forwards do not trade on a centralized exchange, they are subject to a higher degree of default risk and, depending upon the underlying commodity, may be less liquid than futures contracts on the same referenced commodity. In addition, use of commodity forwards creates risk for the Fund because the contracts require the Fund to take or make delivery of a physical commodity, which involves additional cost as well as delivery risk. Unless the Fund were to close out a contract prior to maturity, any failure of the Fund to comply with the contract delivery obligations at maturity would cause the Fund to default, which could have adverse collateral consequences for investors.**

**Dividend-Paying Stock Risk. Investing in dividend-paying stocks involves the risk that such stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform the broader market. Companies that issue dividend-paying stocks are not required to pay or continue paying dividends on such stocks. It is possible that issuers of the stocks held by the Fund will not declare dividends in the future or will reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends (including reducing or eliminating anticipated accelerations or increases in the payment of dividends) in the future.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The liquidity of an investment will be determined based on relevant market, trading and investment specific considerations as set out in the Liquidity Program as required by the Liquidity Rule. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount to comparable, more liquid investments and the Fund may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments in a timely fashion or at their expected prices. If illiquid investments exceed 15% of the Fund's net assets, the Liquidity Rule and the Liquidity Program will require that certain remedial actions be taken.**

**Investment Companies. The Fund may invest in the securities of other investment companies (including money market funds) to the extent allowed by law. Under the 1940 Act, the Fund's investment in investment companies is limited to, subject to certain exceptions, (i) 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of any one investment company, (ii) 5% of the Fund's total assets with respect to any one investment company, and (iii) 10% of the Fund's total assets with respect to investment companies in the aggregate. To the extent allowed by law or regulation, the Fund may invest its assets in securities of**

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investment companies that are money market funds, including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA, in excess of the limits discussed above. Investment companies in which the Fund invests can be expected to incur fees and expenses for operations, such as investment advisory and administration fees, that would be in addition to those incurred by the Fund.

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. All other LIBOR settings and certain other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA") ceased to be published after December 31, 2021. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement ("repo") market and has been used increasingly on a voluntary basis in new instruments and transactions. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate Act was signed into law in the U.S., providing a statutory fallback mechanism to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Federal Reserve Board and based on SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR without adequate fallback provisions. On December 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve Board adopted regulations implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate Act by identifying benchmark rates based on SOFR that will replace LIBOR in different categories of financial contracts after June 30, 2023.**

The regulations include provisions that (i) provide a safe harbor for selection or use of a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; (ii) clarify who may choose the replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; and (iii) ensure that contracts adopting a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board will not be interrupted or terminated following the replacement of LIBOR. These regulations apply only contracts governed by U.S. law, among other limitations. Similar legislation and regulations have been and may be further adopted in other jurisdictions.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Parties to contracts, securities or other instruments using LIBOR may disagree on transition rates or the application of applicable transition regulations, potentially resulting in uncertainty of performance and the possibility of litigation. The Fund may have instruments linked to other interbank offered rates and currencies that may also cease to be published in the future.

The effect of these changes on the Fund will vary based on, among other things, existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and the potential renegotiation of existing contracts. In many cases, if an instrument falls back to an alternative reference rate, including SOFR, the alternative reference rate will not perform the same as LIBOR because the alternative reference rate does not include a credit-sensitive component in the rate calculation. In the event of a credit crisis, floating rate instruments using certain alternative reference rates could perform differently than those instruments using a rate indexed to the interbank lending market.

**Money Market Instruments Risk. The Fund may hold money market instruments. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changes in interest rates or in the credit ratings of the investments, among other things. If a significant amount of a Fund's assets is invested in money market instruments, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than U.S. government money market funds and retail money market funds "float" their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.**

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S.**

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economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.

**Operational Risk. BFA and the Fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors such as processing errors or human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, or systems or technology failures, that could negatively impact the Fund. While service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, their methods of operational risk management may differ from the Fund's in the setting of priorities, the personnel and resources available or the effectiveness of relevant controls. BFA, through its monitoring and oversight of service providers, seeks to ensure that service providers take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors. However, it is not possible for BFA or the other Fund service providers to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.**

**Risk of Derivatives. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, such as a security, a commodity (such as gold or silver), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500<sup>®</sup> or the prime lending rate). The Fund may invest in commodity futures contracts, securities options and other derivatives. Compared to securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus the Fund's losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations. Derivatives generally involve the incurrence of leverage.**

When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds or is committed to purchase, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and in some cases, hedging can cause losses that are not offset by gains, and the Fund will recognize losses on both the investment and the hedge. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.

**Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. A position in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be closed only on the exchange on which the contract was made (or a linked exchange). While the Fund plans to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if the Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, a Fund may be required to deliver the instruments underlying the futures contracts it has sold.**

The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (e.g., selling uncovered bond index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Fund does not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor relative to the size of a required margin deposit.

Utilization of futures and options on futures by the Fund involves the risk of loss by the Fund of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom the Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option. The purchase of put or call options will be based upon predictions by BFA as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect.

Because the futures market generally imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day's settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could

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move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and subjecting the Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.

**Risk of Swap Agreements. The risk of loss with respect to swaps is generally limited to the net amount of payments that the Fund is contractually obligated to make. Swap agreements are subject to the risk that the swap counterparty will default on its obligations. If such a default occurs, the Fund will have contractual remedies pursuant to the agreements related to the transaction. However, such remedies may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could affect the Fund's rights as a creditor (*e.g.*, the Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it is contractually entitled to receive).**

The Fund is required to post and collect variation margin and initial margin (comprised of specified liquid securities subject to haircuts) in connection with trading of OTC swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps.

Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. Swaps entered into by the Fund through its Subsidiary are not expected to be centrally cleared and thus will expose the Fund to counter-party default risk and illiquidity risk, as liquidity depends on the willingness of counterparties to enter into, and the ability of counterparties to hedge the risks of, such contracts.

**Securities Lending Risk. The Fund may engage in securities lending. Securities lending involves the risk that the Fund may lose money because the borrower of the loaned securities fails to return the securities in a timely manner or at all. The Fund could also lose money in the event of a decline in the value of collateral provided for loaned securities or a decline in the value of any investments made with cash collateral. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund.**

**Valuation Risk. In certain circumstances, the Fund's securities may be valued using techniques other than market quotations. The value established for a security may be different from what would be produced through the use of another methodology or if the value had been priced using market quotations. Securities that are valued using methods other than market quotations, including "fair valued" securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their value from one day to the next than would be the case if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell a security for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund could incur a loss if a security is sold for less than its established value.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Many countries with developed markets have recently experienced significant economic pressures. These countries generally tend to rely on the services sectors (*e.g.*, the financial services sector) as the primary source of economic growth and may be susceptible to the risks of individual service sectors. For example, companies in the financial services sector are subject to governmental regulation and, recently, government intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and amount of capital they must maintain. Dislocations in the financial sector and perceived or actual governmental influence over certain financial companies may lead to credit rating downgrades and, as a result, impact, among other things, revenue growth for such companies. If financial companies experience a prolonged decline in revenue growth, certain developed countries that rely heavily on financial companies as an economic driver may experience a correlative slowdown. Concerns have emerged with respect to the economic health of certain developed countries. These concerns primarily stem from heavy indebtedness of many developed countries and their perceived inability to continue to service high debt loads without simultaneously implementing stringent austerity measures. Such concerns have led to tremendous downward pressure on the economies of these countries. As a result, it is possible that interest rates on debt of certain developed countries may rise to levels that make it difficult for such countries to service such debt. Spending on health care and retirement pensions in most developed countries has risen dramatically. Medical innovation, extended life expectancy and higher public expectations are likely to continue the increase in health care and pension costs. Any increase in health care and pension costs will likely have a negative impact on the economic growth of many developed countries. Certain developed countries rely on imports of certain key items, such as crude oil, natural gas, and other commodities. As a result, an increase in demand for, or price fluctuations of, certain commodities may negatively affect developed country economies. Developed market countries generally are dependent on the economies of certain key trading partners. Changes in any one economy may cause an adverse impact on several developed countries. In addition, heavy regulation of, among others, labor and product markets may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.**

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**Risk of Investing in Europe. Investing in European countries may expose the Fund to the economic and political risks associated with Europe in general and the specific European countries in which it invests. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one European country can have an adverse impact on other European countries. The Fund makes investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, have significant operations in, or that are listed on at least one securities exchange within member states of the European Union (the "EU"). A number of countries within the EU are also members of the Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") and have adopted the euro as their currency. Eurozone membership requires member states to comply with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Changes in import or export tariffs, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro and other currencies of certain EU countries which are not in the eurozone, the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. Although certain European countries are not in the eurozone, many of these countries are obliged to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone.**

Consequently, these countries must comply with many of the restrictions noted above. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns, government debt levels and the possible default of government debt in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. In order to prevent further economic deterioration, certain countries, without prior warning, can institute "capital controls." Countries may use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering and exiting their country. Such controls may negatively affect the Fund's investments. A default or debt restructuring by any European country would adversely impact holders of that country's debt and sellers of credit default swaps linked to that country's creditworthiness, which may be located in countries other than those listed above. In addition, the credit ratings of certain European countries were downgraded in the past. These events have adversely affected the value and exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect the economies of every country in Europe, including countries that do not use the euro and non-EU member states. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly fashion, is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely impact the value of the Fund's investments in the region.

The United Kingdom (the "U.K.") left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.

Certain European countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect European issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region also could impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.*

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**Risk of Investing in North America. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which the Fund invests.**

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S., and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities held by the Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by the Fund.

**Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector. Companies in the financials sector include regional and money center banks, securities brokerage firms, asset management companies, savings banks and thrift institutions, specialty finance companies (*e.g.*, credit card, mortgage providers), insurance and insurance brokerage firms, consumer finance firms, financial conglomerates and foreign banking and financial companies.**

Most financial companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which limits their activities and may affect their ability to earn a profit from a given line of business. Government regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by the regulation. Direct governmental intervention in the operations of financial companies and financial markets may materially and adversely affect the companies in which the Fund invests, including legislation in many countries that may increase government regulation, repatriation and other intervention. The impact of governmental intervention and legislative changes on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted. The valuation of financial companies has been and continues to be subject to unprecedented volatility and may be influenced by unpredictable factors, including interest rate risk and sovereign debt default. Certain financial businesses are subject to intense competitive pressures, including market share and price competition. Financial companies in foreign countries are subject to market specific and general regulatory and interest rate concerns. In particular, government regulation in certain foreign countries may include taxes and controls on interest rates, credit availability, minimum capital requirements, bans on short sales, limits on prices and restrictions on currency transfers. In addition, companies in the financials sector may be the targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or customer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.

The profitability of banks, savings and loan associations and financial companies is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates change; for instance, when interest rates go up, the value of securities issued by many types of companies in the financials sector generally goes down. In other words, financial companies may be adversely affected in certain market cycles, including, without limitation, during periods of rising interest rates, which may restrict the availability and increase the cost of capital, and during periods of declining economic conditions, which may cause, among other things, credit losses due to financial difficulties of borrowers.

In addition, general economic conditions are important to the operations of these companies, and financial difficulties of borrowers may have an adverse effect on the profitability of financial companies. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products, and who at times may be unable to meet their obligations to the financial services companies. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk, including cross-default risk, may result in significant negative impacts to the financial condition and reputation of companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Financial companies can be highly dependent upon access to capital markets, and any impediments to such access, such as adverse overall economic conditions or a negative perception in the capital markets of a financial company's financial condition or prospects, could adversely affect its business. Deterioration of credit markets can have an adverse impact on a broad range of financial markets, causing certain financial companies to incur large losses. In these conditions, companies in the financials sector may experience significant declines in the valuation of their assets, take actions to raise capital and even cease operations. Some financial companies may also be required to accept or borrow significant amounts

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of capital from government sources and may face future government-imposed restrictions on their businesses or increased government intervention. In addition, there is no guarantee that governments will provide any such relief in the future. These actions may cause the securities of many companies in the financials sector to decline in value.

**Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. Exposure to the gold market may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile. Similar future market conditions may result in rapid and substantial valuation increases or decreases in the Fund's holdings.**

Factors that may cause a change in the price of gold, include, among other things:

• The strength of the U.S. dollar. Because the price of gold is generally inversely related to the value of the U.S. dollar, a stronger U.S. dollar tends to keep the price of gold lower and more controlled, while a weaker U.S. dollar is likely to drive the price of gold higher. During times of economic uncertainty and when the dollar is weak, investments in gold tend to increase.

• Large sales, including those by governments, central banks and related institutions, which own a significant portion of the aggregate world holdings in gold. If one or more of these institutions decide to sell in amounts large enough to cause a decline in world gold prices, the performance of the Fund may be adversely affected.

• Changes in the supply and demand of goods or services of large users of gold. For example, as demand for consumer goods such as jewelry and electronics increases, the price of gold can rise.

• A significant increase in gold hedging activity by gold producers. Should there be an increase in the level of hedge activity of gold producing companies, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

• A significant change in the attitude of speculators and investors towards gold. Should the speculative community take a negative view towards gold, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted.

Certain factors may trigger a temporary increase in the price of gold. If that is the case, the Fund may be investing in securities at prices affected by the temporarily high prices of gold and may incur losses when the causes for the temporary increase disappear.

The commodity markets generally are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions.

The Fund also invests in gold bullion through ETPs. Gold bullion may depreciate in value and does not generate income unlike other investments, which may pay dividends or make other current payments. Also, as compared to other investments, ETPs may have higher custody and transaction costs.

## Proxy Voting Policy
For the Fund, the Board has delegated the voting of proxies for the Fund's securities to BFA pursuant to the Fund's Proxy Voting Policy (the "iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy"), and BFA has adopted policies and procedures (the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BFA, including the Fund.

Under the BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies, BFA will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of the Fund's shareholders, on the one hand, and those of BFA, or any affiliated person of the Fund or BFA, on the other. BFA maintains policies and procedures that are designed to prevent undue influence on BFA's proxy voting activity that might stem from any relationship between the issuer of a proxy (or any dissident shareholder) and BFA, BFA's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates. Most conflicts are managed through a structural separation of BFA's Corporate Governance Group from BFA's employees with sales and client responsibilities. In addition, BFA maintains procedures to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BFA's relationship with the issuer of the proxy or the

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dissident shareholder. In certain instances, BFA may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copies of the iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy, the BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies and the BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies are attached as Appendices A1, A2 and A3, respectively.

Information with respect to how proxies relating to the Fund's portfolio securities were voted during the 12-month period ended June 30 is available: (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or through the Fund's website at *www.iShares.com*; and (ii) on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

## Portfolio Holdings Information
On each Business Day (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI), prior to the opening of regular trading on the Fund's primary listing exchange, the Fund discloses on its website (<u>www.iShares.com</u>) certain information relating to the portfolio holdings that will form the basis of the Fund's next net asset value per share calculation.

In addition, certain information may also be made available to certain parties:

• **Communications of Data Files: The Fund may make available through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") or through posting on the <u>www.iShares.com</u>, prior to the opening of trading on each business day, a list of the Fund's holdings (generally pro-rata) that Authorized Participants could deliver to the Fund to settle purchases of the Fund (*i.e.* Deposit Securities) or that Authorized Participants would receive from the Fund to settle redemptions of the Fund (*i.e.* Fund Securities). These files are known as the Portfolio Composition File and the Fund Data File (collectively, "Files"). The Files are applicable for the next trading day and are provided to the NSCC and/or posted on <u>www.iShares.com</u> after the close of markets in the U.S.** 

• **Communications with Authorized Participants and Liquidity Providers: Certain employees of BFA are responsible for interacting with Authorized Participants and liquidity providers with respect to discussing custom basket proposals as described in the *Custom Baskets* section of this SAI. As part of these discussions, these employees may discuss with an Authorized Participant or liquidity provider the securities the Fund is willing to accept for a creation, and securities that the Fund will provide on a redemption.** 

BFA employees may also discuss portfolio holdings-related information with broker/dealers, in connection with settling the Fund's transactions, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with the disclosure in the Fund's current registration statements.

• **Communications with Listing Exchanges: From time to time, employees of BFA may discuss portfolio holdings information with the applicable primary listing exchange for the Fund as needed to meet the exchange listing standards.** 

• **Communications with Other Portfolio Managers: Certain information may be provided to employees of BFA who manage funds that invest a significant percentage of their assets in shares of an underlying fund as necessary to manage the fund's investment objective and strategy.** 

• **Communication of Other Information: Certain explanatory information regarding the Files is released to Authorized Participants and liquidity providers on a daily basis, but is only done so after the Files are posted to <u>www.iShares.com</u>.** 

• **Third-Party Service Providers: Certain portfolio holdings information may be disclosed to Fund Trustees and their counsel, outside counsel for the Fund, auditors and to certain third-party service providers (*i.e.*, fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure, confidentiality agreement or other obligation is in place with such service providers, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with applicable policies, agreements with the Fund, the terms of the current registration statements and federal securities laws and regulations thereunder.** 

• **Liquidity Metrics: "Liquidity Metrics," which seek to ascertain the Fund's liquidity profile under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology, include but are not limited to: (a) disclosure regarding the number of days needed to liquidate a portfolio or the portfolio's underlying investments; and (b) the percentage of the Fund's NAV invested in a particular liquidity tier under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology. The dissemination of position-level liquidity metrics data and any non-public regulatory data pursuant to the Liquidity Rule (including SEC liquidity tiering) is not permitted unless pre-approved. Disclosure of portfolio-level liquidity metrics prior to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and approval of the Trust's Chief Compliance Officer.** 

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Portfolio-level liquidity metrics disclosure subsequent to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires the approval of portfolio management and must be disclosed to all parties requesting the information if disclosed to any party.

The Trust's Chief Compliance Officer or his delegate may authorize disclosure of portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures, subject to restrictions on selective disclosure imposed by applicable law. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of portfolio holdings information at least annually.

## Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index
A description of the Fund's Underlying Index is provided below.

With respect to certain underlying indexes of the iShares funds, BFA or its affiliates have held discussions with the applicable index provider regarding their business interest in licensing an index to track a particular market segment and conveyed investment concepts and strategies that could be considered for the index. The index provider designed and constituted such indices using concepts conveyed by BFA or its affiliates. For certain of these indices, the relevant fund may be the first or sole user of the underlying index. In its sole discretion, the index provider determines the composition of the securities and other instruments in such underlying index, the rebalance protocols of the underlying index, the weightings of the securities and other instruments in the underlying index, and any updates to the methodology. From time to time, BFA or its affiliates may also provide input relating to possible methodology changes of such underlying index pursuant to the index provider's consultation process or pursuant to other communications with the index provider.

#### Bloomberg Composite Gold Index

#### Number of Components: approximately 3
**Index Description. The Bloomberg Composite Gold Index (or the "Composite Index") aims to track the performance of gold using a composite index composed of: (i) an underlying Bloomberg Gold Tracker Total Return Index (the "Tracker Index"), composed of gold futures contracts, and (ii) the Gold Trust, an exchange-traded product that invests in physical gold bullion.**

*Bloomberg Gold Tracker Total Return Index. Bloomberg Index Services Limited ("BISL") is the administrator of the Composite Index and the underlying Tracker Index. The Tracker Index aims to track the spot price of gold while maintaining liquidity by holding a long position in gold futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and selecting the most liquid future contracts. To maintain a long position, contracts are "rolled" from the expiring futures contract to a new contract farther down the futures curve with a longer expiry date. To maximize liquidity, BISL excludes the October gold contract due to its low trading volume and open interest.*

The Tracker Index rolls five times over the course of a calendar year. The gold futures contract will roll over a three-day period on the fourth-to-last business day of the month preceding the lead contract's expiration month. The Tracker Index roll will take place over 3 business days at 33% (1/3) per business day. On the second-to-last business day of the month, the gold futures contract will be 100% invested in the next gold futures contract.

*iShares Gold Trust. The Gold Trust issues shares representing fractional undivided beneficial interests in its net assets. The assets of the Gold Trust consist primarily of gold held by a custodian on behalf of the Gold Trust. The Gold Trust seeks to reflect generally the performance of the price of gold. On a quarterly basis, the Composite Index allocates a weight of 76% to the Bloomberg Gold Tracker Total Return Index and a weight of 24% to the Gold Trust.*

## Investment Policies
The Board has adopted as fundamental policies the following numbered investment policies, which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities. A vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund is defined in the Investment Company Act as the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a shareholder meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. The

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Fund has also adopted certain non-fundamental investment policies, including its investment objective. Non-fundamental investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval. Therefore, the Fund may change its investment objective without shareholder approval.

#### Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund may not:

1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

#### Notations Regarding the Fund's Fundamental Investment Policies
The following notations are not considered to be part of the Fund's fundamental investment policies and are subject to change without shareholder approval.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to concentration set forth in (1) above, the Investment Company Act does not define what constitutes "concentration" in an industry. The SEC staff has taken the position that investment of 25% or more of a fund's total assets in one or more issuers conducting their principal activities in the same industry or group of industries constitutes concentration. It is possible that interpretations of concentration could change in the future. The policy in (1) above will be interpreted to refer to concentration as that term may be interpreted from time to time. The policy also will be interpreted to permit investment without limit in the following: securities of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities; securities of state, territory, possession or municipal governments and their authorities, agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and repurchase agreements collateralized by any such obligations. Accordingly, issuers of the foregoing securities will not be considered to be members of any industry. There also will be no limit on investment in issuers domiciled in a single jurisdiction or country. Finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Each foreign government will be considered to be a member of a separate industry. Additionally, the policy will be interpreted to not classify commodities as an industry. With respect to the Fund's industry classifications, the Fund currently utilizes any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. The policy also will be interpreted to give broad authority to the Fund as to how to classify issuers within or among industries.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to borrowing money set forth in (2) above, the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to borrow money in amounts of up to one-third of the Fund's total assets from banks for any purpose, and to borrow up to 5% of the Fund's total assets from banks or other lenders for temporary purposes. (The Fund's total assets include the amounts being borrowed.) To limit the risks attendant to borrowing, the Investment Company Act requires the Fund to maintain at all times an "asset coverage" of at least 300% of the amount of its borrowings. Asset coverage means the ratio that the value of the Fund's total assets (including amounts borrowed), minus liabilities other than borrowings, bears to the aggregate amount of all borrowings. Borrowing money to increase portfolio holdings is known as "leveraging." Certain trading practices and investments, such as reverse repurchase agreements, may be considered to be borrowings or involve leverage and thus are subject to the Investment Company Act restrictions. In accordance with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act, when the Fund engages in reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, the Fund may either (i) maintain asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treat such transactions as "derivatives transactions" and comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to such transactions. Short-term credits necessary for the settlement of securities transactions and arrangements with respect to

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securities lending will not be considered to be borrowings under the policy. Practices and investments that may involve leverage but are not considered to be borrowings are not subject to the policy.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to underwriting set forth in (5) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit a fund from engaging in the underwriting business or from underwriting the securities of other issuers; in fact, in the case of diversified funds, the Investment Company Act permits a fund to have underwriting commitments of up to 25% of its assets under certain circumstances. Those circumstances currently are that the amount of a fund's underwriting commitments, when added to the value of a fund's investments in issuers where a fund owns more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of those issuers, cannot exceed the 25% cap. A fund engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act. Although it is not believed that the application of the 1933 Act provisions described above would cause a fund to be engaged in the business of underwriting, the policy in (5) above will be interpreted not to prevent a fund from engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities, regardless of whether a fund may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act or is otherwise engaged in the underwriting business to the extent permitted by applicable law.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to lending set forth in (7) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit the Fund from making loans (including lending its securities); however, SEC staff interpretations currently prohibit funds from lending more than one-third of their total assets (including lending its securities), except through the purchase of debt obligations or the use of repurchase agreements. In addition, collateral arrangements with respect to options, forward currency and futures transactions and other derivative instruments (as applicable), as well as delays in the settlement of securities transactions, will not be considered loans.

#### Non-Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except to the extent permitted by the Fund's Prospectus and SAI, as amended from time to time, and applicable law.

The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to purchase securities of other investment companies, except to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act. As a matter of policy, however, the Fund will not purchase shares of any registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust, in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or (G) (the "fund of funds" provisions) of the Investment Company Act, at any time the Fund has knowledge that its shares are purchased by another investment company investor in reliance on the provisions of subparagraph (G) of Section 12(d)(1).

Unless otherwise indicated, all limitations under the Fund's fundamental or non-fundamental investment policies apply only at the time that a transaction is undertaken. Any change in the percentage of the Fund's assets invested in certain securities or other instruments resulting from market fluctuations or other changes in the Fund's total assets will not require the Fund to dispose of an investment until BFA determines that it is practicable to sell or close out the investment without undue market or tax consequences.

## Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Fund on an ongoing basis, at any point a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the 1933 Act must take into account all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.

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Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, generally are required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Fund are reminded that, pursuant to Rule 153 under the 1933 Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the 1933 Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Listing Exchange generally is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Listing Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available only with respect to transactions on an exchange.

## Management
**Trustees and Officers. The Board has responsibility for the overall management and operations of the Fund, including general supervision of the duties performed by BFA and other service providers. Each Trustee serves until he or she resigns, is removed, dies, retires or becomes incapacitated. The President, Chief Compliance Officer, Treasurer and Secretary shall each hold office until their successors are chosen and qualify, and all other officers shall hold office until he or she resigns or is removed. Trustees who are not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust are referred to as independent trustees ("Independent Trustees").**

The registered investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates (the "BlackRock-advised Funds") are organized into one complex of open-end equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds and ETFs (the "BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex"), one complex of closed-end funds and open-end non-index fixed-income funds (including ETFs) (the "BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex") and one complex of ETFs ("Exchange-Traded Fund Complex") (each, a "BlackRock Fund Complex"). The Fund is included in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex. Each Trustee also serves as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust, and, as a result, oversees all of the funds within the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, which consists of 381 funds as of March 1, 2023. With the exception of Robert S. Kapito, Salim Ramji and Charles Park, the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of Mr. Kapito, Mr. Ramji and Mr. Park is c/o BlackRock, Inc., Park Avenue Plaza, 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055. The Board has designated John E. Kerrigan as its Independent Board Chair. Additional information about the Fund's Trustees and officers may be found in this SAI, which is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

#### Interested Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Robert S. Kapito<sup>1</sup><br> (1957) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;President, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (since its formation in 1998) and BlackRock, Inc.'s predecessor entities (since 1988); Trustee, University of Pennsylvania (since 2009); President of Board of Directors, Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2009); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2009). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Salim Ramji<sup>2</sup><br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2014); Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments Business (since 2019); Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business (2015-2019); Global Head of Corporate Strategy, BlackRock, Inc. (2014-2015); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (2010-2014). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2019); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2019). |

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<sup>1</sup> Robert S. Kapito is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

<sup>2</sup> Salim Ramji is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

#### Independent Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Kerrigan<br> (1955) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Independent Board Chair<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Investment Officer, Santa Clara University (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005); Independent Board Chair of iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. (since 2022). |
| Jane D. Carlin<br> (1956) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2015); Risk Committee Chair (since 2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Consultant (since 2012); Member of the Audit Committee (2012-2018), Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee (2017-2018) and Director of PHH Corporation (mortgage solutions) (2012-2018); Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley (2006-2012). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2015); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2015); Member of the Audit Committee (since 2016), Chair of the Audit Committee (since 2020) and Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (since 2016). |
| Richard L. Fagnani<br> (1954) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); Audit Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Partner, KPMG LLP (2002-2016); Director of One Generation Away (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Cecilia H. Herbert<br> (1949) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Nominating and Governance and Equity Plus Committee Chairs<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair of the Finance Committee (since 2019) and Trustee and Member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees of Stanford Health Care (since 2016); Trustee of WNET, New York's public media company (since 2011) and Member of the Audit Committee (since 2018), Investment Committee (since 2011) and Personnel Committee (since 2022); Chair (1994-2005) and Member (1992-2021) of the Investment Committee, Archdiocese of San Francisco; Trustee of Forward Funds (14 portfolios) (2009-2018); Trustee of Salient MF Trust (4 portfolios) (2015-2018); Director (1998-2013) and President (2007-2011) of the Board of Directors, Catholic Charities CYO; Trustee (2002-2011) and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (2006-2010) of the Thacher School; Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole (since 2020); Director of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts (since 2021); Member of the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005). |
| Drew E. Lawton<br> (1959) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); 15(c) Committee Chair (since 2017). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director of New York Life Insurance Company (2010-2015). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017); Director of Jackson Financial Inc. (since 2021). |
| John E. Martinez<br> (1961) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011);<br> Securities Lending Committee Chair<br> (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc. (since 2005); Director of Cloudera Foundation (2017-2020); and Director of Reading Partners (2012-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2003); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2003). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Madhav V. Rajan<br> (1964) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Fixed Income Plus Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Dean, and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (since 2017); Advisory Board Member (since 2016) and Director (since 2020) of C.M. Capital Corporation; Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (since 2020); Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2001-2017); Professor of Law (by courtesy), Stanford Law School (2005-2017); Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA Program, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2010-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2011);<br> Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2011). |

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#### Officers

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Armando Senra<br> (1971) | &nbsp;&nbsp;President (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2007); Head of U.S., Canada and Latin America iShares, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2019); Head of Latin America Region, BlackRock, Inc. (2006-2019); Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (1994-2006). |
| Trent Walker<br> (1974) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer<br> (since 2020). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since September 2019); Chief Financial Officer of iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, BlackRock Funds, BlackRock Funds II, BlackRock Funds IV, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Funds VI (since 2021); Executive Vice President of PIMCO (2016-2019); Senior Vice President of PIMCO (2008-2015); Treasurer (2013-2019) and Assistant Treasurer (2007-2017) of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds. |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Charles Park<br> (1967) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex (since 2014); Chief Compliance Officer of BFA (since 2006). |
| Marisa Rolland<br> (1980) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Secretary (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2023); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2018-2022); Vice President, BlackRock, Inc. (2010-2017). |
| Rachel Aguirre<br> (1982) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2018); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2009-2018); Head of U.S. iShares Product (since 2022); Head of EII U.S. Product Engineering (since 2021); Co-Head of EII's Americas Portfolio Engineering (2020-2021); Head of Developed Markets Portfolio Engineering (2016-2019). |
| Jennifer Hsui<br> (1976) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2009); Co-Head of Index Equity (since 2022). |
| James Mauro<br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2010); Head of Fixed Income Index Investments in the Americas and Head of San Francisco Core Portfolio Management (since 2020). |

---

The Board has concluded that, based on each Trustee's experience, qualifications, attributes or skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees, each Trustee should serve as a Trustee of the Board. Among the attributes common to all Trustees are their ability to review critically, evaluate, question and discuss information provided to them, to interact effectively with the Fund's investment adviser, other service providers, counsel and the independent registered public accounting firm, and to exercise effective business judgment in the performance of their duties as Trustees. A Trustee's ability to perform his or her duties effectively may have been attained through the Trustee's educational background or professional training; business, consulting, public service or academic positions; experience from service as a Board member of the Fund and the other funds in the Trust (and any predecessor funds), other investment funds, public companies, or non-profit entities or other organizations; and/or other life experiences. Also, set forth below is a brief discussion of the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of each Trustee that led the Board to conclude that he or she should serve (or continue to serve) as a Trustee.

Robert S. Kapito has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011. Mr. Kapito has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2009 and a Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. Mr. Kapito served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. In addition, he has over 20 years of experience as part of BlackRock, Inc. and BlackRock's predecessor entities. Mr. Kapito serves as President of BlackRock, Inc., and is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Chairman of the Global Operating Committee. He is responsible for day-to-day oversight of BlackRock's key operating units, including Investment Strategies, Client Businesses, Technology & Operations, and Risk & Quantitative Analysis. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2007, Mr. Kapito served as Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all portfolio management within BlackRock, including the Fixed Income, Equity, Liquidity, and Alternative Investment Groups. Mr. Kapito serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's

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Advisors. He has also been President of the Board of Directors for the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund since 2002. Mr. Kapito earned a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Salim Ramji has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji is the Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments business. In addition, he is a member of BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors. Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the Asset and Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London and Hong Kong. He has served as a Trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency, since 2007. Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

John E. Kerrigan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Trust's Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board from 2019 to 2021, and as Chair of each Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Kerrigan has served as Chief Investment Officer of Santa Clara University since 2002. Mr. Kerrigan was formerly a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., including the following responsibilities: Managing Director, Institutional Client Division, Western United States. Mr. Kerrigan has been a Director, since 1999, of The BASIC Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner City Children). Mr. Kerrigan has a BA degree from Boston College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder.

Jane D. Carlin has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2015 and Chair of the Risk Committee since 2016. Ms. Carlin has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2015, and Chair of the Risk Committee of each Board since 2016. Ms. Carlin has served as a consultant since 2012 and formerly served as Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012. In addition, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Global Head of the Bank Operational Risk Oversight Department of Credit Suisse Group from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Carlin has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector and has served in a number of legal, regulatory, and risk management positions. Ms. Carlin has served as a member of the Audit Committee and as a Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., each since 2016, and as Chair of the Audit Committee since 2020. Ms. Carlin served as a member of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2018, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2017 to 2018 and as an Independent Director on the Board of PHH Corporation from 2012 to 2018. She previously served as a Director on the Boards of Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank. Ms. Carlin was appointed by the United States Treasury to the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, where she served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2012 and Vice Chair and Chair of the Cyber Security Committee from 2009 to 2010. Ms. Carlin has a BA degree in political science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Richard L. Fagnani has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2017, and Chair of the Audit Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Fagnani served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. from April 2017 to June 2017. Mr. Fagnani served as a Senior Audit Partner at KPMG LLP from 2002 to 2016, most recently as the U.S. asset management audit practice leader responsible for setting strategic direction and execution of the operating plan for the asset management audit practice. In addition, from 1977 to 2002, Mr. Fagnani served as an Audit Partner at Andersen LLP, where he developed and managed the asset management audit practice in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fagnani served as a Trustee on the Board of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2014 and as a member of the School of Business Advisory Board at LaSalle University from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of One Generation Away, a non-profit which works to bring healthy food directly to people in need, since 2021. Mr. Fagnani has a BS degree in Accounting from LaSalle University.

Cecilia H. Herbert has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of the Trust since 2022. Ms. Herbert has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust

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since 2005, Chair of the Trust's Board from 2016 to 2021, and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board since 2022. Ms. Herbert served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Ms. Herbert served as Trustee of the Montgomery Funds from 1992 to 2003, the Pacific Select Funds from 2004 to 2005, the Forward Funds from 2009 to 2018, the Salient Funds from 2015 to 2018 and the Thrivent Church Loan and Income Fund from 2019 to 2022. She has served as a member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees and Trustee of Stanford Health Care since 2016 and became Chair of the Finance Committee of Stanford Health Care in 2019. She has served as a Trustee of WNET, New York's public media station, since 2011 and a Member of its Audit Committee since 2018. She was appointed to the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee in 2022. She became a member of the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Forum in 2018. She has served as a Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole since 2020 and of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts since 2021. She was President of the Board of Catholic Charities CYO, the largest social services agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 2007 to 2011 and a member of that board from 1992 to 2013. She worked from 1973 to 1990 at J.P. Morgan/Morgan Guaranty Trust doing international corporate finance and corporate lending, retiring as Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Office. Ms. Herbert has been on numerous non-profit boards, chairing investment and finance committees. She holds a double major in economics and communications from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Drew E. Lawton has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of the Trust since 2017. Mr. Lawton has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust, and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of each Board since 2017. Mr. Lawton also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares, Inc. and iShares Trust from 2016 to 2017. Mr. Lawton served as Director of Principal Funds, Inc., Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc. and Principal Exchange-Traded Funds from March 2016 to October 2016. Mr. Lawton has also served as a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk Committees and Director of Jackson Financial Inc. since 2021. Mr. Lawton served in various capacities at New York Life Insurance Company from 2010 to 2015, most recently as a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life Investment Management. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Lawton was the President of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC. Mr. Lawton previously held multiple roles at Fidelity Investments from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Lawton has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas since 2021. Mr. Lawton has a BA degree in Administrative Science from Yale University and an MBA from University of North Texas.

John E. Martinez has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Martinez has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2003, and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Martinez served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Martinez is a Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., providing governance oversight and consulting services to this privately held firm that develops products and strategies for homeowners in managing the equity in their homes. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Martinez served as a Board member for the Cloudera Foundation. Mr. Martinez previously served as Director of Barclays Global Investors ("BGI") UK Holdings, where he provided governance oversight representing BGI's shareholders (Barclays PLC, BGI management shareholders) through oversight of BGI's worldwide activities. Mr. Martinez also previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Index and Markets Group of BGI, Chairman of Barclays Global Investor Services and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Group of BGI. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Director and Executive Committee Member for Larkin Street Youth Services. He now serves on the Larkin Street Honorary Board. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Martinez served as a Director for Reading Partners. Mr. Martinez has an AB degree in economics from The University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA degree in finance and statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Madhav V. Rajan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Rajan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2011, and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Rajan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Rajan is the Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also serves as Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, since 2020. He has served on the Advisory Board of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2016 and as a Director of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2020. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Rajan was the Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In April 2017, he received the school's Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service. He has taught accounting for over 25 years to undergraduate, MBA and law students, as well as to senior executives. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Rajan served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and head of the MBA Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rajan served as editor of "The Accounting Review" from 2002 to 2008 and is co-author of "Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis," a

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leading cost accounting textbook. From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Rajan served on the Board of Directors of Cavium Inc., a semiconductor company. Mr. Rajan holds MS and PhD degrees in Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University.

<u>Board – Leadership Structure and Oversight Responsibilities</u>

Overall responsibility for oversight of the Fund rests with the Board. The Board has engaged BFA to manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis. The Board is responsible for overseeing BFA and other service providers in the operations of the Fund in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act, applicable provisions of state and other laws and the Trust's charter. The Board is currently composed of nine members, seven of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board currently conducts regular in person meetings four times a year. In addition, the Board frequently holds special in person or telephonic meetings or informal conference calls to discuss specific matters that may arise or require action between regular meetings. The Independent Trustees meet regularly outside the presence of management, in executive session or with other service providers to the Trust.

The Board has appointed an Independent Trustee to serve in the role of Board Chair. The Board Chair's role is to preside at all meetings of the Board and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys, and other Trustees generally between meetings. The Board Chair may also perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Board from time to time. The Board has established seven standing Committees: a Nominating and Governance Committee, an Audit Committee, a 15(c) Committee, a Securities Lending Committee, a Risk Committee, an Equity Plus Committee and a Fixed Income Plus Committee to assist the Board in the oversight and direction of the business and affairs of the Fund, and from time to time the Board may establish ad hoc committees or informal working groups to review and address the policies and practices of the Fund with respect to certain specified matters. The Chair of each standing Committee is an Independent Trustee. The role of the Chair of each Committee is to preside at all meetings of the Committee and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys and other Trustees between meetings. Each standing Committee meets regularly to conduct the oversight functions delegated to the Committee by the Board and reports its finding to the Board. The Board and each standing Committee conduct annual assessments of their oversight function and structure. The Board has determined that the Board's leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise independent judgment over management and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees of Independent Trustees and the full Board to enhance effective oversight.

Day-to-day risk management with respect to the Fund is the responsibility of BFA or other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk), subject to the supervision of BFA. The Fund is subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, reputational, counterparty and valuation risks, among others. While there are a number of risk management functions performed by BFA and other service providers, as applicable, it is not possible to identify and eliminate all of the risks applicable to the Fund. The Trustees have an oversight role in this area, satisfying themselves that risk management processes and controls are in place and operating effectively. Risk oversight forms part of the Board's general oversight of the Fund and is addressed as part of various Board and committee activities. In some cases, risk management issues are specifically addressed in presentations and discussions. For example, BFA has an independent dedicated Risk and Quantitative Analysis Group ("RQA") that assists BFA in managing fiduciary and corporate risks, including investment, operational, counterparty credit and enterprise risk. Representatives of RQA meet with the Board to discuss their analysis and methodologies, as well as specific risk topics such as operational and counterparty risks relating to the Fund. The Board, directly or through a committee, also reviews reports from, among others, management and the independent registered public accounting firm for the Trust, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by the Fund and management's risk functions. The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer who oversees the implementation and testing of the Trust's compliance program, including assessments by independent third parties, and reports to the Board regarding compliance matters for the Trust and its principal service providers. In testing and maintaining the compliance program, the Chief Compliance Officer (and his or her delegates) assesses key compliance risks affecting the Fund, and addresses them in periodic reports to the Board. In addition, the Audit Committee meets with both the Fund's independent registered public accounting firm and BFA's internal audit group to review risk controls in place that support the Fund as well as test results. Board oversight of risk is also performed as needed between meetings through communications between BFA and the Board. The Independent Trustees have engaged independent legal counsel to assist them in performing their oversight responsibilities. From time to time, the Board may modify the manner in which it conducts risk oversight. The Board's oversight role does not make it a guarantor of the Fund's investment performance or other activities.

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**Committees of the Board of Trustees. The members of the Audit Committee are Richard L. Fagnani (Chair), Cecilia H. Herbert and Madhav V. Rajan, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The purposes of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board (i) in its oversight of the Trust's accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and related controls and procedures maintained by or on behalf of the Trust; (ii) in its oversight of the Trust's financial statements and the independent audit thereof; (iii) in selecting, evaluating and, where deemed appropriate, replacing the independent accountants (or nominating the independent accountants to be proposed for shareholder approval in any proxy statement); (iv) in evaluating the independence of the independent accountants; (v) in complying with legal and regulatory requirements that relate to the Trust's accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, compliance controls and independent audits; and (vi) to assume such other responsibilities as may be delegated by the Board. The Audit Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.**

The members of the Nominating and Governance Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), Madhav V. Rajan and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The Nominating and Governance Committee nominates individuals for Independent Trustee membership on the Board and recommends appointments to the Advisory Board. The Nominating and Governance Committee functions include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) reviewing the qualifications of any person properly identified or nominated to serve as an Independent Trustee; (ii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the nominee(s) for appointment as an Independent Trustee by the Board and current Independent Trustees and/or for election as Independent Trustees by shareholders to fill any vacancy for a position of Independent Trustee(s) on the Board; (iii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the size and composition of the Board and Board committees and whether they comply with applicable laws and regulations; (iv) recommending a current Independent Trustee to the Board and current Independent Trustees to serve as Board Chair; (v) periodic review of the Board's retirement policy; and (vi) recommending an appropriate level of compensation for the Independent Trustees for their services as Trustees, members or chairpersons of committees of the Board, Board Chair and any other positions as the Nominating and Governance Committee considers appropriate. The Nominating and Governance Committee does not consider Board nominations recommended by shareholders (acting solely in their capacity as a shareholder and not in any other capacity). The Nominating and Governance Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Each Independent Trustee serves on the 15(c) Committee. The Chair of the 15(c) Committee is Drew E. Lawton. The principal responsibilities of the 15(c) Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for the annual review and renewal of the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements. These responsibilities include: (i) meeting with BlackRock, Inc. in advance of the Board meeting at which the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements are to be considered to discuss generally the process for providing requested information to the Board and the format in which information will be provided; and (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to evaluate the investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements of the Trust. The 15(c) Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Securities Lending Committee are John E. Martinez (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Securities Lending Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of the Trust's securities lending activities. These responsibilities include: (i) requesting that certain information be provided to the Committee for its review and consideration prior to such information being provided to the Board; (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to oversee the Trust's securities lending activities and make required findings and approvals; and (iii) providing a recommendation to the Board regarding the annual approval of the Trust's Securities Lending Guidelines and the required findings with respect to, and annual approval of, the Trust's agreement with the securities lending agent. The Securities Lending Committee met five times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Equity Plus Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), John E. Martinez and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Equity Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for equity funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Equity Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

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The members of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are Madhav V. Rajan (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Richard L. Fagnani, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for fixed-income or multi-asset funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Fixed Income Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Risk Committee are Jane D. Carlin (Chair), Richard L. Fagnani and John E. Martinez, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibility of the Risk Committee is to consider and organize on behalf of the Board risk related matters of the Fund so the Board may most effectively structure itself to oversee them. The Risk Committee commenced on January 1, 2016. The Risk Committee met seven times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

As the Chair of the Board, John E. Kerrigan may serve as an ex-officio member of each Committee.

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2022, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by each Trustee in the Fund and in other registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee within the same family of investment companies as the Trust. If a fund is not listed below, the Trustee did not own any securities in that fund as of the date indicated above:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
| Robert S. Kapito |  |  |  |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares High Yield Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares TIPS Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Technology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Select Dividend ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares California Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares National Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Biotechnology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_gold-_e8df50ac-6bde-4c6e-9ff7-2bbb813ec09d_sai_toc)

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 2000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

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As of December 31, 2022, none of the Independent Trustees or their immediate family members owned beneficially or of record any securities of BFA (the Fund's investment adviser), the Distributor or any person controlling, controlled by or under common control with BFA or the Distributor.

**Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members. Effective January 1, 2023, each current Independent Trustee is paid an annual retainer of $440,000 for his or her services as a Board member to the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, together with out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with the Board's policy on travel and other business expenses relating to attendance at meetings. The annual retainer for services as an Advisory Board Member is the same as the annual retainer for services as a Board member. The Independent Chair of the Board is paid an additional annual retainer of $125,000. The Chair of each of the Equity Plus Committee, Fixed Income Plus Committee, Securities Lending Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and 15(c) Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $30,000. The Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $45,000. Each Independent Trustee that served as a director of subsidiaries of the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex is paid an additional annual retainer of $10,000 (plus an additional $1,765 paid annually to compensate for taxes due in the Republic of Mauritius in connection with such Trustee's service on the boards of certain Mauritius-based subsidiaries).**

The table below sets forth the compensation earned by each Independent Trustee and Interested Trustee for services to the Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the aggregate compensation paid to them for services to the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022.

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_gold-_e8df50ac-6bde-4c6e-9ff7-2bbb813ec09d_sai_toc)

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Gold Strategy ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Pension or<br> Retirement Benefits Accrued As<br> Part of Trust<br> Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Estimated Annual<br> Benefits Upon<br> Retirement<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total<br> Compensation<br> From the Fund<br> and Fund Complex<sup>2</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;$8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$465000 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;476764 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;475000 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;505000 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;461764 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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<sup>1</sup> No Trustee or officer is entitled to any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust. <br> <sup>2</sup> Also includes compensation for service on the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc.

#### Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities.
The Trustees and officers of the Trust collectively owned less than 1% of the Fund's outstanding shares as of January 31, 2023.

Although the Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants (as defined below), as of January 31, 2023, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund were as follows:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17.98% |
| U.S. Bank N.A.<br> 1555 North Rivercenter Dr.<br> Suite 302<br> Milwaukee, WI 53212 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16.91% |
| National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16.82% |
| TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13.55% |
| Pershing LLC<br> One Pershing Plaza<br> Jersey City, NJ 07399 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.04% |
| VANGUARD Marketing Corporation<br> 100 Vanguard Boulevard<br> Malvern, PA 19355 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.66% |

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**Conflicts of Interest. Certain activities of BFA, BlackRock, Inc. and the other subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. (collectively referred to in this section as "BlackRock") and their respective directors, officers and employees, with respect to the Fund and/or other accounts managed by BlackRock, may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest such as those described below.**

BlackRock is one of the world's largest asset management firms. BlackRock, its subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers and employees, including the business units or entities and personnel who may be involved in the investment activities and business operations of the Fund, are engaged worldwide in businesses, including managing equities, fixed-income securities, cash and alternative investments, and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. These are considerations of which investors in the Fund should be aware, and which may cause conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. These businesses and interests include potential multiple advisory, financial and other relationships with, or interests in, companies and interests in securities or other instruments that may be purchased or sold by the Fund.

BlackRock has proprietary interests in, and may manage or advise with respect to, accounts or funds (including separate accounts and other funds and collective investment vehicles) that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and instruments as the Fund. BlackRock is also a major participant in the global currency, equities, swap and fixed income markets, in each case, for the accounts of clients and, in some cases, on a proprietary basis. As such, BlackRock is or may be actively engaged in transactions in the same securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests. Such activities could affect the prices and availability of the securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests, which could have an adverse impact on the Fund's performance. Such transactions, particularly in respect of most proprietary accounts or client accounts, will be executed independently of the Fund's transactions and thus at prices or rates that may be more or less favorable than those obtained by the Fund.

When BlackRock seeks to purchase or sell the same assets for managed accounts, including the Fund, the assets actually purchased or sold may be allocated among the accounts on a basis determined in its good faith discretion to be equitable. In some cases, this system may adversely affect the size or price of the assets purchased or sold for the Fund. In addition, transactions in investments by one or more other accounts managed by BlackRock may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund, particularly, but not limited to, with respect to small-capitalization, emerging market or less liquid strategies. This may occur with respect to BlackRock-advised accounts when investment decisions regarding the Fund are based on research or other information that is also used to support decisions for other accounts. When BlackRock implements a portfolio decision or strategy on behalf of another account ahead of, or contemporaneously with, similar decisions or strategies for the Fund, market impact, liquidity constraints, or other factors could result in the Fund receiving less favorable trading results and the costs of implementing such decisions or strategies could be increased or the Fund could otherwise be disadvantaged. BlackRock may, in certain cases, elect to implement internal policies and procedures designed to limit such consequences, which may cause the Fund to be unable to engage in certain activities, including purchasing or disposing of securities, when it might otherwise be desirable for it to do so.

Conflicts may also arise because portfolio decisions regarding the Fund may benefit other accounts managed by BlackRock. For example, the sale of a long position or establishment of a short position by the Fund may impair the price of the same security sold short by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds, and the purchase of a security or covering of a short position in a security by the Fund may increase the price of the same security held by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds. In addition, to the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest its assets in other funds advised by BlackRock, including funds that are managed by one or more of the same portfolio managers, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of Fund purchases and sales, and increased remuneration and profitability for BlackRock, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.

In certain circumstances, BlackRock, on behalf of the Fund, may seek to buy from or sell securities to another fund or account advised by BlackRock. BlackRock may (but is not required to) effect purchases and sales between BlackRock clients ("cross trades"), including the Fund, if BlackRock believes such transactions are appropriate based on each party's investment objectives and guidelines, subject to applicable law and regulation. There may be potential conflicts of interest or regulatory issues relating to these transactions which could limit BlackRock's decision to engage in these transactions for the Fund. BlackRock may have a potentially conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the parties in such transactions.

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On any occasion when the Fund participates in a cross trade, BlackRock will comply with procedures adopted under applicable rules and SEC guidance.

BlackRock and its clients may pursue or enforce rights with respect to an issuer in which the Fund has invested, and those activities may have an adverse effect on the Fund. As a result, prices, availability, liquidity and terms of the Fund's investments may be negatively impacted by the activities of BlackRock or its clients, and transactions for the Fund may be impaired or effected at prices or terms that may be less favorable than would otherwise have been the case.

The results of the Fund's investment activities may differ significantly from the results achieved by BlackRock for its proprietary accounts or other accounts (including investment companies or collective investment vehicles) which it manages or advises. It is possible that one or more accounts managed or advised by BlackRock and such other accounts will achieve investment results that are substantially more or less favorable than the results achieved by the Fund. Moreover, it is possible that the Fund will sustain losses during periods in which one or more proprietary or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock achieve significant profits. The opposite result is also possible.

From time to time, the Fund may be restricted from purchasing or selling securities, or from engaging in other investment activities because of regulatory, legal or contractual requirements applicable to BlackRock or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock, and/or the internal policies of BlackRock designed to comply with such requirements. As a result, there may be periods, for example, when BlackRock will not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions in certain securities or instruments with respect to which BlackRock is performing services or when position limits have been reached. For example, the investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and accounts under its management may limit the investment opportunities for the Fund in certain emerging and other markets in which limitations are imposed upon the amount of investment, in the aggregate or in individual issuers, by affiliated foreign investors.

In connection with its management of the Fund, BlackRock may have access to certain fundamental analysis and proprietary technical models developed by BlackRock. BlackRock will not be under any obligation, however, to effect transactions on behalf of the Fund in accordance with such analysis and models. In addition, BlackRock will not have any obligation to make available any information regarding its proprietary activities or strategies, or the activities or strategies used for other accounts managed by them, for the benefit of the management of the Fund and it is not anticipated that BlackRock will have access to such information for the purpose of managing the Fund. The proprietary activities or portfolio strategies of BlackRock, or the activities or strategies used for accounts managed by BlackRock or other client accounts could conflict with the transactions and strategies employed by BlackRock in managing the Fund.

The Fund may be included in investment models developed by BlackRock for use by clients and financial advisors. To the extent clients invest in these investment models and increase the assets under management of the Fund, the investment management fee amounts paid by the Fund to BlackRock may also increase. The price, availability and liquidity of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by model-driven investment portfolios, as well as by BlackRock itself and by its advisory clients.

In addition, certain principals and certain employees of the Fund's investment adviser are also principals or employees of other business units or entities within BlackRock. As a result, these principals and employees may have obligations to such other business units or entities or their clients and such obligations to other business units or entities or their clients may be a consideration of which investors in the Fund should be aware.

BlackRock may enter into transactions and invest in securities, instruments and currencies on behalf of the Fund in which clients of BlackRock or, to the extent permitted by the SEC and applicable law, BlackRock serves as the counterparty, principal or issuer. In such cases, such party's interests in the transaction will be adverse to the interests of the Fund, and such party may have no incentive to assure that the Fund obtains the best possible prices or terms in connection with the transactions. In addition, the purchase, holding and sale of such investments by the Fund may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock may also create, write or issue derivatives for clients based on the underlying securities, currencies or instruments in which the Fund may invest or on the performance of the Fund. An entity in which BlackRock has a significant minority interest will create, write or issue options which may be based on the performance of certain Funds. BlackRock has the right to receive a portion of the gross revenue earned by such entity. Options writing by such entity on the Fund could potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to the Fund and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

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BlackRock has entered into an arrangement with Markit Indices Limited, the index provider for underlying fixed-income indexes used by certain iShares funds, related to derivative fixed-income products that are based on such iShares funds. BlackRock may receive certain payments for licensing intellectual property belonging to BlackRock and for facilitating the provision of data in connection with such derivative products, which may include payments based on the trading volumes of, or revenues generated by, the derivative products. However, BlackRock will not receive any such payments on those derivative products utilized by the Fund or other BlackRock funds or accounts. Other funds and accounts managed by BlackRock may from time to time transact in such derivative products, which could contribute to the viability or success of such derivative products by making them more appealing to funds and accounts managed by third parties, and in turn lead to increased payments to BlackRock. Trading activity in such derivative products could also potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to these iShares funds and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

The Fund may, subject to applicable law, purchase investments that are the subject of an underwriting or other distribution by BlackRock and may also enter into transactions with other clients of BlackRock where such other clients have interests adverse to those of the Fund.

At times, these activities may cause business units or entities within BlackRock to give advice to clients that may cause these clients to take actions adverse to the interests of the Fund. To the extent such transactions are permitted, the Fund will deal with BlackRock on an arm's-length basis.

To the extent authorized by applicable law, BlackRock may act as broker, dealer, agent, lender or adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities for the Fund. It is anticipated that the commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs, financial advisory fees, underwriting and placement fees, sales fees, financing and commitment fees, brokerage fees, other fees, compensation or profits, rates, terms and conditions charged by BlackRock will be in its view commercially reasonable, although BlackRock, including its sales personnel, will have an interest in obtaining fees and other amounts that are favorable to BlackRock and such sales personnel, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. Index based funds may use an index provider that is affiliated with another service provider of the Fund or BlackRock that acts as a broker, dealer, agent, lender or in other commercial capacities for the Fund or BlackRock.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock (and its personnel and other distributors) will be entitled to retain fees and other amounts that they receive in connection with their service to the Fund as broker, dealer, agent, lender, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities. No accounting to the Fund or its shareholders will be required, and no fees or other compensation payable by the Fund or its shareholders will be reduced by reason of receipt by BlackRock of any such fees or other amounts.

When BlackRock acts as broker, dealer, agent, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities in relation to the Fund, BlackRock may take commercial steps in its own interests, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. The Fund will be required to establish business relationships with its counterparties based on the Fund's own credit standing. BlackRock will not have any obligation to allow its credit to be used in connection with the Fund's establishment of its business relationships, nor is it expected that the Fund's counterparties will rely on the credit of BlackRock in evaluating the Fund's creditworthiness.

BTC, an affiliate of BFA pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, acts as securities lending agent to, and receives a share of securities lending revenues from, the Fund. BlackRock will also receive compensation for managing the reinvestment of the cash collateral from securities lending. There are potential conflicts of interests in managing a securities lending program, including but not limited to: (i) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to increase or decrease the amount of securities on loan or to lend particular securities in order to generate additional risk-adjusted revenue for BlackRock and its affiliates; and (ii) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to allocate loans to clients that would provide more revenue to BlackRock. As described further below, BlackRock seeks to mitigate this conflict by providing its securities lending clients with equal lending opportunities over time in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation.

As part of its securities lending program, BlackRock indemnifies the Fund and certain other clients and/or funds against a shortfall in collateral in the event of borrower default. On a regular basis, BlackRock calculates the potential dollar exposure of collateral shortfall resulting from a borrower default ("shortfall risk") in the securities lending program. BlackRock establishes program-wide borrower limits ("credit limits") to actively manage borrower-specific credit exposure. BlackRock oversees the risk model that calculates projected collateral shortfall values using loan-level factors such as loan and collateral type and market value as well as specific borrower credit characteristics. When necessary, BlackRock may adjust securities lending program attributes by restricting eligible collateral or reducing borrower credit limits. As a result, the management of

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program-wide exposure as well as BlackRock-specific indemnification exposure may affect the amount of securities lending activity BlackRock may conduct at any given point in time by reducing the volume of lending opportunities for certain loans (including by asset type, collateral type and/or revenue profile).

BlackRock uses a predetermined systematic process in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation over time. In order to allocate a loan to a portfolio: (i) BlackRock as a whole must have sufficient lending capacity pursuant to the various program limits (*i.e.,* indemnification exposure limit and borrower credit limits); (ii) the lending portfolio must hold the asset at the time a loan opportunity arrives; and (iii) the lending portfolio must also have enough inventory, either on its own or when aggregated with other portfolios into one single market delivery, to satisfy the loan request. In doing so, BlackRock seeks to provide equal lending opportunities for all portfolios, independent of whether BlackRock indemnifies the portfolio. Equal opportunities for lending portfolios does not guarantee equal outcomes. Specifically, short and long-term outcomes for individual clients may vary due to asset mix, asset/liability spreads on different securities, and the overall limits imposed by the firm.

BlackRock may decline to make a securities loan on behalf of the Fund, discontinue lending on behalf of the Fund or terminate a securities loan on behalf of the Fund for any reason, including but not limited to regulatory requirements and/or market rules, liquidity considerations, or credit considerations, which may impact Funds by reducing or eliminating the volume of lending opportunities for certain types of loans, loans in particular markets, loans of particular securities or types of securities, or for loans overall.

Purchases and sales of securities and other assets for the Fund may be bunched or aggregated with orders for other BlackRock client accounts, including with accounts that pay different transaction costs solely due to the fact that they have different research payment arrangements. BlackRock, however, is not required to bunch or aggregate orders if portfolio management decisions for different accounts are made separately, or if they determine that bunching or aggregating is not practicable or required, or in cases involving client direction.

Prevailing trading activity frequently may make impossible the receipt of the same price or execution on the entire volume of securities purchased or sold. When this occurs, the various prices may be averaged, and the Fund will be charged or credited with the average price. Thus, the effect of the aggregation may operate on some occasions to the disadvantage of the Fund. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Fund will not be charged the same commission or commission equivalent rates in connection with a bunched or aggregated order.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock may select brokers that furnish BlackRock, the Fund, other BlackRock client accounts or personnel, directly or through correspondent relationships, with research or other appropriate services which provide, in BlackRock's view, appropriate assistance to BlackRock in the investment decision-making process (including with respect to futures, fixed-price offerings and OTC transactions). Such research or other services may include, to the extent permitted by law, research reports on companies, industries and securities; economic and financial data; financial publications; proxy analysis; trade industry seminars; computer data bases; research-oriented software and other services and products. Research or other services obtained in this manner may be used in servicing any or all of the Fund and other BlackRock client accounts, including in connection with BlackRock client accounts other than those that pay commissions to the broker relating to the research or other service arrangements. Such products and services may disproportionately benefit other BlackRock client accounts relative to the Fund based on the amount of brokerage commissions paid by the Fund and such other BlackRock client accounts. For example, research or other services that are paid for through one client's commissions may not be used in managing that client's account. In addition, other BlackRock client accounts may receive the benefit, including disproportionate benefits, of economies of scale or price discounts in connection with products and services that may be provided to the Fund and to such other BlackRock client accounts. To the extent that BlackRock uses soft dollars, it will not have to pay for those products and services itself.

BlackRock does not currently enter into arrangements to use the Fund's assets for, or participate in, soft dollars, although BlackRock may receive research that is bundled with the trade execution, clearing, and/or settlement services provided by a particular broker-dealer. To the extent that BlackRock receives research on this basis, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist. For example, the research effectively will be paid by client commissions that also will be used to pay for the execution, clearing, and settlement services provided by the broker-dealer and will not be paid by BlackRock. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may endeavor to execute trades through brokers who, pursuant to such arrangements, provide research or other services in order to ensure the continued receipt of research or other services BlackRock believes are useful in its investment decision-making process. BlackRock may from time to time choose not to

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engage in the above described arrangements to varying degrees. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may also enter into commission sharing arrangements under which BlackRock may execute transactions through a broker-dealer, and request that the broker-dealer allocate a portion of the commissions or commission credits to another firm that provides research to BlackRock. To the extent that BlackRock engages in commission sharing arrangements, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist.

BlackRock may utilize certain electronic crossing networks ("ECNs") (including, without limitation, ECNs in which BlackRock has an investment or other interest, to the extent permitted by applicable law) in executing client securities transactions for certain types of securities. These ECNs may charge fees for their services, including access fees and transaction fees. The transaction fees, which are similar to commissions or markups/markdowns, will generally be charged to clients and, like commissions and markups/markdowns, would generally be included in the cost of the securities purchased. Access fees may be paid by BlackRock even though incurred in connection with executing transactions on behalf of clients, including the Fund. In certain circumstances, ECNs may offer volume discounts that will reduce the access fees typically paid by BlackRock. BlackRock will only utilize ECNs consistent with its obligation to seek to obtain best execution in client transactions.

BlackRock owns a minority interest in, and is a member of, Members Exchange ("MEMX"), a newly created U.S. stock exchange. Transactions for the Fund may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for execution of orders placed by BlackRock traders on behalf of such Funds. In addition, transactions in Fund shares may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for the execution of such orders.

BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing proxy voting decisions that it makes on behalf of advisory clients, including the Fund, and to help ensure that such decisions are made in accordance with BlackRock's fiduciary obligations to its clients. Nevertheless, notwithstanding such proxy voting policies and procedures, actual proxy voting decisions of BlackRock may have the effect of favoring the interests of other clients or businesses of other divisions or units of BlackRock, provided that BlackRock believes such voting decisions to be in accordance with its fiduciary obligations. For a more detailed discussion of these policies and procedures, see the *Proxy Voting Policy* section of this SAI.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. Increasing the Fund's assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification and may contribute to economies of scale that tend to reduce the Fund's expense ratio. BlackRock reserves the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell into the market or redeem in Creation Units through an Authorized Participant at any time some or all of the shares of the Fund acquired for its own accounts or the account of a BlackRock advisory client. A large sale or redemption of shares of the Fund by BlackRock itself or a BlackRock advisory client could significantly reduce the asset size of the Fund, which might have an adverse effect on the Fund's liquidity, investment flexibility, portfolio diversification, expense ratio or ability to comply with the listing requirements for the Fund.

It is possible that the Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in transactions with, companies in which BlackRock has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which BlackRock provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. In making investment decisions for the Fund, BlackRock is not permitted to obtain or use material non-public information acquired by any unit of BlackRock in the course of these activities. In addition, from time to time, the activities of BlackRock may limit the Fund's flexibility in purchases and sales of securities. As indicated below, BlackRock may engage in transactions with companies in which BlackRock-advised funds or other clients of BlackRock have an investment.

BlackRock, its personnel and other financial service providers may have interests in promoting sales of the Fund. With respect to BlackRock and its personnel, the remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of the Fund or other products may be greater than remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of certain funds or other products that might be provided or offered. BlackRock and its sales personnel may directly or indirectly receive a portion of the fees and commissions charged to the Fund or its shareholders. BlackRock and its advisory or other personnel may also benefit from increased amounts of assets under management. Fees and commissions may also be higher than for other products or services, and the remuneration and profitability to BlackRock and such personnel resulting from transactions on behalf of or management of the Fund may be greater than the remuneration and profitability resulting from other funds or products.

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Third parties, including service providers to BlackRock or the Fund, may sponsor events (including, but not limited to, marketing and promotional activities and presentations, educational training programs and conferences) for registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors. There is a potential conflict of interest as such sponsorships may defray the costs of such activities to BlackRock, and may provide an incentive to BlackRock to retain such third parties to provide services to the Fund.

BlackRock may provide valuation assistance to certain clients with respect to certain securities or other investments and the valuation recommendations made for such clients' accounts may differ from the valuations for the same securities or investments assigned by the Fund's pricing vendors, especially if such valuations are based on broker-dealer quotes or other data sources unavailable to the Fund's pricing vendors. While BlackRock will generally communicate its valuation information or determinations to the Fund's pricing vendors and/or fund accountants, there may be instances where the Fund's pricing vendors or fund accountants assign a different valuation to a security or other investment than the valuation for such security or investment determined or recommended by BlackRock.

As disclosed in more detail in the *Determination of Net Asset Value* section in this SAI, when market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value by BFA. BFA has been designated as the Fund's valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act and acts through BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee (the "2a-5 Committee"), with assistance from other BFA pricing committees and in accordance with BFA's policies and procedures (the "Valuation Procedures"). When determining a "fair value price," the 2a-5 Committee seeks to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction. The price generally may not be determined based on what the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. While fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models, fair value represents only a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued by the 2a-5 Committee at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders and may affect the amount of revenue received by BFA with respect to services for which it receives an asset-based fee.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest all or some of its short-term cash investments in any money market fund or similarly-managed private fund advised or managed by BlackRock. In connection with any such investments, the Fund, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, may pay its share of expenses of a money market fund or other similarly-managed private fund in which it invests, which may result in the Fund bearing some additional expenses.

BlackRock and its directors, officers and employees, may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on behalf of the Fund. As a result of differing trading and investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by directors, officers and employees that are the same, different from or made at different times than positions taken for the Fund. To lessen the possibility that the Fund will be adversely affected by this personal trading, the Fund, BFA and BlackRock have each adopted a code of ethics in compliance with Section 17(j) of the 1940 Act that restricts securities trading in the personal accounts of investment professionals and others who normally come into possession of information regarding the Fund's portfolio transactions. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.

BlackRock will not purchase securities or other property from, or sell securities or other property to, the Fund, except that the Fund may in accordance with rules or guidance adopted under the 1940 Act engage in transactions with another Fund or accounts that are affiliated with the Fund as a result of common officers, directors, or investment advisers or pursuant to exemptive orders granted to the Fund and/or BlackRock by the SEC. These transactions would be effected in circumstances in which BlackRock determined that it would be appropriate for the Fund to purchase and another client of BlackRock to sell, or the Fund to sell and another client of BlackRock to purchase, the same security or instrument on the same day. From time to time, the activities of the Fund may be restricted because of regulatory requirements applicable to BlackRock and/or BlackRock's internal policies designed to comply with, limit the applicability of, or otherwise relate to such requirements. A client not advised by BlackRock would not be subject to some of those considerations. There may be periods when

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BlackRock may not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions, or may otherwise restrict or limit its advice in certain securities or instruments issued by or related to companies for which BlackRock is performing advisory or other services or has proprietary positions. For example, when BlackRock is engaged to provide advisory or risk management services for a company, BlackRock may be prohibited from or limited in purchasing or selling securities of that company on behalf of the Fund, particularly where such services result in BlackRock obtaining material non-public information about the company (*e.g.*, in connection with participation in a creditors' committee). Similar situations could arise if personnel of BlackRock serve as directors of companies the securities of which the Fund wishes to purchase or sell. However, if permitted by applicable law, and where consistent with BlackRock's policies and procedures (including the necessary implementation of appropriate information barriers), the Fund may purchase securities or instruments that are issued by such companies, are the subject of an advisory or risk management assignment by BlackRock, or where personnel of BlackRock are directors or officers of the issuer.

The investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and for client accounts may also limit the investment strategies and rights of the Fund. For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, or is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount invested by BlackRock for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BlackRock, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

If certain aggregate ownership thresholds are reached either through the actions of BlackRock or the Fund or as a result of third-party transactions, the ability of BlackRock, on behalf of clients (including the Fund), to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. As a result, BlackRock, on behalf of its clients (including the Fund), may limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise restrict, forgo or limit the exercise of rights (including transferring, outsourcing or limiting voting rights or forgoing the right to receive dividends) when BlackRock, in its sole discretion, deems it appropriate in light of potential regulatory or other restrictions on ownership or other consequences resulting from reaching investment thresholds.

In those circumstances where ownership thresholds or limitations must be observed, BlackRock seeks to allocate limited investment opportunities equitably among clients (including the Fund), taking into consideration benchmark weight and investment strategy. BlackRock has adopted certain controls designed to prevent the occurrence of a breach of any applicable ownership threshold or limits, including, for example, when ownership in certain securities nears an applicable threshold, BlackRock may remove such securities from the list of Deposit Securities to be delivered to the Fund in connection with purchases of Creation Units of such Fund and may limit purchases in such securities to the issuer's weighting in the applicable benchmark used by BlackRock to manage such Fund. If client (including Fund) holdings of an issuer exceed an applicable threshold and BlackRock is unable to obtain relief to enable the continued holding of such investments, it may be necessary to sell down these positions to meet the applicable limitations. In these cases, benchmark overweight positions will be sold prior to benchmark positions being reduced to meet applicable limitations.

In addition to the foregoing, other ownership thresholds may trigger reporting requirements to governmental and regulatory authorities, and such reports may entail the disclosure of the identity of a client or BlackRock's intended strategy with respect to such security or asset.

BlackRock may not serve as an Authorized Participant in the creation and redemption of iShares ETFs.

BlackRock may maintain securities indices. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, the Fund may seek to license and use such indices as part of its investment strategy. Index based funds that seek to track the performance of securities indices also may use the name of the index or index provider in the fund name. Index providers, including BlackRock (to the extent permitted by applicable law), may be paid licensing fees for use of their index or index name. BlackRock may benefit from the Fund using BlackRock indices by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock is not obligated to license its indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. Any Fund that enters into a license for a BlackRock index cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The custody arrangement described in "Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services" may lead to potential conflicts of interest with BlackRock where BlackRock has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse ordinary operating expenses in order to cap expenses of the Fund (or where BlackRock charges a unitary management fee). This is because the custody

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arrangements with the Fund's custodian may have the effect of reducing custody fees when the Fund leaves cash balances uninvested. This could be viewed as having the potential to provide BlackRock an incentive to keep high positive cash balances for the Fund in order to offset fund custody fees that BlackRock might otherwise reimburse or pay. However, BlackRock's portfolio managers do not intentionally keep uninvested balances high, but rather make investment decisions that they anticipate will be beneficial to fund performance. For funds without a unitary management fee, when a fund's actual operating expense ratio exceeds a stated cap, a reduction in custody fees reduces the amount of waivers and/or reimbursements BlackRock would be required to make to the fund.

BlackRock may enter into contractual arrangements with third-party service providers to the Fund (*e.g.*, custodians, administrators and index providers) pursuant to which BlackRock receives fee discounts or concessions in recognition of BlackRock's overall relationship with such service providers. BlackRock may also enter into contractual arrangements with such service providers pursuant to which BlackRock incurs additional costs if the service provider's services are terminated with respect to the Fund. To the extent that BlackRock is responsible for paying these service providers out of its management fee, the benefits of any such fee discounts or concessions, or any additional costs, may accrue, in whole or in part, to BlackRock, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to the use or termination of service providers to the Fund.

BlackRock owns or has an ownership interest in certain trading, portfolio management, operations and/or information systems used by Fund service providers. These systems are, or will be, used by the Fund service provider in connection with the provision of services to accounts managed by BlackRock and funds managed and sponsored by BlackRock, including the Fund, that engage the service provider (typically the custodian). The Fund's service provider remunerates BlackRock for the use of the systems. The Fund service provider's payments to BlackRock for the use of these systems may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock's receipt of fees from a service provider in connection with the use of systems provided by BlackRock may create an incentive for BlackRock to recommend that the Fund enter into or renew an arrangement with the service provider.

In recognition of a BlackRock client's overall relationship with BlackRock, BlackRock may offer special pricing arrangements for certain services provided by BlackRock. Any such special pricing arrangements will not apply to the client's investment in the Fund.

Present and future activities of BlackRock (including BFA), its directors, officers and employees, in addition to those described in this section, may give rise to additional conflicts of interest.

## Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services
**Investment Adviser. BFA serves as investment adviser to the Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, and BFA. BFA is a California corporation indirectly owned by BlackRock, Inc. and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Under the investment advisory agreement, BFA, subject to the supervision of the Board and in conformity with the stated investment policies of the Fund, manages and administers the Trust and the investment of the Fund's assets. BFA is responsible for making investment decisions for the Fund.**

Pursuant to the investment advisory agreement, BFA may, from time to time, in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory or other services with respect to the Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the investment advisory agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion upon appropriate notice at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Fund, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Fund will bear, the management fees, interest expense, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including

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brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Independent Trustees). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses to reduce the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

For its investment advisory services to the Fund, BFA received a management fee at the annual rate (as a percentage of the Fund's average net assets) set forth below for the fiscal years noted. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary.

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Management Fee<br> for Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 0.17%<sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/06/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$60858 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$33169 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$16664 |

---

------

<sup>1</sup> BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to the Fund's investments in other ETPs sponsored by BFA or its affiliates and other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates through February 29, 2024, provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee of 0.25%. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $28,400, $29,651 and $16,452 of its management fees, respectively.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to the Fund continues in effect for two years from its effective date, and thereafter is subject to annual approval by (i) the Board, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, provided that in either event such continuance also is approved by a majority of the Board members who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to the Fund is terminable without penalty, on 60 days' notice, by the Board or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act). The investment advisory agreement is also terminable upon 60 days' notice by BFA and will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

**Portfolio Managers. As of October 31, 2022, the individuals named as Portfolio Managers in the Fund's Prospectus were also primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of other iShares funds and certain other types of portfolios and/or accounts as follows:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$127423000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9485000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;106 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;34905000000 |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$7296000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1526000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;270000000 |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;282 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1628759000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8776000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;57 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4167000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;302 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1626715000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5400000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4230000000 |

---

Pursuant to BFA's policy, investment opportunities are allocated equitably among the Fund and other portfolios and accounts. For example, under certain circumstances, an investment opportunity may be restricted due to limited supply in the market, legal constraints or other factors, in which event the investment opportunity will be allocated equitably among those portfolios and accounts, including the Fund, seeking such investment opportunity. As a consequence, from time to time the Fund may receive a smaller allocation of an investment opportunity than it would have if the Portfolio Managers and BFA and its affiliates did not manage other portfolios or accounts.

Like the Fund, the other portfolios or accounts for which the Portfolio Managers are primarily responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management generally pay an asset-based fee to BFA or its affiliates, as applicable, for its advisory services. One or more of those other portfolios or accounts, however, may pay BFA or its affiliates a performance-based fee in lieu of, or in addition to, an asset-based fee for its advisory services. A portfolio or account with a performance-based fee would pay BFA or its affiliates a portion of that portfolio's or account's gains, or would pay BFA or its affiliates more for its services than would otherwise be the case if BFA or any of its affiliates meets or exceeds specified performance targets. Performance-based fee arrangements could present an incentive for BFA or its affiliates to devote greater resources, and allocate more investment opportunities, to the portfolios or accounts that have those fee arrangements, relative to other portfolios or accounts, in order to earn larger fees. Although BFA and each of its affiliates have an obligation to allocate resources and opportunities equitably among portfolios and accounts and intend to do so, shareholders of the Fund should be aware that, as with any group of portfolios and accounts managed by an investment adviser and/or its affiliates pursuant to varying fee arrangements, including performance-based fee arrangements, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, which may result in the Portfolio Managers favoring those portfolios or accounts with performance-based fee arrangements.

The tables below show, for each Portfolio Manager, the number of portfolios or accounts of the types set forth in the above tables and the aggregate of total assets in those portfolios or accounts with respect to which the investment management fees are based on the performance of those portfolios or accounts as of October 31, 2022:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

*Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview*

The discussion below describes the Portfolio Managers' compensation as of October 31, 2022.

BlackRock, Inc.'s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock, Inc.

Each portfolio manager receives base compensation based on their position with the firm, as well as retirement and other benefits offered to all BlackRock employees. Additionally, each portfolio manager receives discretionary incentive compensation, determined based on several components, including: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the performance of portfolios managed by the portfolio manager and the team relative to the portfolios' investment objectives (which in the case of index ETFs would be how closely the ETF tracks its Underlying Index), and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. Discretionary incentive compensation is paid in cash up to a certain threshold with the remaining portion represented by deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock awards. In some cases, additional deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock may be granted to certain key employees as part of a long-term incentive award to aid in retention, align interests with long-term shareholders and motivate performance.

As of October 31, 2022, the Portfolio Managers did not beneficially own shares of the Fund.

**Codes of Ethics. The Trust, BFA and the Distributor have adopted codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. The codes of ethics permit personnel subject to the codes of ethics to invest in securities, subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Fund. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.**

**Anti-Money Laundering Requirements. The Fund is subject to the USA PATRIOT Act (the "Patriot Act"). The Patriot Act is intended to prevent the use of the U.S. financial system in furtherance of money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities. Pursuant to requirements under the Patriot Act, the Fund may request information from Authorized Participants to enable it to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of its Authorized Participants. This information will be used to verify the identity of Authorized Participants or, in some cases, the status of financial professionals; it will be used only for compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.**

The Fund reserves the right to reject purchase orders from persons who have not submitted information sufficient to allow the Fund to verify their identity. The Fund also reserves the right to redeem any amounts in the Fund from persons whose identity it is unable to verify on a timely basis. It is the Fund's policy to cooperate fully with appropriate regulators in any investigations conducted with respect to potential money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities.

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#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.
State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") serves as administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund under the Master Services Agreement and related Service Schedule (the "Service Module"). State Street's principal address is 1 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111. Pursuant to the Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services with the Trust, State Street provides necessary administrative, legal, tax and accounting and financial reporting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and the Fund. In addition, State Street makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services. Pursuant to the Service Module for Custodial Services with the Trust, State Street maintains, in separate accounts, cash, securities and other assets of the Trust and the Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records and provides other services. State Street is required, upon the order of the Trust, to deliver securities held by State Street and to make payments for securities purchased by the Trust for the Fund. State Street is authorized to appoint certain foreign custodians or foreign custody managers for Fund investments outside the U.S. Pursuant to the Service Module for Transfer Agency Services with the Trust, State Street acts as a transfer agent for the Fund's authorized and issued shares of beneficial interest, and as dividend disbursing agent of the Trust. As compensation for these services, State Street receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset-based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by BFA from its management fee.

The following table sets forth the administration, custodian and transfer agency expenses of the Fund paid by BFA to State Street for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 06/06/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$13339 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$17389 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$17435 |

---

JPMorgan serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities under a Custody Services Agreement. JPMorgan's principal address is 383 Madison Avenue, 11<sup>th</sup> Floor, New York, NY 10179. Pursuant to the Custody Services Agreement with BTC and the Trust, JPMorgan provides custody and related services required to facilitate securities lending by the Fund. JPMorgan maintains custody as may be necessary to facilitate Fund securities lending activity in coordination with other funds, maintains custodial records and provides other services. As compensation for these services, JPMorgan receives certain fees and expenses paid by BTC from its compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

**Distributor. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Fund through the Distributor or its agent only in Creation Units, as described in the Prospectus and below in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Fund shares in amounts less than Creation Units are generally not distributed by the Distributor or its agent. The Distributor or its agent will arrange for the delivery of the Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it or its agents and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it or its agents. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "1934 Act"), and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The Distributor is also licensed as a broker-dealer in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.**

The Distribution Agreement for the Fund provides that it may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days' prior written notice to the other party following (i) the vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers ("Soliciting Dealers") who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Fund shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as described below), DTC participants and/or investor services organizations.

BFA or its affiliates may, from time to time and from its own resources, pay, defray or absorb costs relating to distribution, including payments out of its own resources to the Distributor, or to otherwise promote the sale of shares.

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**Securities Lending. The Fund may engage in securities lending. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, the Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, and BTC acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA, pursuant to a written agreement (the "Securities Lending Agency Agreement").**

If the the were to engage in securities lending, it would retain a portion of the securities lending income and remit the remaining portion to BTC as compensation for its services as securities lending agent. Securities lending income is generally equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral (and excludes collateral investment fees as defined below), and any fees or other payments to and from borrowers of securities. As securities lending agent, BTC bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending, including custodial costs of JPMorgan. To the extent that the the engages in securities lending, the Fund is responsible for fees in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan in a money market fund managed by BFA (the "collateral investment fees"); however, BTC has agreed to reduce the amount of securities lending income it receives in order to effectively limit the collateral investment fees the Fund bears to an annual rate of 0.04%. Such money market fund shares will not be subject to a sales load, redemption fee, distribution fee or service fee.

Under the securities lending program, funds are categorized into one of several specific asset classes. The determination of a fund's asset class category (fixed-income, domestic equity, international equity or fund-of-funds), each of which may be subject to a different fee arrangement, is based on a methodology agreed to by the Trust and BTC.

Pursuant to the Securities Lending Agency Agreement effective through December 31, 2021:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 77% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, effective January 1, 2022:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, (i) international equity funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) fixed-income funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

(iii) fund-of-funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income (which includes, for this purpose, collateral investment fees) earned across the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex (as defined in the "*Management—Trustees and Officers* section of this SAI) in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement:

(i) each applicable domestic equity fund will receive 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of the securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) each applicable international equity fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(iii) each applicable fixed-income fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

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(iv) each applicable fund-of-funds will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

No services have been provided by BTC as the Fund's securities lending agent, and the Fund had no income and fees/compensation related to securities lending activities for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

**Payments by BFA and its Affiliates. BFA and/or its affiliates ("BFA Entities") may pay certain broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks and other financial intermediaries ("Intermediaries") for certain activities related to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products in general. BFA Entities make these payments from their own assets and not from the assets of the Fund. Although a portion of BFA Entities' revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, these payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. BFA Entities make payments for Intermediaries' participation in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Fund and other iShares funds, or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems ("Education Costs"). BFA Entities also make payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs or materials relating to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products ("Publishing Costs"). In addition, BFA Entities make payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products available to their clients, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, develop new products that feature iShares, create educational content about the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products that is featured on an Intermediary's platform, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds and exchange-traded products. BFA Entities may also reimburse expenses or make payments from their own assets to Intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services or other activities that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.**

Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients, what services to provide for various products, or what marketing content to make available to its clients based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, such payments may create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients. These financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products over other investments. The same conflicts of interest and financial incentives exist with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

In addition to the payments described above, BFA Entities have developed proprietary tools, calculators and related interactive or digital content that is made available through the www.BlackRock.com website at no additional cost to Intermediaries. BlackRock may configure these tools and calculators and localize the content for Intermediaries as part of its customary digital marketing support and promotion of the Fund, other iShares funds, exchange-traded products and BlackRock mutual funds.

As of March 1, 2013, BFA Entities have contractual arrangements to make payments (in addition to payments for Education Costs or Publishing Costs) to one Intermediary, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC ("FBS"). Effective June 4, 2016, this relationship was expanded to include National Financial Services, LLC ("NFS"), an affiliate of FBS. Pursuant to this special, long-term and significant arrangement (the "Marketing Program"), FBS, NFS and certain of their affiliates (collectively "Fidelity") have agreed, among other things, to actively promote iShares funds to customers, investment professionals and other intermediaries and in advertising campaigns as the preferred exchange-traded product, to offer certain iShares funds in certain Fidelity platforms and investment programs, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, and to provide marketing data to BFA Entities. BFA Entities have agreed to facilitate the Marketing Program by, among other things, making certain payments to FBS and NFS for marketing and implementing certain brokerage and investment programs. Upon termination of the arrangement, the BFA Entities will make additional payments to FBS and/or NFS based upon a number of criteria, including the overall success of the Marketing Program and the level of services provided by FBS and NFS during the wind-down period.

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In addition, BFA Entities may enter into other contractual arrangements with Intermediaries and certain other third parties that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in iShares funds. Such agreements may include payments by BFA Entities to such Intermediaries and third parties for data collection and provision, technology support, platform enhancement, or educational content, co-marketing and cross-promotional efforts. Payments made pursuant to such arrangements may vary in any year and may be different for different Intermediaries and third parties. In certain cases, the payments described in the preceding sentence may be subject to certain minimum payment levels. As of the date of this SAI, the Intermediaries and other third parties receiving one or more types of the contractual payments described above include (in addition to FBS and NFS): Advisor Credit Exchange, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics, LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, Dorsey Wright and Associates, LLC, Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., Envestnet Asset Management, Inc., FDx Advisors, Inc., LPL Financial LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, Pershing LLC, Public Holdings, Inc., Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Riskalyze, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. Any additions, modifications, or deletions to Intermediaries and other third parties listed above that have occurred since the date of this SAI are not included in the list.

Further, BFA Entities make Education Costs and Publishing Costs payments to other Intermediaries that are not listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. BFA Entities may determine to make such payments based on any number of metrics. For example, BFA Entities may make payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary's services at defined levels or an amount based on the Intermediary's net sales of one or more iShares funds in a year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, BFA anticipates that the payments paid by BFA Entities in connection with the Fund, iShares funds and exchange-traded products in general will be immaterial to BFA Entities in the aggregate for the next year. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments or financial incentives his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made, or financial incentives offered, by the BFA Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for the Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or other exchange-traded products.**

The Fund may participate in certain market maker incentive programs of a national securities exchange in which an affiliate of the Fund would pay a fee to the exchange used for the purpose of incentivizing one or more market makers in the securities of the Fund to enhance the liquidity and quality of the secondary market of securities of the Fund. The fee would then be credited by the exchange to one or more market makers that meet or exceed liquidity and market quality standards with respect to the securities of the Fund. Each market maker incentive program is subject to approval from the SEC. Any such fee payments made to an exchange will be made by an affiliate of the Fund solely for the benefit of the Fund and will not be paid from any Fund assets. Other funds managed by BFA may also participate in such programs.

## Determination of Net Asset Value
**Valuation of Shares. The NAV for the Fund is generally calculated as of the close of regular trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each business day the NYSE is open. Valuation of assets held by the Fund is as follows:**

**Equity Investments. Equity securities traded on a recognized securities exchange (*e.g.*, NYSE), on separate trading boards of a securities exchange or through a market system that provides contemporaneous transaction pricing information (each an "Exchange") are valued using information obtained via independent pricing services, generally at the closing price or, if an Exchange closing price is not available, the last traded price on that Exchange prior to the time as of which the assets or liabilities are valued. However, under certain circumstances, other means of determining current market value may be used. If an equity security is traded on more than one Exchange, the current market value of the security where it is primarily traded generally will be used. In the event that there are no sales involving an equity security held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such security, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the security, in which case such asset would be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

**Fixed-Income Investments. Fixed-income securities for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued using such securities' current market value. The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using the last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's**

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approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. The pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values, including transaction data (*e.g*., recent representative bids and offers), credit quality information, perceived market movements, news, and other relevant information and by other methods, which may include consideration of: yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type; indications as to values from dealers; general market conditions; and/or other factors and assumptions. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. The amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with 60 days or less remaining to maturity unless such method does not represent fair value. Certain fixed-income investments, including asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, may be valued based on valuation models that consider the estimated cash flows of each tranche of the issuer, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.

**Options, Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Exchange-traded equity options (except those that are customized) for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the mean of the last bid and ask prices as quoted on the Exchange or the board of trade on which such options are traded. In the event that there is no mean price available for an exchange traded equity option held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such option, the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price, if available, will be used as the value of such option. If no bid or ask price is available on a day on which the Fund values such option, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the option, in which case such option will be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below). Customized exchange-traded equity options, as well as OTC derivatives, may be valued using a mathematical model which may incorporate a number of market data factors. Financial futures contracts and options thereon, which are traded on exchanges, are valued at their last sale price or settle price as of the close of such exchanges. Swap agreements and other derivatives are generally valued daily based upon quotations from market makers or by a pricing service in accordance with the Valuation Procedures.**

**Underlying Funds. Shares of underlying open-end funds (including money market funds) are valued at NAV. Shares of underlying exchange-traded closed-end funds or other ETFs will be valued at their most recent closing price.**

**General Valuation Information. Prices obtained from independent third-party pricing services, broker-dealers or market makers to value the Fund's securities and other assets and liabilities are based on information available at the time the Fund values its assets and liabilities. In the event that a pricing service quotation is revised or updated subsequent to the day on which the Fund valued such security, the revised pricing service quotation generally will be applied prospectively. Such determination will be made considering pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding the revision.**

The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for assets that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by the Fund, and the Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. The Fund's ability to value its investment may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

All cash, receivables and current payables are carried on the Fund's books at their fair value.

In the event that application of the methods of valuation discussed above result in a price for a security which is deemed not to be representative of the fair market value of such security, the security will be valued by, under the direction of or in accordance with a method approved by BFA, the Fund's valuation designee, as reflecting fair value. All other assets and liabilities (including securities for which market quotations are not readily available) held by the Fund (including restricted securities) are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by BFA pursuant to the Valuation Procedures. Any assets and liabilities which are denominated in a foreign currency are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates.

Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used in the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

**Fair Value. When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value ("Fair Value Assets"). Fair Value Assets are valued by BFA in accordance with the Valuation**

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Procedures. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act, the Board of Trustees has designated BFA as the valuation designee for the respective Funds for which it serves as investment adviser. BFA may reasonably conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if, among other things, a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its complete lack of trading, if BFA believes a market quotation from a broker-dealer or other source is unreliable (*e.g.*, where it varies significantly from a recent trade, or no longer reflects the fair value of the security or other asset or liability subsequent to the most recent market quotation), or where the security or other asset or liability is only thinly traded or due to the occurrence of a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation. For this purpose, a "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment, that an event has occurred after the close of trading for an asset or liability but prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund. On any day the NYSE is open and a foreign market or the primary exchange on which a foreign asset or liability is traded is closed, such asset or liability will be valued using the prior day's price, provided that BFA is not aware of any significant event or other information that would cause such price to no longer reflect the fair value of the asset or liability, in which case such asset or liability would be treated as a Fair Value Asset.

BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving methodologies by investment type and significant inputs used in the fair valuation of Fund assets or liabilities. In addition, the Fund's accounting agent assists BFA by periodically endeavoring to confirm the prices it receives from all third-party pricing services, index providers and broker-dealers and regularly evaluating the values assigned to the securities and other assets and liabilities of the Fund. The pricing of all Fair Value Assets is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof.

When determining the price for a Fair Value Asset, BFA will seek to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction on the date on which the asset or liability is being valued, and does not seek to determine the price the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. Fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. When determining the fair value of an investment, one or more fair value methodologies may be used (depending on certain factors, including the asset type). For example, the investment may be initially priced based on the original cost of the investment or, alternatively, using proprietary or third-party models that may rely upon one or more unobservable inputs. Prices of actual, executed or historical transactions in the relevant investment (or comparable instruments) or, where appropriate, an appraisal by a third-party experienced in the valuation of similar instruments, may also be used as a basis for establishing the fair value of an investment.

The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

The Fund's annual audited financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), follow the requirements for valuation set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"), which defines and establishes a framework for measuring fair value under US GAAP and expands financial statement disclosure requirements relating to fair value measurements.

Generally, ASC 820 and other accounting rules applicable to funds and various assets in which they invest are evolving. Such changes may adversely affect the Fund. For example, the evolution of rules governing the determination of the fair market value of assets or liabilities, to the extent such rules become more stringent, would tend to increase the cost and/or reduce the availability of third-party determinations of fair market value. This may in turn increase the costs associated with selling assets or affect their liquidity due to the Fund's inability to obtain a third-party determination of fair market value.

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## Brokerage Transactions
Subject to policies established by the Board, BFA is primarily responsible for the execution of the Fund's portfolio transactions and the allocation of brokerage. BFA does not execute transactions through any particular broker or dealer, but seeks to obtain the best net results for the Fund, taking into account such factors as price (including the applicable brokerage commission or dealer spread), size of order, difficulty of execution, operational facilities of the firm and the firm's risk and skill in positioning blocks of securities. While BFA generally seeks reasonable trade execution costs, the Fund does not necessarily pay the lowest spread or commission available, and payment of the lowest commission or spread is not necessarily consistent with obtaining the best price and execution in particular transactions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, BFA may select a broker based partly upon brokerage or research services provided to BFA and its clients, including the Fund. In return for such services, BFA may cause the Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if BFA determines in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to the services provided.

In selecting brokers or dealers to execute portfolio transactions, BFA seeks to obtain the best price and most favorable execution for the Fund and may take into account a variety of factors including: (i) the size, nature and character of the security or instrument being traded and the markets in which it is purchased or sold; (ii) the desired timing of the transaction; (iii) BFA's knowledge of the expected commission rates and spreads currently available; (iv) the activity existing and expected in the market for the particular security or instrument, including any anticipated execution difficulties; (v) the full range of brokerage services provided; (vi) the broker's or dealer's capital; (vii) the quality of research and research services provided; (viii) the reasonableness of the commission, dealer spread or its equivalent for the specific transaction; and (ix) BFA's knowledge of any actual or apparent operational problems of a broker or dealer. Brokers may also be selected because of their ability to handle special or difficult executions, such as may be involved in large block trades, thinly traded securities, or other circumstances.

Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act ("Section 28(e)") permits a U.S. investment adviser, under certain circumstances, to cause an account to pay a broker or dealer a commission for effecting a transaction in securities that exceeds the amount another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting the same transaction in recognition of the value of brokerage and research services provided by that broker or dealer. This includes commissions paid on riskless principal transactions in securities under certain conditions.

From time to time, the Fund may purchase new issues of securities in a fixed price offering. In these situations, the broker may be a member of the selling group that will, in addition to selling securities, provide BFA with research services. FINRA has adopted rules expressly permitting these types of arrangements under certain circumstances. Generally, the broker will provide research "credits" in these situations at a rate that is higher than that available for typical secondary market transactions. These arrangements may not fall within the safe harbor of Section 28(e).

OTC issues, including most fixed-income securities such as corporate debt and U.S. Government securities, are normally traded on a "net" basis without a stated commission, through dealers acting for their own account and not as brokers. The Fund will primarily engage in transactions with these dealers or deal directly with the issuer unless a better price or execution could be obtained by using a broker. Prices paid to a dealer with respect to both foreign and domestic securities will generally include a "spread," which is the difference between the prices at which the dealer is willing to purchase and sell the specific security at the time, and includes the dealer's normal profit.

Under the 1940 Act, persons affiliated with the Fund and persons who are affiliated with such affiliated persons are prohibited from dealing with the Fund as principal in the purchase and sale of securities unless a permissive order allowing such transactions is obtained from the SEC. Since transactions in the OTC market usually involve transactions with the dealers acting as principal for their own accounts, the Fund will not deal with affiliated persons and affiliated persons of such affiliated persons in connection with such transactions. The Fund will not purchase securities during the existence of any underwriting or selling group relating to such securities of which BFA, BRIL or any affiliated person (as defined in the 1940 Act) thereof is a member except pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board in accordance with Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act.

Purchases of money market instruments by the Fund are made from dealers, underwriters and issuers. The Fund does not currently expect to incur any brokerage commission expense on such transactions because money market instruments are generally traded on a "net" basis with dealers acting as principal for their own accounts without a stated commission. The price of the security, however, usually includes a profit to the dealer.

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BFA may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions.

Securities purchased in underwritten offerings include a fixed amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter's concession or discount. When securities are purchased or sold directly from or to an issuer, no commissions or discounts are paid.

Investment decisions for the Fund and for other investment accounts managed by BFA and the other Affiliates are made independently of each other in light of differing conditions. A variety of factors will be considered in making investment allocations. These factors include: (i) investment objectives or strategies for particular accounts, including sector, industry, country or region and capitalization weightings; (ii) tax considerations of an account; (iii) risk or investment concentration parameters for an account; (iv) supply or demand for a security at a given price level; (v) size of available investment; (vi) cash availability and liquidity requirements for accounts; (vii) regulatory restrictions; (viii) minimum investment size of an account; (ix) relative size of account; and (x) such other factors as may be approved by BlackRock's general counsel. Moreover, investments may not be allocated to one client account over another based on any of the following considerations: (i) to favor one client account at the expense of another; (ii) to generate higher fees paid by one client account over another or to produce greater performance compensation to BlackRock; (iii) to develop or enhance a relationship with a client or prospective client; (iv) to compensate a client for past services or benefits rendered to BlackRock or to induce future services or benefits to be rendered to BlackRock; or (v) to manage or equalize investment performance among different client accounts. BFA and the other Affiliates may deal, trade and invest for their own respective accounts in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest.

Initial public offerings ("IPOs") of securities may be over-subscribed and subsequently trade at a premium in the secondary market. When BFA is given an opportunity to invest in such an initial offering or "new" or "hot" issue, the supply of securities available for client accounts is often less than the amount of securities the accounts would otherwise take. In order to allocate these investments fairly and equitably among client accounts over time, each portfolio manager or a member of his or her respective investment team will indicate to BFA's trading desk their level of interest in a particular offering with respect to eligible clients' accounts for which that team is responsible. IPOs of U.S. equity securities will be identified as eligible for particular client accounts that are managed by portfolio teams who have indicated interest in the offering based on market capitalization of the issuer of the security and the investment mandate of the client account and in the case of international equity securities, the country where the offering is taking place and the investment mandate of the client account. Generally, shares received during the IPO will be allocated among participating client accounts within each investment mandate on a *pro rata* basis. This *pro rata* allocation may result in the Fund receiving less of a particular security than if pro-rating had not occurred. All allocations of securities will be subject, where relevant, to share minimums established for accounts and compliance constraints. In situations where supply is too limited to be allocated among all accounts for which the investment is eligible, portfolio managers may rotate such investment opportunities among one or more accounts so long as the rotation system provides for fair access for all client accounts over time. Other allocation methodologies that are considered by BFA to be fair and equitable to clients may be used as well.

Because different accounts may have differing investment objectives and policies, BFA may buy and sell the same securities at the same time for different clients based on the particular investment objective, guidelines and strategies of those accounts. For example, BFA may decide that it may be entirely appropriate for a growth fund to sell a security at the same time a value fund is buying that security. To the extent that transactions on behalf of more than one client of BFA or the other Affiliates during the same period increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, there may be an adverse effect on price. For example, sales of a security by BlackRock on behalf of one or more of its clients may decrease the market price of such security, adversely impacting other BlackRock clients that still hold the security. If purchases or sales of securities arise for consideration at or about the same time that would involve the Fund or other clients or funds for which BFA or another Affiliate act as investment manager, transactions in such securities will be made, insofar as feasible, for the respective funds and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all.

In certain instances, BFA may find it efficient for purposes of seeking to obtain best execution, to aggregate or "bunch" certain contemporaneous purchases or sale orders of its advisory accounts and advisory accounts of affiliates. In general, all contemporaneous trades for client accounts under management by the same portfolio manager or investment team will be bunched in a single order if the trader believes the bunched trade would provide each client with an opportunity to achieve a

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more favorable execution at a potentially lower execution cost. The costs associated with a bunched order will be shared *pro rata* among the clients in the bunched order. Generally, if an order for a particular portfolio manager or management team is filled at several different prices through multiple trades, all accounts participating in the order will receive the average price (except in the case of certain international markets where average pricing is not permitted). While in some cases this practice could have a detrimental effect upon the price or value of the security as far as the Fund is concerned, in other cases it could be beneficial to the Fund. Transactions effected by BFA or the other Affiliates on behalf of more than one of its clients during the same period may increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, causing an adverse effect on price. The trader will give the bunched order to the broker-dealer that the trader has identified as being able to provide the best execution of the order. Orders for purchase or sale of securities will be placed within a reasonable amount of time of the order receipt and bunched orders will be kept bunched only long enough to execute the order.

The table below sets forth the brokerage commissions paid by the Fund for the fiscal years noted. Any differences in brokerage commissions paid by the Fund from year to year are principally due to increases or decreases in the Fund's assets over those periods or changes to the allocation of equities and derivatives in the Fund's portfolio:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2020** |
| 06/06/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$7405 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$8572 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$4846 |

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The Fund did not pay any brokerage commissions to BRIL, an affiliate of BFA, or to any other broker-dealer that is part of the BlackRock group of companies, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The Fund's purchase and sale orders for securities may be combined with those of other investment companies, clients or accounts that BlackRock manages or advises. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities of the Fund and one or more other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Fund and the other accounts in a manner deemed equitable to all by BlackRock. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Fund is concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower transaction costs will be beneficial to the Fund. BlackRock may deal, trade and invest for its own account in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest. BlackRock may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions. The Fund will not deal with affiliates in principal transactions unless permitted by applicable SEC rules or regulations, or by SEC exemptive order.

Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year. High turnover rates may result in comparatively greater brokerage expenses. The table below sets forth the portfolio turnover rates of the Fund for the fiscal years noted:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2021** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;52% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;121% |

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## Additional Information Concerning the Trust
**Shares. The Trust currently consists of 16 separate investment series or portfolios called funds. The Trust issues shares of beneficial interests in the funds with no par value. The Board may designate additional iShares funds.**

Each share issued by a fund has a *pro rata* interest in the assets of that fund. Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the relevant fund, and in the net distributable assets of such fund on liquidation.

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Each share has one vote with respect to matters upon which the shareholder is entitled to vote. In any matter submitted to shareholders for a vote, each fund shall hold a separate vote, provided that shareholders of all affected funds will vote together when: (i) required by the 1940 Act, or (ii) the Trustees determine that the matter affects the interests of more than one fund.

Under Delaware law, the Trust is not required to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. The policy of the Trust is not to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. All shares (regardless of the fund) have noncumulative voting rights in the election of members of the Board. Under Delaware law, Trustees of the Trust may be removed by vote of the shareholders.

Following the creation of the initial Creation Unit(s) of shares of a fund and immediately prior to the commencement of trading in such fund's shares, a holder of shares may be a "control person" of the fund, as defined in Rule 0-1 under the 1940 Act. A fund cannot predict the length of time for which one or more shareholders may remain a control person of the fund.

Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to iShares U.S. ETF Trust, c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC, 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, beneficial owners of more than 5% of the shares of a fund may be subject to the reporting provisions of Section 13 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. In addition, absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, officers and trustees of a fund and beneficial owners of 10% of the shares of a fund ("Insiders") may be subject to the insider reporting, short-swing profit and short sale provisions of Section 16 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. Beneficial owners and Insiders should consult with their own legal counsel concerning their obligations under Sections 13 and 16 of the 1934 Act and existing guidance provided by the SEC staff.

In accordance with the Trust's current Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust"), the Board may, without shareholder approval (unless such shareholder approval is required by the Declaration of Trust or applicable law, including the 1940 Act), authorize certain funds to merge, reorganize, consolidate, sell all or substantially all of their assets, or take other similar actions with, to or into another fund. The Trust or a fund may be terminated by a majority vote of the Board, or the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders of the Trust or such fund entitled to vote on termination; however, in certain circumstances described in the Declaration of Trust, only a majority vote of the Board is required. Although the shares are not automatically redeemable upon the occurrence of any specific event, the Declaration of Trust provides that the Board will have the unrestricted power to alter the number of shares in a Creation Unit. Therefore, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Board, in its sole discretion, could determine to permit the shares to be redeemable in aggregations smaller than Creation Units or to be individually redeemable. In such circumstance, the Trust or a fund may make redemptions in-kind, for cash or for a combination of cash or securities. Further, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Trust or a fund might elect to pay cash redemptions to all shareholders, with an in-kind election for shareholders owning in excess of a certain stated minimum amount.

**DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund. Shares of the Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.**

DTC was created in 1973 to enable electronic movement of securities between its participants ("DTC Participants"), and NSCC was established in 1976 to provide a single settlement system for securities clearing and to serve as central counterparty for securities trades among DTC Participants. In 1999, DTC and NSCC were consolidated within The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") and became wholly-owned subsidiaries of DTCC. The common stock of DTCC is owned by the DTC Participants, but NYSE and FINRA, through subsidiaries, hold preferred shares in DTCC that provide them with the right to elect one member each to the DTCC board of directors. Access to the DTC system is available to entities, such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly ("Indirect Participants").

Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as "Beneficial Owners") is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain

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purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in shares of the Fund.

Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee to be charged to the Trust a listing of the shares of the Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Share distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares of the Trust. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall credit immediately DTC Participants' accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in shares of the Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a "street name," and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.

The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants. DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to shares of the Trust at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.

**Distribution of Shares. In connection with the Fund's launch, the Fund was seeded through the sale of one or more Creation Units by the Fund to one or more initial investors. Initial investors participating in the seeding may be Authorized Participants, a lead market maker or other third party investor or an affiliate of the Fund or the Fund's adviser. Each such initial investor may sell some or all of the shares underlying the Creation Unit(s) held by them pursuant to the registration statement for the Fund (each, a "Selling Shareholder"), which shares have been registered to permit the resale from time to time after purchase. The Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale by the Selling Shareholders of these shares.**

Selling Shareholders may sell shares owned by them directly or through broker-dealers, in accordance with applicable law, on any national securities exchange on which the shares may be listed or quoted at the time of sale, through trading systems, in the OTC market or in transactions other than on these exchanges or systems at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected through brokerage transactions, privately negotiated trades, block sales, entry into options or other derivatives transactions or through any other means authorized by applicable law. Selling Shareholders may redeem the shares held in Creation Unit size by them through an Authorized Participant.

Any Selling Shareholder and any broker-dealer or agents participating in the distribution of shares may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act, in connection with such sales.

Any Selling Shareholder and any other person participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

## Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
**General. The Trust issues and sells shares of the Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor or its agent, without a sales load, at a price based on the Fund's NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order received by the Distributor or its agent in proper form. On days when the Listing Exchange closes**

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earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to be placed earlier in the day. The following table sets forth the number of shares of the Fund that constitute a Creation Unit for the Fund and the approximate value of such Creation Unit as of November 30, 2022:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Shares Per<br> Creation Unit** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Approximate<br> Value Per<br> Creation<br> Unit (U.S.$)** |
| 50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$2657739.55 |

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In its discretion, the Trust reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of the Fund's shares that constitute a Creation Unit. The Board reserves the right to declare a split or a consolidation in the number of shares outstanding of the Fund, and to make a corresponding change in the number of shares constituting a Creation Unit, in the event that the per share price in the secondary market rises (or declines) to an amount that falls outside the range deemed desirable by the Board.

A "Business Day" with respect to the Fund is any day the Fund is open for business, including any day when it satisfies redemption requests as required by Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act. The Fund is open for business any day on which the Listing Exchange on which the Fund is listed for trading is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, the Listing Exchange observes the following holidays, as observed: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

**Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of Creation Units of the Fund, generally consists of the in-kind deposit of a designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) (Deposit Securities) and the Cash Component computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to creation requests received in proper form. The Fund Deposit represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of the Fund. Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, to purchases of Creation Units of shares of the Fund until such time as the next-announced Fund Deposit is made available.**

The "Cash Component" is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares (per Creation Unit) and the "Deposit Amount," which is an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities, and serves to compensate for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the Deposit Amount. Payment of any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities are the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant purchasing the Creation Unit. The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind.

The identity and number of shares of the Deposit Securities change pursuant to changes in the composition of the Fund's portfolio and as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by BFA with a view to the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities constituting the Underlying Index.

The Fund Deposit may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Deposit Securities portion of the Fund Deposit through "systematic rounding." The rounding methodology "rounds up" position sizes of securities in the Deposit Securities (which in turn reduces the cash portion). However, the methodology limits the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Fund Deposit.

Fund Deposits may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when instruments are not available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) when instruments are not eligible for transfer through DTC or the clearing process (as discussed below); (iii) when instruments that the Authorized Participant (or an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) are not able to be traded due to a trading restriction; (iv) when delivery of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant (or by an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws; (v) in connection with distribution payments to be made by the Fund; or (vi) in certain other situations.

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**Cash Purchase Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified (*e.g*., Creation Units of the Fund are generally offered partially for cash), they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof. In the case of a partial or full cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser.**

**Procedures for Creation of Creation Units. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit of the Fund, an entity must be: (i) a "Participating Party," *i.e*., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the "Clearing Process"), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC, or (ii) a DTC Participant, and must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units ("Authorized Participant Agreement") (discussed below). A member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units is referred to as an "Authorized Participant." All shares of the Fund, however created, will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.**

**Role of the Authorized Participant. Creation Units may be purchased only by or through a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units (an "Authorized Participant"). Such Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of such Authorized Participant Agreement and on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that such Authorized Participant will make available in advance of each purchase of shares an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component, once the NAV of a Creation Unit is next determined after receipt of the purchase order in proper form, together with the transaction fees described below. An Authorized Participant, acting on behalf of an investor, may require the investor to enter into an agreement with such Authorized Participant with respect to certain matters, including payment of the Cash Component. Investors who are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not be a DTC Participant or may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that orders to purchase Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant. As a result, purchase orders placed through an Authorized Participant may result in additional charges to such investor. The Trust does not expect to enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with more than a small number of DTC Participants. A list of current Authorized Participants may be obtained from the Distributor. The Distributor has adopted guidelines regarding Authorized Participants' transactions in Creation Units that are made available to all Authorized Participants. These guidelines set forth the processes and standards for Authorized Participants to transact with the Distributor and its agents in connection with creation and redemption transactions. In addition, the Distributor may be appointed as the proxy of the Authorized Participant and may be granted a power of attorney under its Authorized Participant Agreement.**

**Purchase Orders. To initiate an order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit to the Distributor or its agent an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund, in proper form, generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day to receive that day's NAV. The Distributor or its agent will notify BFA and the custodian of such order. The custodian will then provide such information to any appropriate sub-custodian. Procedures and requirements governing the delivery of the Fund Deposit are set forth in the procedures handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a creation request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request. Those placing orders to purchase Creation Units through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor or its agent by the Cutoff Time (as defined below) on such Business Day.**

The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the Fund, immediately available or same day funds estimated by the Fund to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with the applicable purchase transaction fees. Those placing orders should ascertain the deadline for cash transfers by contacting the operations department of the broker or depositary institution effectuating the transfer of the Cash Component. This deadline is likely to be significantly earlier than the Cutoff Time of the Fund. Investors should be aware that an Authorized Participant may require orders for purchases of shares placed with it to be in the particular form required by the individual Authorized Participant.

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The Authorized Participant is responsible for any and all expenses and costs incurred by the Fund, including any applicable cash amounts, in connection with any purchase order.

**Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. Creation Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent pursuant to procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure, may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or its agent or an Authorized Participant. The Fund's deadline specified above for the submission of purchase orders is referred to as the Fund's "Cutoff Time." The Distributor or its agent, in their discretion, may permit the submission of such orders and requests by or through an Authorized Participant at any time (including on days on which the Listing Exchange is not open for business) via communication through the facilities of the Distributor's or its agent's proprietary website maintained for this purpose. Purchase orders and redemption requests, if accepted by the Trust, will be processed based on the NAV next determined after such acceptance in accordance with the Fund's Cutoff Times as provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement and disclosed in this SAI.**

**Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. Subject to the conditions that (i) an irrevocable purchase order has been submitted by the Authorized Participant (either on its own or another investor's behalf) and (ii) arrangements satisfactory to the Fund are in place for payment of the Cash Component and any other cash amounts which may be due, the Fund will accept the order, subject to the Fund's right (and the right of the Distributor and BFA) to reject any order until acceptance, as set forth below.**

Once the Fund has accepted an order, upon the next determination of the NAV of the shares, the Fund will confirm the issuance of a Creation Unit, against receipt of payment, at such NAV. The Distributor or its agent will then transmit a confirmation of acceptance to the Authorized Participant that placed the order.

The Fund reserves the right to reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent provided that a rejection or revocation of a creation order does not violate Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act. For example, the Fund may reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent if (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of the Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered do not conform to the identity and number of shares specified, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities is not legally required or would, in the opinion of the Trust, be unlawful or have an adverse effect on the Fund or its shareholders (*e.g*., jeopardize the Fund's tax status); or (v) circumstances outside the control of the Fund, the Distributor or its agent and BFA make it impracticable to process purchase orders. The Distributor or its agent shall notify a prospective purchaser of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such purchaser of its rejection of such order. The Fund, State Street, the sub-custodian and the Distributor or its agent are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for failure to give such notification.

**Issuance of a Creation Unit. Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When the sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the securities included in the Fund Deposit (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian or sub-custodians, the Distributor or its agent and BFA shall be notified of such delivery and the Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit. Creation Units are generally issued on a "T+2 basis" (*i.e.*, two Business Days after trade date). The Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law.**

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor, the Fund will issue Creation Units to such Authorized Participant, notwithstanding the fact that the corresponding Fund Deposits have not been received in part or in whole, in reliance on the undertaking of the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Deposit Securities as soon as possible, which undertaking shall be secured by such Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to buy Deposit Securities for the Fund. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the contractual settlement date. Information concerning the Fund's current procedures for collateralization of missing Deposit Securities is available from the Distributor or its agent. The Authorized Participant Agreement will permit the Fund to buy the missing

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Deposit Securities at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Fund of purchasing such securities and the collateral including, without limitation, liability for related brokerage, borrowings and other charges.

In certain cases, Authorized Participants may create and redeem Creation Units on the same trade date and in these instances, the Fund reserves the right to settle these transactions on a net basis or require a representation from the Authorized Participants that the creation and redemption transactions are for separate beneficial owners. All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by the Fund and the Fund's determination shall be final and binding.

#### Costs Associated with Creation Transactions.
A standard creation transaction fee is imposed to offset the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant creates a Creation Unit, and is the same, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a purchase consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Deposit Securities to the Fund. Certain fees/costs associated with creation transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to acquire Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth the Fund's standard creation transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $225 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit.

**Redemption of Creation Units. Shares of the Fund may be redeemed by Authorized Participants only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Distributor or its agent and only on a Business Day. The Fund will not redeem shares in amounts less than Creation Units. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the secondary market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of shares to constitute a Creation Unit that could be redeemed by an Authorized Participant. Beneficial owners also may sell shares in the secondary market.**

The Fund generally redeems Creation Units partially for cash. However, the Fund reserves the right to distribute securities and other portfolio instruments in-kind as payment for Creation Units being redeemed. Please see the *Cash Redemption Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the in-kind method for further information on redeeming Creation Units of the Fund.

The Fund publishes the designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) that will be applicable to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day ("Fund Securities" or "Redemption Basket"), and an amount of cash (the "Cash Amount," as described below) in order to effect redemptions of Creation Units of the Fund. Such Fund Securities and Cash Amount will remain in effect until such time as the next announced composition of the Fund Securities and Cash Amount is made available. The Fund Securities and Cash Amount are subject to possible amendment or correction. Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities that are applicable to creations of Creation Units. Procedures and requirements governing redemption transactions are set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time.

If redemptions are not paid in cash, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of Fund Securities, plus the Cash Amount, which is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares being redeemed, as next

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determined after the receipt of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of Fund Securities, less a redemption transaction fee (as described below).

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant (or to an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws or due to a trading restriction; (ii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Fund Security by the Authorized Participant due to restrictions under applicable securities or other local laws; (iii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in unfavorable tax treatment; (iv) when a Fund Security cannot be settled or otherwise delivered in time to facilitate an in-kind redemption; or (v) in certain other situations. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder. The Fund generally redeems Creation Units partially for cash. The Redemption Basket may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Fund Securities portion of the Redemption Basket through systematically rounding. The rounding methodology allows position sizes of securities in the Fund Securities to be "rounded up," while limiting the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Redemption Basket. Redemption Baskets may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

**Cash Redemption Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit full cash redemptions of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units are available or specified (*e.g.,* Creation Units of the Fund are generally redeemed partially for cash) to the extent that cash redemptions are offered, they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof. In the case of partial or full cash redemption, the Authorized Participant receives the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities and other instruments it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.**

#### Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions.
A redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by the Fund. The standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and is the same regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed by an Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a redemption consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from the Fund to their account on their order. Certain fees/costs associated with redemption transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to dispose of Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth the Fund's standard redemption transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Redemption<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $225 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit, inclusive of the standard redemption transaction fee.

**Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemption requests for Creation Units of the Fund must be submitted to the Distributor or its agent by or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable request to redeem shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to redeem Creation Units to be placed earlier that day. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a redemption request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request.**

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The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant who has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement. At any time, only a limited number of broker-dealers will have an Authorized Participant Agreement in effect. Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant. Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the shares to the Fund's transfer agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.

A redemption request is considered to be in "proper form" if: (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Fund's transfer agent the Creation Unit redeemed through the book-entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the Listing Exchange closing time on any Business Day on which the redemption request is submitted; (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the Fund is received by the Distributor or its agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified above; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement are properly followed.

Upon receiving a redemption request, the Distributor or its agent shall notify the Fund and the Fund's transfer agent of such redemption request. The tender of an investor's shares for redemption and the distribution of the securities and/or cash included in the redemption payment made in respect of Creation Units redeemed will be made through DTC and the relevant Authorized Participant to the Beneficial Owner thereof as recorded on the book-entry system of DTC or the DTC Participant through which such investor holds, as the case may be, or by such other means specified by the Authorized Participant submitting the redemption request.

A redeeming Authorized Participant, whether on its own account or acting on behalf of a Beneficial Owner, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the portfolio securities are customarily traded, to which account such portfolio securities will be delivered.

Deliveries of redemption proceeds by the Fund are generally made within two Business Days (*i.e.,* "T+2"). The Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law. If the Fund includes a foreign investment in its basket, and if a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming Authorized Participants prevents timely delivery of the foreign investment in response to a redemption request, the Fund may delay delivery of the foreign investment more than seven days if the Fund delivers the foreign investment as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 days.

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant's agreement with the Distributor or its agent, in the event an Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation Unit to be redeemed to the Fund, at or prior to the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request, the Distributor or its agent will accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request and shall be held by State Street and marked-to-market daily. The fees of State Street and any sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant Agreement permits the Fund to acquire shares of the Fund at any time and subjects the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the aggregate of the cost to the Fund of purchasing such shares, plus the value of the Cash Amount, and the value of the collateral together with liability for related brokerage and other charges.

The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to the Fund: (i) for any period during which the Listing Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the Listing Exchange is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the shares of the Fund's portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.

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**Custom Baskets. Creation and Redemption baskets may differ and the Fund will accept "custom baskets." A custom basket may include any of the following: (i) a basket that is composed of a non-representative selection of the Fund's portfolio holdings; (ii) a representative basket that is different from the initial basket used in transactions on the same business day; or (iii) a basket that contains bespoke cash substitutions for a single Authorized Participant. The Fund has adopted policies and procedures that govern the construction and acceptance of baskets, including heightened requirements for certain types of custom baskets. Such policies and procedures provide the parameters for the construction and acceptance of custom baskets that are in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, establish processes for revisions to, or deviations from, such parameters, and specify the titles and roles of the employees of BFA who are required to review each custom basket for compliance with those parameters. In addition, when constructing custom baskets for redemptions, the tax efficiency of the Fund may be taken into account. The policies and procedures distinguish among different types of custom baskets that may be used for the Fund and impose different requirements for different types of custom baskets in order to seek to mitigate against potential risks of conflicts and/or overreaching by an Authorized Participant. BlackRock has established a governance process to oversee basket compliance for the Fund, as set forth in the Fund's policies and procedures.**

**Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units. An Authorized Participant generally will recognize either gain or loss upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units. This gain or loss is calculated by taking the market value of the Creation Units purchased over the Authorized Participant's aggregate basis in the Deposit Securities exchanged therefor. However, the IRS may apply the wash sales rules to determine that any loss realized upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units is not currently deductible. Authorized Participants should consult their own tax advisors.**

Current U.S. federal income tax laws dictate that capital gain or loss realized from the redemption of Creation Units will generally create long-term capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the Creation Units for more than one year, or short-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Units were held for one year or less, if the Creation Units are held as capital assets.

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## Taxes
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of the Fund. This summary does not address all of the potential U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be applicable to the Fund or to all categories of investors, some of which may be subject to special tax rules. Current and prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the specific U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of investing in the Fund. The summary is based on the laws and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof in effect on the date of this SAI, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect.

**Regulated Investment Company Qualifications. The Fund intends to qualify for treatment as a separate RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, the Fund must annually distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (which includes dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements. Among such other requirements are the following: (i) at least 90% of the Fund's annual gross income must be derived from dividends, interest, payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock or securities or non-U.S. currencies, other income (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect to its business of investing in such stock, securities or currencies, and net income derived from interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships (*i.e.,* partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than partnerships that derive at least 90% of their income from interest, dividends, capital gains and other traditionally permitted RIC income); and (ii) at the close of each quarter of the Fund's taxable year, (a) at least 50% of the market value of the Fund's total assets must be represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs and other securities, with such other securities limited for purposes of this calculation in respect of any one issuer to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund's assets and not greater than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (b) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund's total assets may be invested in the securities (other than U.S. government securities or the securities of other RICs) of any one issuer, of two or more issuers of which 20% or more of the voting stock is held by the Fund and that are engaged in the same or similar trades or businesses or related trades or businesses, or the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships.**

The Fund may be able to cure a failure to derive at least 90% of its income from the sources specified above or a failure to diversify its holdings in the manner described above by paying a tax and/or by disposing of certain assets. If, in any taxable year, the Fund fails one of these tests and does not timely cure the failure, the Fund will be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation and distributions to its shareholders will not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

Although, in general, the passive loss rules of the Internal Revenue Code do not apply to RICs, such rules do apply to a RIC with respect to items attributable to interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships. The Fund's investments in partnerships, including in qualified publicly-traded partnerships, may result in the Fund being subject to state, local, or non-U.S. income, franchise or withholding tax liabilities.

**Taxation of RICs. As a RIC, the Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders, provided that it satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. To satisfy the minimum distribution requirement, the Fund must distribute to its shareholders at least the sum of (i) 90% of its "investment company taxable income" (*i.e.,* income other than its net realized long-term capital gain over its net realized short-term capital loss), plus or minus certain adjustments, and (ii) 90% of its net tax-exempt income for the taxable year. The Fund will be subject to income tax at regular corporate rates on any taxable income or gains that it does not distribute to its shareholders. If the Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC or fails to meet the distribution requirement, all of its taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, distributions to individuals should be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income and distributions to corporate shareholders generally should be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Although the Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and its capital gains for each taxable year, the Fund may decide to retain a portion of its income or gains if the Fund determines that doing so is in the interest of its shareholders. The Fund will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent any such income or**

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gains are not distributed. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC in any year, it must pay out its earnings and profits accumulated in that year in order to qualify again as a RIC. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two taxable years, the Fund may be required to recognize any net built-in gains with respect to certain of its assets (*i.e.,* the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if the Fund had been liquidated) if it qualifies as a RIC in a subsequent year.

The Subsidiary will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax. The Subsidiary will, however, be considered a controlled foreign corporation, and the Fund will be required to include as income annually amounts earned by the Subsidiary during that year. The Fund will be subject to the distribution requirements described above on such Subsidiary income, whether or not the Subsidiary makes a distribution to the Fund during the taxable year. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

In addition, the Fund's income from the Subsidiary will be treated as ordinary income. If the Fund were able to invest directly in commodity-linked derivatives, its gains and losses would generally be treated as 60% long-term and 40% short-term gain or loss, to the extent such derivatives are subject to the rules for Section 1256 futures contracts. See "Taxation of Certain Derivatives" below.

**Excise Tax. The Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus at least 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the 12 months ended October 31 of such year. For this purpose, however, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by the Fund that is subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed by year-end. In addition, the minimum amounts that must be distributed in any year to avoid the excise tax will be increased or decreased to reflect any underdistribution or overdistribution, as the case may be, from the previous year. The Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax.**

**Net Capital Loss Carryforwards. Net capital loss carryforwards may be applied against any net realized capital gains in each succeeding year, until they have been reduced to zero.**

In the event that the Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Internal Revenue Code, the loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of the Fund, if any, may be subject to limitation.

As of October 31, 2022, the tax year-end of the Fund, the Fund had non-expiring capital loss carryforwards in the amount of $76,878 available to offset future realized capital gains.

**Taxation of U.S. Shareholders. Dividends and other distributions by the Fund are generally treated under the Internal Revenue Code as received by the shareholders at the time the dividend or distribution is made. However, any dividend or distribution declared by the Fund in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in such a month shall be deemed to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year and to have been paid by the Fund not later than such December 31, provided such dividend is actually paid by the Fund during January of the following calendar year.**

The Fund intends to distribute annually to its shareholders substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers). However, if the Fund retains for investment an amount equal to all or a portion of its net long-term capital gains in excess of its net short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers), it will be subject to a corporate tax (at a flat rate of 21%) on the amount retained. In that event, the Fund will designate such retained amounts as undistributed capital gains in a notice to its shareholders who (a) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gains, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount, (b) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on the undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent their credits exceed their liabilities, if any, and (c) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in their shares by an amount equal to the excess of the amount in clause (a) over

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the amount in clause (b). Organizations or persons not subject to U.S. federal income tax on such capital gains will be entitled to a refund of their *pro rata* share of such taxes paid by the Fund upon filing appropriate returns or claims for refund with the IRS.

Distributions of net realized long-term capital gains, if any, that the Fund reports as capital gains dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, whether paid in cash or in shares and regardless of how long a shareholder has held shares of the Fund. All other dividends of the Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits ("regular dividends") are generally subject to tax as ordinary income, subject to the discussion of qualified dividend income below. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.

If an individual receives a regular dividend qualifying for the long-term capital gains rates and such dividend constitutes an "extraordinary dividend," and the individual subsequently recognizes a loss on the sale or exchange of stock in respect of which the extraordinary dividend was paid, then the loss will be long-term capital loss to the extent of such extraordinary dividend. An "extraordinary dividend" on common stock for this purpose is generally a dividend (i) in an amount greater than or equal to 10% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within an 85-day period, or (ii) in an amount greater than 20% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within a 365-day period.

Distributions in excess of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of a shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund, and as a capital gain thereafter (if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets). Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. Shareholders receiving dividends or distributions in the form of additional shares should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of money that the shareholders receiving cash dividends or distributions will receive and should have a cost basis in the shares received equal to such amount.

A 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on net investment income, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain from investments, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

Investors considering buying shares just prior to a dividend or capital gain distribution should be aware that, although the price of shares purchased at that time may reflect the amount of the forthcoming distribution, such dividend or distribution may nevertheless be taxable to them. If the Fund is the holder of record of any security on the record date for any dividends payable with respect to such security, such dividends will be included in the Fund's gross income not as of the date received but as of the later of (a) the date such security became ex-dividend with respect to such dividends (*i.e.*, the date on which a buyer of the security would not be entitled to receive the declared, but unpaid, dividends); or (b) the date the Fund acquired such security. Accordingly, in order to satisfy its income distribution requirements, the Fund may be required to pay dividends based on anticipated earnings, and shareholders may receive dividends in an earlier year than would otherwise be the case.

In certain situations, the Fund may, for a taxable year, defer all or a portion of its net capital loss (or if there is no net capital loss, then any net long-term or short-term capital loss) realized after October and its late-year ordinary loss (defined as the sum of (i) the excess of post-October foreign currency and passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") losses over post-October foreign currency and PFIC gains and (ii) the excess of post-December ordinary losses over post-December ordinary income) until the next taxable year in computing its investment company taxable income and net capital gain, which will defer the recognition of such realized losses. Such deferrals and other rules regarding gains and losses realized after October (or December) may affect the tax character of shareholder distributions.

**Sales of Shares. Upon the sale or exchange of shares of the Fund, a shareholder will realize a taxable gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund. A redemption of shares by the Fund will be treated as a sale for this purpose. Such gain or loss will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder's hands and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for more than one year and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized on a sale or exchange will be disallowed to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced, including replacement through the reinvesting of dividends or capital gains distributions, or by an option or contract to acquire substantially identical shares, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition of the shares. In such a case, the basis of the shares**

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acquired will be increased to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss realized by a shareholder on the sale of Fund shares held by the shareholder for six months or less will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any distributions or deemed distributions of long-term capital gains received by the shareholder with respect to such share. The Medicare contribution tax described above will apply to the sale of Fund shares.

If a shareholder incurs a sales charge in acquiring shares of the Fund, disposes of those shares within 90 days and then, on or before January 31 of the following calendar year, acquires shares in a mutual fund for which the otherwise applicable sales charge is reduced by reason of a reinvestment right (*e.g.*, an exchange privilege), the original sales charge will not be taken into account in computing gain/loss on the original shares to the extent the subsequent sales charge is reduced. Instead, the disregarded portion of the original sales charge will be added to the tax basis of the newly acquired shares. Furthermore, the same rule also applies to a disposition of the newly acquired shares made within 90 days of the second acquisition. This provision prevents shareholders from immediately deducting the sales charge by shifting their investments within a family of mutual funds.

**Backup Withholding. In certain cases, the Fund will be required to withhold at a 24% rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury such amounts withheld from any distributions paid to a shareholder who: (i) has failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; (ii) is subject to backup withholding by the IRS; (iii) has failed to certify to the Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding; or (iv) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amount withheld may be credited against a shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability.**

**Sections 351 and 362. The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Sections 351 and 362 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. If the Fund's basis in such securities on the date of deposit was less than market value on such date, the Fund, upon disposition of the securities, would recognize more taxable gain or less taxable loss than if its basis in the securities had been equal to market value. It is not anticipated that the Trust will exercise the right of rejection except in a case where the Trust determines that accepting the order could result in material adverse tax consequences to the Fund or its shareholders. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.**

**Taxation of Certain Derivatives. The Fund's transactions in zero coupon securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward contracts, options and futures contracts (including options and futures contracts on non-U.S. currencies), to the extent permitted, will be subject to special provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to "hedging transactions" and "straddles") that, among other consequences, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (*i.e.*, may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer Fund losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also (a) will require the Fund to mark-to-market certain types of the positions in its portfolio (*i.e.*, treat them as if they were closed out at the end of each year) and (b) may cause the Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to pay dividends or make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. The Fund will monitor its transactions, will make the appropriate tax elections and will make the appropriate entries in its books and records when it acquires any zero coupon security, non-U.S. currency, forward contract, option, futures contract or hedged investment in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and prevent disqualification of the Fund as a RIC.**

The Fund's investments in so-called "Section 1256 contracts," such as regulated futures contracts, most non-U.S. currency forward contracts traded in the interbank market and options on most security indexes, are subject to special tax rules. All Section 1256 contracts held by the Fund at the end of its taxable year are required to be marked to their market value, and any unrealized gain or loss on those positions will be included in the Fund's income as if each position had been sold for its fair market value at the end of the taxable year. The resulting gain or loss will be combined with any gain or loss realized by the Fund from positions in Section 1256 contracts closed during the taxable year. Provided such positions were held as capital assets and were not part of a "hedging transaction" nor part of a "straddle," 60% of the resulting net gain or loss will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% of such net gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, regardless of the period of time the positions were actually held by the Fund.

As a result of entering into swap contracts, the Fund may make or receive periodic net payments. The Fund may also make or receive a payment when a swap is terminated prior to maturity through an assignment of the swap or other closing

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transaction. Periodic net payments will generally constitute ordinary income or deductions, while termination of a swap will generally result in capital gain or loss (which will be a long-term capital gain or loss if the Fund has been a party to the swap for more than one year). With respect to certain types of swaps, the Fund may be required to currently recognize income or loss with respect to future payments on such swaps or may elect under certain circumstances to mark such swaps to market annually for tax purposes as ordinary income or loss.

**Qualified Dividend Income. Distributions by the Fund of investment company taxable income (including any short-term capital gains), whether received in cash or shares, will be taxable either as ordinary income or as qualified dividend income, which is eligible to be taxed at long-term capital gain rates to the extent the Fund receives qualified dividend income on the securities it holds and the Fund reports the distribution as qualified dividend income. Qualified dividend income is, in general, dividend income from taxable U.S. corporations (but generally not from a U.S. real estate investment trust ("REIT")) and certain non-U.S. corporations (*e.g.*, non-U.S. corporations that are not PFICs and which are incorporated in a possession of the U.S. or in certain countries with a comprehensive tax treaty with the U.S., or the stock of which is readily tradable on an established securities market in the U.S. (where the dividends are paid with respect to such stock)). Substitute payments received by the Fund for securities lent out by the Fund will not be qualified dividend income.**

A dividend from the Fund will not be treated as qualified dividend income to the extent that: (i) the shareholder has not held the shares on which the dividend was paid for 61 days during the 121-day period that begins on the date that is 60 days before the date on which the shares become ex-dividend with respect to such dividend or the Fund fails to satisfy those holding period requirements with respect to the securities it holds that paid the dividends distributed to the shareholder (or, in the case of certain preferred stocks, the holding requirement of 91 days during the 181-day period beginning on the date that is 90 days before the date on which the stock becomes ex-dividend with respect to such dividend); (ii) the Fund or the shareholder is under an obligation (whether pursuant to a short sale or otherwise) to make related payments with respect to substantially similar or related property; or (iii) the shareholder elects to treat such dividend as investment income under Section 163(d)(4)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. Dividends received by the Fund from a REIT or another RIC may be treated as qualified dividend income only to the extent the dividend distributions are attributable to qualified dividend income received by such REIT or other RIC. It is expected that dividends received by the Fund from a REIT and distributed to a shareholder generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income. However, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026, a non-corporate taxpayer who is a direct REIT shareholder may claim a 20% "qualified business income" deduction for ordinary REIT dividends, and a RIC may report dividends as eligible for this deduction to the extent the RIC's income is derived from ordinary REIT dividends (reduced by allocable RIC expenses). A shareholder may treat the dividends as such provided the RIC and the shareholder satisfy applicable holding period requirements. Distributions by the Fund of its net short-term capital gains will be taxable as ordinary income.

**Corporate Dividends Received Deduction. Dividends paid by the Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations may qualify for the U.S. federal dividends received deduction for corporations. A 46-day minimum holding period during the 90-day period that begins 45 days prior to ex-dividend date (or 91-day minimum holding period during the 180 period beginning 90 days prior to ex-dividend date for certain preference dividends) during which risk of loss may not be diminished is required for the applicable shares, at both the Fund and shareholder level, for a dividend to be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Restrictions may apply if indebtedness, including a short sale, is attributable to the investment.**

**Excess Inclusion Income. Under current law, the Fund serves to block unrelated business taxable income ("UBTI") from being realized by its tax-exempt shareholders. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a tax-exempt shareholder could realize UBTI by virtue of its investment in the Fund if shares in the Fund constitute debt-financed property in the hands of the tax-exempt shareholder within the meaning of Section 514(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. Certain types of income received by the Fund from REITs, real estate mortgage investment conduits, taxable mortgage pools or other investments may cause the Fund to report some or all of its distributions as "excess inclusion income." To Fund shareholders, such excess inclusion income may: (i) constitute taxable income, as UBTI for those shareholders who would otherwise be tax-exempt such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) accounts, Keogh plans, pension plans and certain charitable entities; (ii) not be offset by otherwise allowable deductions for tax purposes; (iii) not be eligible for reduced U.S. withholding for non-U.S. shareholders even from tax treaty countries; and (iv) cause the Fund to be subject to tax if certain "disqualified organizations," as defined by the Internal Revenue Code, are Fund shareholders. If a charitable remainder annuity trust or a charitable remainder unitrust (each as defined in Section 664 of the Internal Revenue Code) has UBTI for a taxable year, a 100% excise tax on the UBTI is imposed on the trust.**

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The Fund tries to avoid investing in REITs that are expected to generate excess inclusion income, but the Fund may not always be successful in doing so. Because information about a REIT's investments may be inadequate or inaccurate, or because a REIT may change its investment program, the Fund may not be successful in avoiding the consequences described above. Avoidance of investments in REITs that generate excess inclusion income may require the Fund to forego otherwise attractive investment opportunities.

**Reporting. If a shareholder recognizes a loss with respect to the Fund's shares of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a RIC are not exempted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer's treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.**

#### Other Taxes. Dividends, distributions and redemption proceeds may also be subject to additional state, local and non-U.S. taxes depending on each shareholder's particular situation.
**Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders. Dividends paid by the Fund to non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or a reduced rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty to the extent derived from investment income and short-term capital gains. Dividends paid by the Fund from net tax-exempt income or long-term capital gains are generally not subject to such withholding tax. In order to obtain a reduced rate of withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will be required to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E certifying its entitlement to benefits under a treaty. The withholding tax does not apply to regular dividends paid to a non-U.S. shareholder who provides an IRS Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the non-U.S. shareholder were a U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to additional "branch profits tax" imposed at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate). A non-U.S. shareholder who fails to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form may be subject to backup withholding at the appropriate rate.**

Properly-reported dividends are generally exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax where they (i) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified net interest income" (generally, the Fund's U.S. source interest income, other than certain contingent interest and interest from obligations of a corporation or partnership in which the Fund is at least a 10% shareholder or partner, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income) or (ii) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified short-term capital gains" (generally, the excess of the Fund's net short-term capital gain over the Fund's long-term capital loss for such taxable year). However, depending on its circumstances, the Fund may report all, some or none of its potentially eligible dividends as such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains and/or treat such dividends, in whole or in part, as ineligible for this exemption from withholding. In order to qualify for this exemption from withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will need to comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its non-U.S. status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or substitute Form). In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if the Fund reports the payment as qualified net interest income or qualified short-term capital gain. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.

Special rules may apply to a foreign shareholder receiving a Fund distribution if at least 50% of the Fund's assets consist of interests in U.S. real property interests, including certain REITs and U.S. real property holding corporations (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations). Fund distributions that are attributable to gain from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest will be taxable as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding at a 30% or lower treaty rate if the foreign shareholder held no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. If the foreign shareholder held at least 5% of the Fund's shares, the distribution would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business within the U.S. and the foreign shareholder would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 21% and would generally be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return.

Similar consequences would generally apply to a foreign shareholder's gain on the sale of Fund shares unless the Fund is domestically controlled (meaning that more than 50% of the value of the Fund's shares is held by U.S. shareholders) or the foreign shareholder owns no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of sale. Finally, a domestically controlled Fund may be required to recognize a portion of its gain on the in-kind distribution of

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certain U.S. real property interests. Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in the Fund.

The rules laid out in the previous paragraph, other than the withholding rules, will apply notwithstanding the Fund's participation in a wash sale transaction or its payment of a substitute dividend.

Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in a Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to: (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders; and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to: (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event an intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

Shares of the Fund held by a non-U.S. shareholder at death will be considered situated within the U.S. and subject to the U.S. estate tax.

The foregoing discussion is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such shares, including consequences under state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date of this SAI. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.

## Financial Statements
The Fund's audited Financial Statements, including the Consolidated Financial Highlights, appearing in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) to Shareholders and the report therein of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, are hereby incorporated by reference in this SAI. The Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the referenced audited financial statements, is available upon request and without charge.

## Miscellaneous Information

#### Counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, located at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, is counsel to the Trust.
**Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, located at Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, serves as the Trust's independent registered public accounting firm, audits the Fund's financial statements, and may perform other services.**

**Shareholder Communications to the Board. The Board has established a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders may contact the Board by mail. Correspondence should be addressed to iShares Board of Trustees, c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors, iShares Fund Administration, 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Shareholder communications to the Board should include the following information: (i) the name and address of the shareholder; (ii) the number of shares owned by the shareholder; (iii) the Fund(s) of which the shareholder owns shares; and (iv) if these shares**

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are owned indirectly through a broker, financial intermediary or other record owner, the name of the broker, financial intermediary or other record owner. All correspondence received as set forth above shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Trust and reported to the Board.

**Investors' Rights. The Fund relies on the services of BFA and its other service providers, including the Distributor, administrator, custodian and transfer agent. Further information about the duties and roles of these service providers is set out in this SAI. Investors who acquire shares of the Fund are not parties to the relevant agreement with these service providers and do not have express contractual rights against the Fund or its service providers, except certain institutional investors that are Authorized Participants may have certain express contractual rights with respect to the Distributor under the terms of the relevant Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors may have certain legal rights under federal or state law against the Fund or its service providers. In the event that an investor considers that it may have a claim against the Fund, or against any service provider in connection with its investment in the Fund, such investor should consult its own legal advisor.**

By contract, Authorized Participants irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State or U.S. federal court sitting in New York City over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Authorized Participant Agreement. Jurisdiction over other claims, whether by investors or Authorized Participants, will turn on the facts of the particular case and the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is brought.

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## Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy

#### BlackRock U.S. Registered Funds

#### Open-End Fund Proxy Voting Policy

#### Procedures Governing Delegation of Proxy Voting to Fund Advisers

#### August 1, 2022

#### Open-End Mutual Funds (including money market funds)

#### iShares and BlackRock ETFs
The Boards of Trustees/Directors ("Directors") of open-end funds (the "Funds") advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors or BlackRock Advisors, LLC ("BlackRock"), have the responsibility for the oversight of voting proxies relating to portfolio securities of the Funds, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to delegate the responsibility to vote proxies to BlackRock, subject to the principles outlined in this Policy, as part of BlackRock's authority to manage, acquire and dispose of account assets, all as contemplated by the Funds' respective investment management agreements.

BlackRock has adopted guidelines and procedures (together and as from time to time amended, the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BlackRock.

BlackRock will cast votes on behalf of each of the Funds on specific proxy issues in respect of securities held by each such Fund (or may refrain from voting) in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines.

BlackRock will report on an annual basis to the Directors on (1) a summary of all proxy votes that BlackRock has made on behalf of the Funds in the preceding year together with a representation that all votes were in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines, and (2) any changes to the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines that have not previously been reported.

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## Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| [Introduction to BlackRock](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Philosophy on corporate governance](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Corporate governance, engagement and voting](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [- Boards and directors](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-5 |
| [- Auditors and audit-related issues](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-6 |
| [- Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Compensation and benefits](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Environmental and social issues](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-8 |
| [- General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Oversight](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Vote execution](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-10 |
| [- Conflicts management policies and procedures](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-11 |
| [- Voting guidelines](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |
| [- Reporting and vote transparency](#xx_7a295422-cf40-4a9f-bf06-7e7ea722e9e9_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |

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#### INTRODUCTION TO BLACKROCK
BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. We manage assets on behalf of institutional and individual clients, across a full spectrum of investment strategies, asset classes and regions. Our client base includes pension plans, endowments, foundations, charities, official institutions, insurers and other financial institutions, as well as individuals around the world.

#### PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") activities are focused on maximizing long-term value for our clients. BIS does this through engagement with boards and management of investee companies and, for those clients who have given us authority, through voting at shareholder meetings.

We believe that there are certain fundamental rights attached to shareholding. Companies and their boards should be accountable to shareholders and structured with appropriate checks and balances to ensure that they operate in shareholders' best interests. Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and there should be one vote for one share. Shareholders should have the right to elect, remove and nominate directors, approve the appointment of the auditor and to amend the corporate charter or by-laws. Shareholders should be able to vote on matters that are material to the protection of their investment, including but not limited to, changes to the purpose of the business, dilution levels and pre-emptive rights, and the distribution of income and capital structure. In order to make informed decisions, we believe that shareholders have the right to sufficient and timely information.

Our primary focus is on the performance of the board of directors. As the agent of shareholders, the board should set the company's strategic aims within a framework of prudent and effective controls, which enables risk to be assessed and managed. The board should provide direction and leadership to management and oversee management's performance. Our starting position is to be supportive of boards in their oversight efforts on shareholders' behalf and we would generally expect to support the items of business they put to a vote at shareholder meetings. Votes cast against or withheld from resolutions proposed by the board are a signal that we are concerned that the directors or management have either not acted in the best interests of shareholders or have not responded adequately to shareholder concerns. We assess voting matters on a case-by-case basis and in light of each company's unique circumstances taking into consideration regional best practices and long-term value creation.

These principles set out our approach to engaging with companies, provide guidance on our position on corporate governance and outline how our views might be reflected in our voting decisions. Corporate governance practices can vary internationally, so our expectations in relation to individual companies are based on the legal and regulatory framework of each local market. However, we believe there are overarching principles of corporate governance that apply globally and provide a framework for more detailed, market-specific assessments.

We believe BlackRock has a responsibility in relation to monitoring and providing feedback to companies, sometimes known as "stewardship." These ownership responsibilities include engaging with management or board members on corporate governance matters, voting proxies in the best long-term economic interests of our clients, and engaging with regulatory bodies to ensure a sound policy framework consistent with promoting long-term shareholder value creation. We also believe in the responsibility to our clients to have appropriate resources and oversight structures. Our approach is set out in the section below titled "BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities" and is further detailed in a <u>team profile on our website</u>.

#### CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING
We recognize that accepted standards of corporate governance differ between markets, but we believe there are sufficient common threads globally to identify an overarching set of principles. The objective of our investment stewardship activities is the protection and enhancement of the value of our clients' investments in public corporations. Thus, these principles focus on practices and structures that we consider to be supportive of long-term value creation. We discuss below the principles under six key themes. In our regional and market-specific voting guidelines we explain how these principles inform our voting decisions in relation to specific resolutions that may appear on the agenda of a shareholder meeting in the relevant market.

The six key themes are:

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• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions

• Compensation and benefits

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections

At a minimum, we expect companies to observe the accepted corporate governance standards in their domestic market or to explain why doing so is not in the interests of shareholders. Where company reporting and disclosure is inadequate or the approach taken is inconsistent with our view of what is in the best interests of shareholders, we will engage with the company and/or use our vote to encourage a change in practice. In making voting decisions, we perform independent research and analysis, such as reviewing relevant information published by the company and apply our voting guidelines to achieve the outcome we believe best protects our clients' long-term economic interests. We also work closely with our active portfolio managers, and may take into account internal and external research.

BlackRock views engagement as an important activity; engagement provides us with the opportunity to improve our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that investee companies are facing and their governance structures. Engagement also allows us to share our philosophy and approach to investment and corporate governance with companies to enhance their understanding of our objectives. Our engagements often focus on providing our feedback on company disclosures, particularly where we believe they could be enhanced. There are a range of approaches we may take in engaging companies depending on the nature of the issue under consideration, the company and the market.

BlackRock's engagements emphasize direct dialogue with corporate leadership on the governance issues identified in these principles that have a material impact on financial performance. These engagements enable us to cast informed votes aligned with clients' long-term economic interests. We generally prefer to engage in the first instance where we have concerns and give management time to address or resolve the issue. As a long-term investor, we are patient and persistent in working with our portfolio companies to have an open dialogue and develop mutual understanding of governance matters, to promote the adoption of best practices and to assess the merits of a company's approach to its governance. We monitor the companies in which we invest and engage with them constructively and privately where we believe doing so helps protect shareholders' interests. We do not try to micro-manage companies, or tell management and boards what to do. We present our views as a long-term shareholder and listen to companies' responses. The materiality and immediacy of a given issue will generally determine the level of our engagement and whom we seek to engage at the company, which could be management representatives or board directors.

#### Boards and directors
The performance of the board is critical to the economic success of the company and to the protection of shareholders' interests. Board members serve as agents of shareholders in overseeing the strategic direction and operation of the company. For this reason, BlackRock focuses on directors in many of our engagements and sees the election of directors as one of our most important responsibilities in the proxy voting context.

We expect the board of directors to promote and protect shareholder interests by:

• establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure

• supporting and overseeing management in setting long-term strategic goals, applicable measures of value-creation and milestones that will demonstrate progress, and steps taken if any obstacles are anticipated or incurred

• ensuring the integrity of financial statements

• making independent decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals

• establishing appropriate executive compensation structures

• addressing business issues, including environmental and social issues, when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance

There should be clear definitions of the role of the board, the committees of the board and senior management such that the responsibilities of each are well understood and accepted. Companies should report publicly the approach taken to

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governance (including in relation to board structure) and why this approach is in the best interest of shareholders. We will seek to engage with the appropriate directors where we have concerns about the performance of the board or the company, the broad strategy of the company, or the performance of individual board members. We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable.

BlackRock believes that directors should stand for re-election on a regular basis. We assess directors nominated for election or re-election in the context of the composition of the board as a whole. There should be detailed disclosure of the relevant credentials of the individual directors in order for shareholders to assess the caliber of an individual nominee. We expect there to be a sufficient number of independent directors on the board to ensure the protection of the interests of all shareholders. Common impediments to independence may include but are not limited to:

• current or former employment at the company or a subsidiary within the past several years

• being, or representing, a shareholder with a substantial shareholding in the company

• interlocking directorships

• having any other interest, business or other relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

BlackRock believes that the operation of the board is enhanced when there is a clearly independent, senior non-executive director to chair it or, where the chairman is also the CEO (or is otherwise not independent), an independent lead director. The role of this director is to enhance the effectiveness of the independent members of the board through shaping the agenda, ensuring adequate information is provided to the board and encouraging independent participation in board deliberations. The lead independent board director should be available to shareholders in those situations where a director is best placed to explain and justify a company's approach.

To ensure that the board remains effective, regular reviews of board performance should be carried out and assessments made of gaps in skills or experience amongst the members. BlackRock believes it is beneficial for new directors to be brought onto the board periodically to refresh the group's thinking and to ensure both continuity and adequate succession planning. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the multiple dimensions of diversity, including personal factors such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. The board should review these dimensions of the current directors and how they might be augmented by incoming directors. We believe that directors are in the best position to assess the optimal size for the board, but we would be concerned if a board seemed too small to have an appropriate balance of directors or too large to be effective.

There are matters for which the board has responsibility that may involve a conflict of interest for executives or for affiliated directors. BlackRock believes that shareholders' interests are best served when the board forms committees of fully independent directors to deal with such matters. In many markets, these committees of the board specialize in audit, director nominations and compensation matters. An ad hoc committee might also be formed to decide on a special transaction, particularly one with a related party or to investigate a significant adverse event.

#### Auditors and audit-related issues
Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements, which should provide a true and fair picture of a company's financial condition. We will hold the members of the audit committee or equivalent responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or ad hoc notifications of material financial weakness.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor being free of any impediments to being an effective check on management. To that end, we believe it is important that auditors are, and are seen to be, independent. Where the audit firm provides services to the company in addition to the audit, the fees earned should be disclosed and explained. Audit committees should have in place a procedure for assessing annually the independence of the auditor.

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#### Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions
The capital structure of a company is critical to its owners, the shareholders, as it impacts the value of their investment and the priority of their interest in the company relative to that of other equity or debt investors. Pre-emptive rights are a key protection for shareholders against the dilution of their interests.

Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and we believe strongly in one vote for one share as a guiding principle that supports good corporate governance. Shareholders, as the residual claimants, have the strongest interest in protecting company value, and voting power should match economic exposure.

We are concerned that the creation of a dual share class may result in an over-concentration of power in the hands of a few shareholders, thus disenfranchising other shareholders and amplifying the potential conflict of interest, which the one share, one vote principle is designed to mitigate. However, we recognize that in certain circumstances, companies may have a valid argument for dual-class listings, at least for a limited period of time. We believe that such companies should review these dual-class structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Additionally, they should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal in the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

In assessing mergers, asset sales or other special transactions, BlackRock's primary consideration is the long-term economic interests of shareholders. Boards proposing a transaction need to clearly explain the economic and strategic rationale behind it. We will review a proposed transaction to determine the degree to which it enhances long-term shareholder value. We would prefer that proposed transactions have the unanimous support of the board and have been negotiated at arm's length. We may seek reassurance from the board that executives' and/or board members' financial interests in a given transaction have not adversely affected their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own. Where the transaction involves related parties, we would expect the recommendation to support it to come from the independent directors and it is good practice to be approved by a separate vote of the non-conflicted shareholders.

BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to dispose of company shares in the open market without unnecessary restriction. In our view, corporate mechanisms designed to limit shareholders' ability to sell their shares are contrary to basic property rights. Such mechanisms can serve to protect and entrench interests other than those of the shareholders. We believe that shareholders are broadly capable of making decisions in their own best interests. We expect any so-called 'shareholder rights plans' proposed by a board to be subject to shareholder approval upon introduction and periodically thereafter for continuation.

#### Compensation and benefits
BlackRock expects a company's board of directors to put in place a compensation structure that incentivizes and rewards executives appropriately and is aligned with shareholder interests, particularly generating sustainable long-term shareholder returns. We would expect the compensation committee to take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the key individuals the board is trying to incentivize. We encourage companies to ensure that their compensation plans incorporate appropriate and challenging performance conditions consistent with corporate strategy and market practice. We use third party research, in addition to our own analysis, to evaluate existing and proposed compensation structures. We hold members of the compensation committee or equivalent board members accountable for poor compensation practices or structures.

BlackRock believes that there should be a clear link between variable pay and company performance that drives shareholder returns. We are not supportive of one-off or special bonuses unrelated to company or individual performance. We acknowledge that the use of peer group evaluation by compensation committees can help ensure competitive pay; however, we are concerned when increases in total compensation at a company are justified solely on peer benchmarking rather than outperformance. We support incentive plans that foster the sustainable achievement of results relative to competitors. The vesting timeframes associated with incentive plans should facilitate a focus on long -term value creation. We believe consideration should be given to building claw back provisions into incentive plans such that executives would be required to forgo rewards when they are not justified by actual performance. Compensation committees should guard against contractual arrangements that would entitle executives to material compensation for early termination of their contract. Finally, pension contributions and other deferred compensation arrangements should be reasonable in light of market practice.

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Non-executive directors should be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the time and effort expended in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. Additionally, these compensation arrangements should not risk compromising their independence or aligning their interests too closely with those of the management, whom they are charged with overseeing.

#### Environmental and social issues
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well -managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses.

Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate -related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry -specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification processes in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors.

In deciding our course of action, we will assess the company's disclosures and the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social or political judgments on behalf of clients. Our consideration of these E&S factors is consistent with protecting the long-term economic interest of our clients' assets. We expect investee companies to comply,

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at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where local laws or regulations that significantly impact the company's operations are contradictory or ambiguous to global norms.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long - term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate -related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections
BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to timely and detailed information on the financial performance and viability of the companies in which they invest. In addition, companies should also publish information on the governance structures in place and the rights of shareholders to influence these. The reporting and disclosure provided by companies help shareholders assess whether their economic interests have been protected and the quality of the board's oversight of management. We believe shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including changes to governance mechanisms, to submit proposals to the shareholders' meeting and to call special meetings of shareholders.

#### BLACKROCK'S OVERSIGHT OF ITS INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES

#### Oversight
We hold ourselves to a very high standard in our investment stewardship activities, including proxy voting. This function is executed by a team called BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") which is comprised of BlackRock employees who do not have other responsibilities other than their roles in BIS. BIS is considered an investment function. The team does not have sales responsibilities.

BlackRock maintains three regional advisory committees ("Stewardship Advisory Committees") for (a) the Americas; (b) Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); and (c) Asia-Pacific, generally consisting of senior BlackRock investment professionals and/or senior employees with practical boardroom experience. The regional Stewardship Advisory Committees review and advise on amendments to the proxy voting guidelines covering markets within each respective region ("Guidelines").

In addition to the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees, the Investment Stewardship Global Oversight Committee ("Global Committee") is a risk-focused committee, comprised of senior representatives from various BlackRock investment teams, BlackRock's Deputy General Counsel, the Global Head of Investment Stewardship ("Global Head"), and other senior executives with relevant experience and team oversight.

The Global Head has primary oversight of the activities of BIS, including voting in accordance with the Guidelines, which require the application of professional judgment and consideration of each company's unique circumstances. The Global Committee reviews and approves amendments to these Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles. The Global

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Committee also reviews and approves amendments to the regional Guidelines, as proposed by the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees.

In addition, the Global Committee receives and reviews periodic reports regarding the votes cast by BIS, as well as regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other risk oversight considerations. The Global Committee reviews these reports in an oversight capacity as informed by the BIS corporate governance engagement program and Guidelines.

BIS carries out engagement with companies, monitors and executes proxy votes, and conducts vote operations (including maintaining records of votes cast) in a manner consistent with the relevant Guidelines. BIS also conducts research on corporate governance issues and participates in industry discussions to keep abreast of important developments in the corporate governance field. BIS may utilize third parties for certain of the foregoing activities and performs oversight of those third parties. BIS may raise complicated or particularly controversial matters for internal discussion with the relevant investment teams and/or refer such matters to the appropriate regional Stewardship Advisory Committees for review, discussion and guidance prior to making a voting decision.

#### Vote execution
We carefully consider proxies submitted to funds and other fiduciary account(s) ("Fund" or "Funds") for which we have voting authority. BlackRock votes (or refrains from voting) proxies for each Fund for which we have voting authority based on our evaluation of the best long-term economic interests of shareholders, in the exercise of our independent business judgment, and without regard to the relationship of the issuer of the proxy (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) to the Fund, the Fund's affiliates (if any), BlackRock or BlackRock's affiliates, or BlackRock employees (see "Conflicts management policies and procedures", below).

When exercising voting rights, BlackRock will normally vote on specific proxy issues in accordance with the Guidelines for the relevant market. The Guidelines are reviewed regularly and are amended consistent with changes in the local market practice, as developments in corporate governance occur, or as otherwise deemed advisable by BlackRock's Stewardship Advisory Committees. BIS may, in the exercise of their professional judgment, conclude that the Guidelines do not cover the specific matter upon which a proxy vote is required or that an exception to the Guidelines would be in the best long - term economic interests of BlackRock's clients.

In the uncommon circumstance of there being a vote with respect to fixed income securities or the securities of privately held issuers, the decision generally will be made by the Fund's portfolio managers and/or BIS based on their assessment of the particular transactions or other matters at issue.

In certain markets, proxy voting involves logistical issues which can affect BlackRock's ability to vote such proxies, as well as the desirability of voting such proxies. These issues include but are not limited to: (i) untimely notice of shareholder meetings; (ii) restrictions on a foreigner's ability to exercise votes; (iii) requirements to vote proxies in person; (iv) "share- blocking" (requirements that investors who exercise their voting rights surrender the right to dispose of their holdings for some specified period in proximity to the shareholder meeting); (v) potential difficulties in translating the proxy; (vi) regulatory constraints; and (vii) requirements to provide local agents with unrestricted powers of attorney to facilitate voting instructions. We are not supportive of impediments to the exercise of voting rights such as share-blocking or overly burdensome administrative requirements.

As a consequence, BlackRock votes proxies on a "best-efforts" basis. In addition, BIS may determine that it is generally in the best interests of BlackRock's clients not to vote proxies if the costs (including but not limited to opportunity costs associated with share-blocking constraints) associated with exercising a vote are expected to outweigh the benefit the client would derive by voting on the proposal.

Portfolio managers have full discretion to vote the shares in the Funds they manage based on their analysis of the economic impact of a particular ballot item. Portfolio managers may from time to time reach differing views on how best to maximize economic value with respect to a particular investment. Therefore, portfolio managers may, and sometimes do, vote shares in the Funds under their management differently from one another. However, because BlackRock's clients are mostly long-term investors with long-term economic goals, ballots are frequently cast in a uniform manner.

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#### Conflicts management policies and procedures
BIS maintains the following policies and procedures that seek to prevent undue influence on BlackRock's proxy voting activity. Such influence might stem from any relationship between the investee company (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) and BlackRock, BlackRock's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates, or BlackRock employees. The following are examples of sources of perceived or potential conflicts of interest:

• BlackRock clients who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock business partners or third parties who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock employees who may sit on the boards of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Significant BlackRock, Inc. investors who may be issuers of securities held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Securities of BlackRock, Inc. or BlackRock investment funds held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• BlackRock, Inc. board members who serve as senior executives of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

BlackRock has taken certain steps to mitigate perceived or potential conflicts including, but not limited to, the following:

• Adopted the Guidelines which are designed to protect and enhance the economic value of the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

• Established a reporting structure that separates BIS from employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles. In addition, BlackRock seeks to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers, dissident shareholders or shareholder proponents are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock's relationship with such parties. Clients or business partners are not given special treatment or differentiated access to BIS. BIS prioritizes engagements based on factors including but not limited to our need for additional information to make a voting decision or our view on the likelihood that an engagement could lead to positive outcome(s) over time for the economic value of the company. Within the normal course of business, BIS may engage directly with BlackRock clients, business partners and/or third parties, and/or with employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles, in discussions regarding our approach to stewardship, general corporate governance matters, client reporting needs, and/or to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met.

• Determined to engage, in certain instances, an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, or as may be otherwise required by applicable law. In such circumstances, the independent fiduciary provides BlackRock's proxy voting agent with instructions, in accordance with the Guidelines, as to how to vote such proxies, and BlackRock's proxy voting agent votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary's determination. BlackRock uses an independent fiduciary to vote proxies of (i) any company that is affiliated with BlackRock, Inc., (ii) any public company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors, (iii) The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (iv) any public company of which a BlackRock, Inc. board member serves as a senior executive, and (v) companies when legal or regulatory requirements compel BlackRock to use an independent fiduciary. In selecting an independent fiduciary, we assess several characteristics, including but not limited to: independence, an ability to analyze proxy issues and vote in the best economic interest of our clients, reputation for reliability and integrity, and operational capacity to accurately deliver the assigned votes in a timely manner. We may engage more than one independent fiduciary, in part in order to mitigate potential or perceived conflicts of interest at an independent fiduciary. The Global Committee appoints and reviews the performance of the independent fiduciar(ies), generally on an annual basis.

When so authorized, BlackRock acts as a securities lending agent on behalf of Funds. With regard to the relationship between securities lending and proxy voting, BlackRock's approach is driven by our clients' economic interests. The decision whether to recall securities on loan to vote is based on a formal analysis of the revenue producing value to clients of loans, against the assessed economic value of casting votes. Generally, we expect that the likely economic value to clients of casting votes would be less than the securities lending income, either because, in our assessment, the resolutions being voted on will not have significant economic consequences or because the outcome would not be affected by BlackRock recalling loaned securities in order to vote. BlackRock also may, in our discretion, determine that the value of voting outweighs the cost of recalling shares, and thus recall shares to vote in that instance.

Periodically, BlackRock reviews our process for determining whether to recall securities on loan in order to vote and may modify it as necessary.

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#### Voting guidelines
The issue-specific Guidelines published for each region/country in which we vote are intended to summarize BlackRock's general philosophy and approach to issues that may commonly arise in the proxy voting context in each market where we invest. These Guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. BIS applies the Guidelines on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the individual circumstances of each company and the specific issue under review. As such, these Guidelines do not indicate how BIS will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots.

#### Reporting and vote transparency
We inform clients about our engagement and voting policies and activities through direct communication and through disclosure on our website. Each year we publish an annual report, an annual engagement and voting statistics report, and our full voting record to our website. On a quarterly basis, we publish regional reports which provide an overview of our investment stewardship engagement and voting activities during the quarter, including market developments, speaking engagements, and engagement and voting statistics. Additionally, we make public our market-specific voting guidelines for the benefit of clients and companies with whom we engage.

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## Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Introduction | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Voting guidelines | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Boards and directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Independence | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Responsiveness to shareholders | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Shareholder rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board composition and effectiveness | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board size | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Classified board of directors / staggered terms | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Contested director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Cumulative voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director compensation and equity programs | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Majority vote requirements | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Risk oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Separation of chairman and CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Auditors and audit-related issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Capital structure proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equal voting rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Blank check preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase in authorized common shares | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase or issuance of preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Stock splits | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Poison pill plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Executive Compensation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay") | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Claw back proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Employee stock purchase plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equity compensation plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Golden parachutes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Option exchanges | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Pay-for-Performance plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Supplemental executive retirement plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| Environmental and social issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Climate risk | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Corporate political activities | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| General corporate governance matters | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Bundled proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Exclusive forum provisions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Multi-jurisdictional companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Other business | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reincorporation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- IPO governance | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Shareholder Protections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Proxy access | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to act by written consent | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to call a special meeting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Simple majority voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |

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These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the BlackRock Investment Stewardship Global Corporate Governance Guidelines & Engagement Principles (See Appendix A2 of this SAI).

#### INTRODUCTION
BlackRock, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "BlackRock") seek to make proxy voting decisions in the manner most likely to protect and enhance the economic value of the securities held in client accounts. The following issue-specific proxy voting guidelines (the "Guidelines") are intended to summarize BlackRock Investment Stewardship's general philosophy and approach to corporate governance issues that most commonly arise in proxy voting for U.S. securities. These Guidelines are not intended to limit the analysis of individual issues at specific companies and are not intended to provide a guide to how BlackRock will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots, as well as our expectations of boards of directors. They are applied with discretion, taking into consideration the range of issues and facts specific to the company and the individual ballot item.

#### VOTING GUIDELINES
These guidelines are divided into eight key themes which group together the issues that frequently appear on the agenda of annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders:

• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure

• Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions

• Executive compensation

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters

• Shareholder protections

#### BOARDS AND DIRECTORS

#### Director elections
In general, BlackRock supports the election of directors as recommended by the board in uncontested elections. However, we believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held account able. We may withhold votes from directors or members of particular board committees in certain situations, as indicated below.

#### Independence
We expect a majority of the directors on the board to be independent. In addition, all members of key committees, including audit, compensation, and nominating / governance committees, should be independent. Our view of independence may vary slightly from listing standards.

In particular, common impediments to independence in the U.S. may include:

• Employment as a senior executive by the company or a subsidiary within the past five years

• An equity ownership in the company in excess of 20%

• Having any other interest, business, or relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

We may vote against directors serving on key committees that we do not consider to be independent.

When evaluating controlled companies, as defined by the U.S. stock exchanges, we will only vote against insiders or affiliates who sit on the audit committee, but not other key committees.

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#### Oversight
We expect the board to exercise appropriate oversight over management and business activities of the company. We will consider voting against committee members and / or individual directors in the following circumstances:

• Where the board has failed to exercise oversight with regard to accounting practices or audit oversight, we will consider voting against the current audit committee, and any other members of the board who may be responsible. For example, this may apply to members of the audit committee during a period when the board failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing if substantial accounting irregularities suggest insufficient oversight by that committee

• Members of the compensation committee during a period in which executive compensation appears excessive relative to performance and peers, and where we believe the compensation committee has not already substantially addressed this issue

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where the board is not comprised of a majority of independent directors. However, this would not apply in the case of a controlled company

• Where it appears the director has acted (at the company or at other companies) in a manner that compromises his / her reliability to represent the best long-term economic interests of shareholders

• Where a director has a pattern of poor attendance at combined board and applicable key committee meetings. Excluding exigent circumstances, BlackRock generally considers attendance at less than 75% of the combined board and applicable key committee meetings by a board member to be poor attendance

• Where a director serves on an excess number of boards, which may limit his / her capacity to focus on each board's requirements. The following illustrates the maximum number of boards on which a director may serve, before he / she is considered to be over-committed:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Public<br> Company CEO** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**# Outside<br> Public Boards\*** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total # of<br> Public Boards** |
| Director A | &nbsp;&nbsp;x | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| Director B |  | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |

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\* In addition to the company under review

#### Responsiveness to shareholders
We expect a board to be engaged and responsive to its shareholders. Where we believe a board has not substantially addressed shareholder concerns, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

• The independent chair or lead independent director, members of the nominating / governance committee, and / or the longest tenured director(s), where we observe a lack of board responsiveness to shareholders, evidence of board entrenchment, and / or failure to promote adequate board succession planning

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where board member(s) at the most recent election of directors have received withhold votes from more than 30% of shares voted and the board has not taken appropriate action to respond to shareholder concerns. This may not apply in cases where BlackRock did not support the initial withhold vote

• The independent chair or lead independent director and / or members of the nominating / governance committee, where a board fails to implement shareholder proposals that receive a majority of votes cast at a prior shareholder meeting, and the proposals, in our view, have a direct and substantial impact on shareholders' fundamental rights or long-term economic interests

#### Shareholder rights
We expect a board to act with integrity and to uphold governance best practices. Where we believe a board has not acted in the best interests of its shareholders, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

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• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board implements or renews a poison pill without shareholder approval

• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board amends the charter / articles / bylaws such that the effect may be to entrench directors or to significantly reduce shareholder rights

• Members of the compensation committee where the company has repriced options without shareholder approval

• If a board maintains a classified structure, it is possible that the director(s) with whom we have a particular concern may not be subject to election in the year that the concern arises. In such situations, if we have a concern regarding a committee or committee chair that is not up for re-election, we will generally register our concern by withholding votes from all available members of the relevant committee

#### Board composition and effectiveness
We encourage boards to periodically renew their membership to ensure relevant skills and experience within the boardroom. To this end, regular performance reviews and skills assessments should be conducted by the nominating / governance committee.

Furthermore, we expect boards to be comprised of a diverse selection of individuals who bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in order to create a constructive debate of competing views and opinions in the boardroom. We recognize that diversity has multiple dimensions. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the full breadth of diversity including personal factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. In addition to other elements of diversity, we encourage companies to have at least two women directors on their board. Our publicly available <u>commentary</u> explains our approach to engaging on board diversity.

We encourage boards to disclose their views on:

• The mix of competencies, experience, and other qualities required to effectively oversee and guide management in light of the stated long-term strategy of the company

• The process by which candidates are identified and selected, including whether professional firms or other sources outside of incumbent directors' networks have been engaged to identify and / or assess candidates

• The process by which boards evaluate themselves and any significant outcomes of the evaluation process, without divulging inappropriate and / or sensitive details

• The consideration given to board diversity, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnicity, race, age, experience, geographic location, skills, and perspective in the nomination process

While we support regular board refreshment, we are not opposed in principle to long-tenured directors, nor do we believe that long board tenure is necessarily an impediment to director independence. A variety of director tenures within the boardroom can be beneficial to ensure board quality and continuity of experience.

Our primary concern is that board members are able to contribute effectively as corporate strategy evolves and business conditions change, and that all directors, regardless of tenure, demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to shareholders. We acknowledge that no single person can be expected to bring all relevant skill sets to a board; at the same time, we generally do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to have any particular director on the board solely by virtue of a singular background or specific area of expertise.

Where boards find that age limits or term limits are the most efficient and objective mechanism for ensuring periodic board refreshment, we generally defer to the board's determination in setting such limits.

To the extent that we believe that a company has not adequately accounted for diversity in its board composition within a reasonable timeframe, we may vote against the nominating / governance committee for an apparent lack of commitment to board effectiveness.

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#### Board size
We typically defer to the board in setting the appropriate size and believe directors are generally in the best position to assess the optimal board size to ensure effectiveness. However, we may oppose boards that appear too small to allow for effective shareholder representation or too large to function efficiently.

#### CEO and management succession planning
There should be a robust CEO and senior management succession plan in place at the board level that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. We expect succession planning to cover both long-term planning consistent with the strategic direction of the company and identified leadership needs over time, as well as short-term planning in the event of an unanticipated executive departure. We encourage the company to explain its executive succession planning process, including where accountability lies within the boardroom for this task, without prematurely divulging sensitive information commonly associated with this exercise.

#### Classified board of directors / staggered terms
We believe that directors should be re-elected annually and that classification of the board generally limits shareholders' rights to regularly evaluate a board's performance and select directors. While we will typically support proposals requesting board de-classification, we may make exceptions, should the board articulate an appropriate strategic rationale for a classified board structure, such as when a company needs consistency and stability during a time of transition, e.g. newly public companies or companies undergoing a strategic restructuring. A classified board structure may also be justified at non-operating companies in certain circumstances. We would, however, expect boards with a classified structure to periodically review the rationale for such structure and consider when annual elections might be appropriate.

Without a voting mechanism to immediately address concerns of a specific director, we may choose to vote against or withhold votes from the available slate of directors by default (see "Shareholder rights" for additional detail).

#### Contested director elections
The details of contested elections, or proxy contests, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We evaluate a number of factors, which may include: the qualifications of the dissident and management candidates; the validity of the concerns identified by the dissident; the viability of both the dissident's and management's plans; the likelihood that the dissident's solutions will produce the desired change; and whether the dissident represents the best option for enhancing long-term shareholder value.

#### Cumulative voting
We believe that a majority vote standard is in the best long-term interest of shareholders. It ensures director accountability via the requirement to be elected by more than half of the votes cast. As such, we will generally oppose proposals requesting the adoption of cumulative voting, which may disproportionately aggregate votes on certain issues or director candidates.

#### Director compensation and equity programs
We believe that compensation for directors should be structured to attract and retain the best possible directors, while also aligning their interests with those of shareholders. We believe director compensation packages that are based on the company's long-term value creation and include some form of long-term equity compensation are more likely to meet this goal. In addition, we expect directors to build meaningful share ownership over time.

#### Majority vote requirements
BlackRock believes that directors should generally be elected by a majority of the shares voted and will normally support proposals seeking to introduce bylaws requiring a majority vote standard for director elections. Majority voting standards assist in ensuring that directors who are not broadly supported by shareholders are not elected to serve as their representatives. Some companies with a plurality voting standard have adopted a resignation policy for directors who do not receive support from at least a majority of votes cast. Where we believe that the company already has a sufficiently robust majority voting process in place, we may not support a shareholder proposal seeking an alternative mechanism.

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#### Risk oversight
Companies should have an established process for identifying, monitoring, and managing key risks. Independent directors should have ready access to relevant management information and outside advice, as appropriate, to ensure they can properly oversee risk management. We encourage companies to provide transparency around risk measurement, mitigation, and reporting to the board. We are particularly interested in understanding how risk oversight processes evolve in response to changes in corporate strategy and / or shifts in the business and related risk environment. Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

#### Separation of chairman and CEO
We believe that independent leadership is important in the boardroom. In the U.S. there are two commonly accepted structures for independent board leadership: 1) an independent chairman; or 2) a lead independent director when the roles of chairman and CEO are combined.

In the absence of a significant governance concern, we defer to boards to designate the most appropriate leadership structure to ensure adequate balance and independence.

In the event that the board chooses a combined chair / CEO model, we generally support the designation of a lead independent director if they have the power to: 1) provide formal input into board meeting agendas; 2) call meetings of the independent directors; and 3) preside at meetings of independent directors. Furthermore, while we anticipate that most directors will be elected annually, we believe an element of continuity is important for this role for an extended period of time to provide appropriate leadership balance to the chair / CEO.

The following table illustrates examples of responsibilities under each board leadership model:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Separate<br> Chair Model** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair / CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair |
| Board Meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;Attends full meetings of the board of directors<br> Authority to call meetings of independent directors<br> Briefs CEO on issues arising from executive sessions | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors |
| Agenda | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, consulting with the lead director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Collaborates with chair / CEO to set board agenda and board information | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, in conjunction with CEO |
| Board Communications | &nbsp;&nbsp;Communicates with all directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning |

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#### AUDITORS AND AUDIT-RELATED ISSUES
BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements to provide a complete and accurate portrayal of a company's financial condition. Consistent with our approach to voting on boards of directors, we seek to hold the audit committee of the board responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function at a company, and may withhold votes from the audit committee members where the board has failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing. We look to

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the audit committee report for insight into the scope of the audit committee responsibilities, including an overview of audit committee processes, issues on the audit committee agenda, and key decisions taken by the audit committee. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or material weakness disclosures, and we expect timely disclosure and remediation of accounting irregularities.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor effectively fulfilling its role. To that end, we favor an independent auditor. In addition, to the extent that an auditor fails to reasonably identify and address issues that eventually lead to a significant financial restatement, or the audit firm has violated standards of practice that protect the interests of shareholders, we may also vote against ratification.

From time to time, shareholder proposals may be presented to promote auditor independence or the rotation of audit firms. We may support these proposals when they are consistent with our views as described above.

#### CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROPOSALS

#### Equal voting rights
BlackRock believes that shareholders should be entitled to voting rights in proportion to their economic interests. We believe that companies that look to add or already have dual or multiple class share structures should review these structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Companies should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal on the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

#### Blank check preferred stock
We frequently oppose proposals requesting authorization of a class of preferred stock with unspecified voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights ("blank check" preferred stock) because they may serve as a transfer of authority from shareholders to the board and as a possible entrenchment device. We generally view the board's discretion to establish voting rights on a when-issued basis as a potential anti-takeover device, as it affords the board the ability to place a block of stock with an investor sympathetic to management, thereby foiling a takeover bid without a shareholder vote.

Nonetheless, we may support the proposal where the company:

• Appears to have a legitimate financing motive for requesting blank check authority

• Has committed publicly that blank check preferred shares will not be used for anti-takeover purposes

• Has a history of using blank check preferred stock for financings

• Has blank check preferred stock previously outstanding such that an increase would not necessarily provide further anti-takeover protection but may provide greater financing flexibility

#### Increase in authorized common shares
BlackRock considers industry-specific norms in our analysis of these proposals, as well as a company's history with respect to the use of its common shares. Generally, we are predisposed to support a company if the board believes additional common shares are necessary to carry out the firm's business. The most substantial concern we might have with an increase is the possibility of use of common shares to fund a poison pill plan that is not in the economic interests of shareholders.

#### Increase or issuance of preferred stock
We generally support proposals to increase or issue preferred stock in cases where the company specifies the voting, dividend, conversion, and other rights of such stock where the terms of the preferred stock appear reasonable.

#### Stock splits
We generally support stock splits that are not likely to negatively affect the ability to trade shares or the economic value of a share. We generally support reverse stock splits that are designed to avoid delisting or to facilitate trading in the stock, where the reverse split will not have a negative impact on share value (e.g*.* one class is reduced while others remain at pre- split

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levels). In the event of a proposal for a reverse split that would not also proportionately reduce the company's authorized stock, we apply the same analysis we would use for a proposal to increase authorized stock.

#### MERGERS, ASSET SALES, AND OTHER SPECIAL TRANSACTIONS
BlackRock's primary concern is the best long-term economic interests of shareholders. While merger, asset sales, and other special transaction proposals vary widely in scope and substance, we closely examine certain salient features in our analyses, such as:

• The degree to which the proposed transaction represents a premium to the company's trading price. We consider the share price over multiple time periods prior to the date of the merger announcement. In most cases, business combinations should provide a premium. We may consider comparable transaction analyses provided by the parties' financial advisors and our own valuation assessments. For companies facing insolvency or bankruptcy, a premium may not apply

• There should be clear strategic, operational, and / or financial rationale for the combination

• Unanimous board approval and arm's-length negotiations are preferred. We will consider whether the transaction involves a dissenting board or does not appear to be the result of an arm's-length bidding process. We may also consider whether executive and / or board members' financial interests in a given transaction appear likely to affect their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own

• We prefer transaction proposals that include the fairness opinion of a reputable financial advisor assessing the value of the transaction to shareholders in comparison to recent similar transactions

#### Poison pill plans
Where a poison pill is put to a shareholder vote by management, our policy is to examine these plans individually. Although we oppose most plans, we may support plans that include a reasonable "qualifying offer clause." Such clauses typically require shareholder ratification of the pill and stipulate a sunset provision whereby the pill expires unless it is renewed.

These clauses also tend to specify that an all cash bid for all shares that includes a fairness opinion and evidence of financing does not trigger the pill, but forces either a special meeting at which the offer is put to a shareholder vote, or the board to seek the written consent of shareholders where shareholders could rescind the pill at their discretion. We may also support a pill where it is the only effective method for protecting tax or other economic benefits that may be associated with limiting the ownership changes of individual shareholders.

We generally vote in favor of shareholder proposals to rescind poison pills.

#### Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns
We generally do not support shareholder proposals seeking the reimbursement of proxy contest expenses, even in situations where we support the shareholder campaign. We believe that introducing the possibility of such reimbursement may incentivize disruptive and unnecessary shareholder campaigns.

#### EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
We note that there are both management and shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. We generally vote on these proposals as described below, except that we typically oppose shareholder proposals on issues where the company already has a reasonable policy in place that we believe is sufficient to address the issue. We may also oppose a shareholder proposal regarding executive compensation if the company's history suggests that the issue raised is not likely to present a problem for that company.

#### Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay")
In cases where there is a Say on Pay vote, BlackRock will respond to the proposal as informed by our evaluation of compensation practices at that particular company and in a manner that appropriately addresses the specific question posed to shareholders. In a commentary on our website, entitled "<u>BlackRock Investment Stewardship's approach to executive compensation</u>," we explain our beliefs and expectations related to executive compensation practices, our Say on Pay analysis framework, and our typical approach to engagement and voting on Say on Pay.

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#### Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions
BlackRock will generally support triennial pay frequency votes, but we defer to the board to determine the appropriate timeframe upon which pay should be reviewed. In evaluating pay, we believe that the compensation committee is responsible for constructing a plan that appropriately incentivizes executives for long-term value creation, utilizing relevant metrics and structure to ensure overall pay and performance alignment. In a similar vein, we defer to the board to establish the most appropriate timeframe for review of pay structure, absent a change in strategy that would suggest otherwise.

However, we may support an annual pay frequency vote in some situations, for example, where we conclude that a company has failed to align pay with performance. In these circumstances, we will also consider voting against the compensation committee members.

#### Claw back proposals
We generally favor recoupment from any senior executive whose compensation was based on faulty financial reporting or deceptive business practices. In addition to fraudulent acts, we also favor recoupment from any senior executive whose behavior caused direct financial harm to shareholders, reputational risk to the company, or resulted in a criminal investigation, even if such actions did not ultimately result in a material restatement of past results. This includes, but is not limited to, settlement agreements arising from such behavior and paid for directly by the company. We typically support shareholder proposals on these matters unless the company already has a robust claw back policy that sufficiently addresses our concerns.

#### Employee stock purchase plans
We believe these plans can provide performance incentives and help align employees' interests with those of shareholders. The most common form of employee stock purchase plan ("ESPP") qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. We will typically support qualified ESPP proposals.

#### Equity compensation plans
BlackRock supports equity plans that align the economic interests of directors, managers, and other employees with those of shareholders. We believe that boards should establish policies prohibiting the use of equity awards in a manner that could disrupt the intended alignment with shareholder interests (e.g. the use of stock as collateral for a loan; the use of stock in a margin account; the use of stock or an unvested award in hedging or derivative transactions). We may support shareholder proposals requesting the establishment of such policies.

Our evaluation of equity compensation plans is based on a company's executive pay and performance relative to peers and whether the plan plays a significant role in a pay-for-performance disconnect. We generally oppose plans that contain "evergreen" provisions, which allow for the unlimited increase of shares reserved without requiring further shareholder approval after a reasonable time period. We also generally oppose plans that allow for repricing without shareholder approval. We may also oppose plans that provide for the acceleration of vesting of equity awards even in situations where an actual change of control may not occur. We encourage companies to structure their change of control provisions to require the termination of the covered employee before acceleration or special payments are triggered.

#### Golden parachutes
We generally view golden parachutes as encouragement to management to consider transactions that might be beneficial to shareholders. However, a large potential pay-out under a golden parachute arrangement also presents the risk of motivating a management team to support a sub-optimal sale price for a company. When determining whether to support or oppose an advisory vote on a golden parachute plan, we normally support the plan unless it appears to result in payments that are excessive or detrimental to shareholders. In evaluating golden parachute plans, BlackRock may consider several factors, including:

• Whether we believe that the triggering event is in the best interest of shareholders

• Whether management attempted to maximize shareholder value in the triggering event

• The percentage of total premium or transaction value that will be transferred to the management team, rather than shareholders, as a result of the golden parachute payment

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• Whether excessively large excise tax gross-up payments are part of the pay-out

• Whether the pay package that serves as the basis for calculating the golden parachute payment was reasonable in light of performance and peers

• Whether the golden parachute payment will have the effect of rewarding a management team that has failed to effectively manage the company

It may be difficult to anticipate the results of a plan until after it has been triggered; as a result, BlackRock may vote against a golden parachute proposal even if the golden parachute plan under review was approved by shareholders when it was implemented.

We may support shareholder proposals requesting that implementation of such arrangements require shareholder approval. We generally support proposals requiring shareholder approval of plans that exceed 2.99 times an executive's current salary and bonus, including equity compensation.

#### Option exchanges
We believe that there may be legitimate instances where underwater options create an overhang on a company's capital structure and a repricing or option exchange may be warranted. We will evaluate these instances on a case-by-case basis. BlackRock may support a request to reprice or exchange underwater options under the following circumstances:

• The company has experienced significant stock price decline as a result of macroeconomic trends, not individual company performance

• Directors and executive officers are excluded; the exchange is value neutral or value creative to shareholders; tax, accounting, and other technical considerations have been fully contemplated

• There is clear evidence that absent repricing, the company will suffer serious employee incentive or retention and recruiting problems

BlackRock may also support a request to exchange underwater options in other circumstances, if we determine that the exchange is in the best interest of shareholders.

#### Pay-for-Performance plans
In order for executive compensation exceeding $1 million USD to qualify for federal tax deductions, related to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ("OBRA") requires companies to link compensation for the company's top five executives to disclosed performance goals and submit the plans for shareholder approval. The law further requires that a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors administer these plans. Because the primary objective of these proposals is to preserve the deductibility of such compensation, we generally favor approval in order to preserve net income.

#### Supplemental executive retirement plans
BlackRock may support shareholder proposals requesting to put extraordinary benefits contained in Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans ("SERP") agreements to a shareholder vote unless the company's executive pension plans do not contain excessive benefits beyond what is offered under employee-wide plans.

#### ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well-managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses. Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry-specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an

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overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification process in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

• Publish disclosures in line with industry specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

• Disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors. In deciding our course of action, we will assess the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social, ethical, or political judgments on behalf of clients, but rather, to protect the ir long-term economic interests as shareholders. We expect investee companies to comply, at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where such laws or regulations are contradictory or ambiguous.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long- term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain

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instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### Corporate political activities
Companies may engage in certain political activities, within legal and regulatory limits, in order to influence public policy consistent with the companies' values and strategies, and thus serve shareholders' best long-term economic interests. These activities can create risks, including: the potential for allegations of corruption; the potential for reputational issues associated with a candidate, party, or issue; and risks that arise from the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations associated with corporate political activity. We believe that companies which choose to engage in political activities should develop and maintain robust processes to guide these activities and to mitigate risks, including a level of board oversight.

When presented with shareholder proposals requesting increased disclosure on corporate political activities, we may consider the political activities of that company and its peers, the existing level of disclosure, and our view regarding the associated risks. We generally believe that it is the duty of boards and management to determine the appropriate level of disclosure of all types of corporate activity, and we are generally not supportive of proposals that are overly prescriptive in nature. We may decide to support a shareholder proposal requesting additional reporting of corporate political activities where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or actual harm to shareholders' interests, and where we believe the company has not already provided shareholders with sufficient information to assess the company's management of the risk.

Finally, we believe that it is not the role of shareholders to suggest or approve corporate political activities; therefore we generally do not support proposals requesting a shareholder vote on political activities or expenditures.

#### GENERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MATTERS

#### Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes
We generally support such proposals unless the agenda contains items that we judge to be detrimental to shareholders' best long-term economic interests.

#### Bundled proposals
We believe that shareholders should have the opportunity to review substantial governance changes individually without having to accept bundled proposals. Where several measures are grouped into one proposal, BlackRock may reject certain positive changes when linked with proposals that generally contradict or impede the rights and economic interests of shareholders.

#### Exclusive forum provisions
BlackRock generally supports proposals to seek exclusive forum for certain shareholder litigation. In cases where a board unilaterally adopts exclusive forum provisions that we consider unfavorable to the interests of shareholders, we will vote against the independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee.

#### Multi-jurisdictional companies
Where a company is listed on multiple exchanges or incorporated in a country different from its primary listing, we will seek to apply the most relevant market guideline(s) to our analysis of the company's governance structure and specific proposals on the shareholder meeting agenda. In doing so, we typically consider the governance standards of the company's primary listing, the market standards by which the company governs itself, and the market context of each specific proposal on the agenda. If the relevant standards are silent on the issue under consideration, we will use our professional judgment as to what voting outcome would best protect the long-term economic interests of investors. We expect that companies will disclose the rationale for their selection of primary listing, country of incorporation, and choice of governance structures, in particular where there is conflict between relevant market governance practices.

#### Other business

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We oppose giving companies our proxy to vote on matters where we are not given the opportunity to review and understand those measures and carry out an appropriate level of shareholder oversight.

#### Reincorporation
Proposals to reincorporate from one state or country to another are most frequently motivated by considerations of anti- takeover protections, legal advantages, and / or cost savings. We will evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the economic and strategic rationale behind the company's proposal to reincorporate. In all instances, we will evaluate the changes to shareholder protection under the new charter / articles / bylaws to assess whether the move increases or decreases shareholder protections. Where we find that shareholder protections are diminished, we may support reincorporation if we determine that the overall benefits outweigh the diminished rights.

#### IPO governance
We expect boards to consider and disclose how the corporate governance structures adopted upon initial public offering ("IPO") are in shareholders' best long-term interests. We also expect boards to conduct a regular review of corporate governance and control structures, such that boards might evolve foundational corporate governance structures as company circumstances change, without undue costs and disruption to shareholders. In our <u>letter on unequal voting structures</u>, we articulate our view that "one vote for one share" is the preferred structure for publicly-traded companies. We also recognize the potential benefits of dual class shares to newly public companies as they establish themselves; however, we believe that these structures should have a specific and limited duration. We will generally engage new companies on topics such as classified boards and supermajority vote provisions to amend bylaws, as we believe that such arrangements may not be in the best interest of shareholders in the long-term.

We will typically apply a one-year grace period for the application of certain director-related guidelines (including, but not limited to, director independence and over-boarding considerations), during which we expect boards to take steps to bring corporate governance standards in line with our expectations.

Further, if a company qualifies as an emerging growth company (an "EGC") under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), we will give consideration to the NYSE and NASDAQ governance exemptions granted under the JOBS Act for the duration such a company is categorized as an EGC. We expect an EGC to have a totally independent audit committee by the first anniversary of its IPO, with our standard approach to voting on auditors and audit-related issues applicable in full for an EGC on the first anniversary of its IPO.

#### SHAREHOLDER PROTECTIONS

#### Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws
We believe that shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including on changes to governance mechanisms and amendments to the charter / articles / bylaws. We may vote against certain directors where changes to governing documents are not put to a shareholder vote within a reasonable period of time, in particular if those changes have the potential to impact shareholder rights (see "Director elections" herein). In cases where a board's unilateral adoption of changes to the charter / articles / bylaws promotes cost and operational efficiency benefits for the company and its shareholders, we may support such action if it does not have a negative effect on shareholder rights or the company's corporate governance structure.

When voting on a management or shareholder proposal to make changes to the charter / articles / bylaws, we will consider in part the company's and / or proponent's publicly stated rationale for the changes, the company's governance profile and history, relevant jurisdictional laws, and situational or contextual circumstances which may have motivated the proposed changes, among other factors. We will typically support changes to the charter / articles / bylaws where the benefits to shareholders, including the costs of failing to make those changes, demonstrably outweigh the costs or risks of making such changes.

#### Proxy access
We believe that long-term shareholders should have the opportunity, when necessary and under reasonable conditions, to nominate directors on the company's proxy card.

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In our view, securing the right of shareholders to nominate directors without engaging in a control contest can enhance shareholders' ability to meaningfully participate in the director election process, stimulate board attention to shareholder interests, and provide shareholders an effective means of directing that attention where it is lacking. Proxy access mechanisms should provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to use this right without stipulating overly restrictive or onerous parameters for use, and also provide assurances that the mechanism will not be subject to abuse by short-term investors, investors without a substantial investment in the company, or investors seeking to take control of the board.

In general, we support market-standardized proxy access proposals, which allow a shareholder (or group of up to 20 shareholders) holding three percent of a company's outstanding shares for at least three years the right to nominate the greater of up to two directors or 20% of the board. Where a standardized proxy access provision exists, we will generally oppose shareholder proposals requesting outlier thresholds.

#### Right to act by written consent
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to solicit votes by written consent provided that: 1) there are reasonable requirements to initiate the consent solicitation process (in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests); and 2) shareholders receive a minimum of 50% of outstanding shares to effectuate the action by written consent. We may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others, or if the proposal is written to discourage the board from incorporating appropriate mechanisms to avoid the waste of corporate resources when establishing a right to act by written consent. Additionally, we may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent if the company already provides a shareholder right to call a special meeting that we believe offers shareholders a reasonable opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting.

#### Right to call a special meeting
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to call a special meeting in cases where a reasonably high proportion of shareholders (typically a minimum of 15% but no higher than 25%) are required to agree to such a meeting before it is called, in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests. However, we may oppose this right in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others. We generally believe that a right to act via written consent is not a sufficient alternative to the right to call a special meeting.

#### Simple majority voting
We generally favor a simple majority voting requirement to pass proposals. Therefore, we will support the reduction or the elimination of supermajority voting requirements to the extent that we determine shareholders' ability to protect their economic interests is improved. Nonetheless, in situations where there is a substantial or dominant shareholder, supermajority voting may be protective of public shareholder interests and we may support supermajority requirements in those situations.

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IS-SAI-IAUF-0323

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## iShares<sup>®</sup> U.S. ETF Trust
Statement of Additional Information

Dated March 1, 2023

This Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the current prospectus (the "Prospectus") for the following series of iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust"):

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Ticker** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Listing Exchange** |
| iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF (the "Fund") | &nbsp;&nbsp;COMT | &nbsp;&nbsp;Nasdaq |

---

The Prospectus for the Fund is dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. The Financial Statements and Notes contained in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) and [Semi-Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522187742/d360218dncsrs.htm) of the Trust for the Fund are incorporated by reference into and are deemed to be part of this SAI. A copy of the Prospectus, Annual Report and Semi-Annual Report may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting *www.iShares.com*. The Fund's Prospectus is incorporated by reference into this SAI.

References to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act" or the "1940 Act"), or other applicable law, will include any rules promulgated thereunder and any guidance, interpretations or modifications by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), SEC staff or other authority with appropriate jurisdiction, including court interpretations, and exemptive, no action or other relief or permission from the SEC, SEC staff or other authority.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

------

#### **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| [General Description of the Trust and the Fund](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Exchange Listing and Trading](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Investment Strategies and Risks](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Derivatives](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Diversification Status](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures and Options](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lending Portfolio Securities](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk Management](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Securities](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Options on Futures Contracts](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulation Regarding Derivatives](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreements](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reverse Repurchase Agreements](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sovereign Obligations](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Swap Agreements](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Future Developments](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| [General Considerations and Risks](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodities Investment Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Dividend-Paying Stock Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Energy Commodities Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Illiquid Investments Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Companies](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Replacement Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Money Market Instruments Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Issuers Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Operational Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Derivatives](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Swap Agreements](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Valuation Risk](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |

---

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Australasia](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Developed Countries](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Europe](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Gold](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| [Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| [Investment Policies](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| [Continuous Offering](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| [Management](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Trustees and Officers](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Committees of the Board of Trustees](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_29) | &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Conflicts of Interest](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_42) | &nbsp;&nbsp;42 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Adviser](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_42) | &nbsp;&nbsp;42 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Sub-Adviser](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_43) | &nbsp;&nbsp;43 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Portfolio Managers](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_43) | &nbsp;&nbsp;43 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Codes of Ethics](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;46 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Anti-Money Laundering Requirements](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;46 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_46) | &nbsp;&nbsp;46 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distributor](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_47) | &nbsp;&nbsp;47 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_47) | &nbsp;&nbsp;47 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Payments by BFA and its Affiliates](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_48) | &nbsp;&nbsp;48 |
| [Determination of Net Asset Value](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_50) | &nbsp;&nbsp;50 |
| [Brokerage Transactions](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_52) | &nbsp;&nbsp;52 |
| [Additional Information Concerning the Trust](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shares](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distribution of Shares](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| [Creation and Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[General](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fund Deposit](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Purchase Method](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Procedures for Creation of Creation Units](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Role of the Authorized Participant](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Purchase Orders](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_59) | &nbsp;&nbsp;59 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuance of a Creation Unit](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Creation Transactions](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Redemption Method](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_62) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_62) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Redemption Orders](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_62) | &nbsp;&nbsp;62 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custom Baskets](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_64) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units](#xx_ed6e0dd6-2fbd-4e8c-8868-8493ce931968_64) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| [Taxes](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulated Investment Company Qualifications](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of RICs](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excise Tax](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Net Capital Loss Carryforwards](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of U.S. Shareholders](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;66 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sales of Shares](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Backup Withholding](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sections 351 and 362](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Certain Derivatives](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Qualified Dividend Income](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Corporate Dividends Received Deduction](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excess Inclusion Income](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;69 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Investments](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Passive Foreign Investment Companies](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reporting](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;71 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Other Taxes](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;71 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;71 |
| [Financial Statements](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;72 |
| [Miscellaneous Information](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;72 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Counsel](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;72 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;73 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shareholder Communications to the Board](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;73 |

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|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investors' Rights](#xx_7fe8f54b-f84f-4ca8-ae3e-03ccfcf9c7a4_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;73 |
| [Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_9ec42a6b-2194-4305-b111-beaf3d2e7bd4_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-1 |
| [Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_9ec42a6b-2194-4305-b111-beaf3d2e7bd4_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-2 |
| [Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_c8435d4b-19df-4130-9209-b8ef0fdb0db5_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-13 |

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## General Description of the Trust and the Fund
The Trust currently consists of 16 investment series or portfolios. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on June 21, 2011 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. The offering of the Trust's shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This SAI relates solely to the Fund.

The Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") and sub-advised by Blackrock International Limited ("BIL"), each of which is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc, and generally seeks to track the investment results of the specific benchmark index identified in the Fund's Prospectus (the "Underlying Index").

The Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value per share ("NAV") only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each, a "Creation Unit"), generally in exchange for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) (the "Deposit Securities" or "Creation Basket"), together with the deposit of a specified cash payment (the "Cash Component"). Shares of the Fund are listed for trading on The Nasdaq Stock Market ("Nasdaq" or the "Listing Exchange"), a national securities exchange. Shares of the Fund are traded in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below the Fund's NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Units, and, generally, in exchange for portfolio securities and a Cash Amount (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units-Role of the Authorized Participant* section of this SAI). Creation Units typically are a specified number of shares, generally 100,000 or multiples thereof.

The Trust reserves the right to permit or require that creations and redemptions of shares are effected fully or partially in cash. Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities, subject to various conditions, including a requirement that the Authorized Participant maintain with the Trust collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to purchase Deposit Securities. See the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Transaction fees and other costs associated with creations or redemptions that include a cash portion may be higher than the transaction fees and other costs associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, conditions with respect to creations and redemptions of shares and fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of SEC rules and regulations applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.

## Exchange Listing and Trading
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the *Shareholder Information* section of the Fund's Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, that section of the Prospectus.

Shares of the Fund are listed for trading, and trade throughout the day, on the Listing Exchange and in other secondary markets. Shares of the Fund may also be listed on certain non-U.S. exchanges. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Listing Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of the Fund will continue to be met. The Listing Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of the Fund from listing if, among other things: (i) the Fund is no longer eligible to operate in reliance on Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act; (ii) any of the other listing requirements are not continuously maintained; or (iii) any event shall occur or condition shall exist that, in the opinion of the Listing Exchange, makes further dealings on the Listing Exchange inadvisable. The Listing Exchange will also remove shares of the Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Fund.

As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares of the Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker, as well as other charges.

The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Fund in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Fund or an investor's equity interest in the Fund.

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## Investment Strategies and Risks
The Fund seeks to track the investment results of the Underlying Index, which measures the performance of futures contracts such as aluminum, Brent crude oil, cocoa, coffee, copper, corn, cotton, gas oil, feeder cattle, gold, heating oil, lean hogs, lead, live cattle, natural gas, nickel, silver, soybeans, sugar, unleaded gasoline, wheat, West Texas Intermediate crude oil and zinc. The Fund operates as an index fund and is not actively managed. Adverse performance of an instrument in the Fund's portfolio will ordinarily not result in the elimination of the instrument from the Fund's portfolio.

In seeking to achieve its investment objective, the Fund may invest in a combination of exchange-traded commodity futures contracts, exchange-traded options on commodity-related futures contracts and exchange-cleared commodity related swaps (together, "Commodity Linked Investments"), thereby obtaining exposure to the commodities markets. Commodity-Linked Investments may also include exchange-cleared swaps on commodities and exchange-traded options on futures that provide exposure to the investment returns of the commodities markets, without investing directly in physical commodities. Investing in Commodity-Linked Investments may have a leveraging effect on the Fund.

The Fund also seeks to generate interest income and capital appreciation on the cash balances arising from its investment in Commodity-Linked Investments through a cash management strategy consisting primarily of investments in short-term, investment-grade fixed-income securities that include U.S. government and agency securities, treasury inflation-protected securities, sovereign debt obligations of non-U.S. countries, and repurchase agreements, money market instruments and cash and other cash equivalents (collectively, "Fixed-Income Investments"). The Fund uses Fixed-Income Investments as investments and to provide sufficient assets to account for (or "cover") mark-to-market changes and to collateralize the Subsidiary's (as defined below) Commodity-Linked Investments exposure on a day-to-day basis.

The Fund engages in representative sampling, which is investing in a sample of securities and/or other instruments selected by BFA to have a collective investment profile similar to that of the Fund's Underlying Index. Securities and/or other instruments selected have aggregate investment characteristics (based on market capitalization value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as yield, credit rating, maturity and duration) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Fund's Underlying Index. A fund that uses representative sampling generally does not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments that are in its underlying index.

The Fund will seek to gain exposure to Commodity-Linked Investments by investing in a wholly-owned subsidiary organized in the Cayman Islands (the "Subsidiary"). The Subsidiary is advised by BFA and has the same investment objective as the Fund. The Subsidiary will invest solely in Commodity-Linked Investments and cash.

In compliance with Sub-Chapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), the Fund may invest up to 25% of its total assets in the Subsidiary. The Fund's Commodity-Linked Investments in the Subsidiary are intended to provide the Fund with exposure to commodity markets within the limits of current U.S. federal income tax laws applicable to investment companies such as the Fund, which limit the ability of investment companies to invest directly in Commodity-Linked Investments.

The remainder of the Fund's assets will be invested directly by the Fund, primarily in Fixed-Income Investments.

The Fund or the Subsidiary may from time to time invest in other exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), exchange-traded notes or commodity-linked notes.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, it is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

Although the Fund does not seek leveraged returns, certain instruments used by the Fund may have a leveraging effect as described below.

Investments in the Subsidiary are expected to provide the Fund with exposure to investment returns of commodities within the limitations of Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code and recent U.S. Internal Revenue Service (the "IRS") letter rulings, as discussed below. The Subsidiary is a company organized under the laws of the Cayman Islands, whose registered

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office is located at the offices of Maples Corporate Services Limited, P.O. Box 309, Ugland House, Grand Cayman KYI-1104, Cayman Islands. The Subsidiary's affairs are overseen by a board of directors, which is comprised of Shannon Ghia, Secretary of the Trust, and Rachel Aguirre, Assistant Secretary of the Trust. The Fund is the sole shareholder of the Subsidiary, and shares of the Subsidiary will not be sold or offered to other investors.

The Fund will gain exposure to the investment returns of commodities indirectly by investing in the Subsidiary. To the extent that BlackRock believes that such instruments provide suitable exposure to commodities, the Fund's investment in the Subsidiary will likely increase. BlackRock manages the assets of the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so.

BlackRock also provides certain administrative services for the Subsidiary, but receives no additional compensation for doing so. The Subsidiary has entered into a contract for the provision of custody, transfer agency, and accounting agent services with the same or with affiliates of the same service providers that provide those services to the Fund.

Generally, the Fund and the Subsidiary test for compliance with investment policies and restrictions, including asset segregation requirements, on a consolidated basis for 1940 Act purposes, calculated in accordance with SEC staff guidance, where applicable. For compliance with federal income tax requirements, the Fund and the Subsidiary expect to comply with the asset segregation requirements on a stand-alone basis, with instruments requiring physical settlement being classified on a market value rather than on a notional basis. The Subsidiary is also expected to comply with the other applicable 1940 Act requirements, including those related to custody and affiliated transactions.

The Subsidiary is not registered under the 1940 Act, and, unless otherwise noted in the Fund's Prospectus or this SAI, is not subject to the investor protections of the 1940 Act. However, the Fund wholly owns and controls the Subsidiary, and the Fund and the Subsidiary are managed by BFA. The Trust's Board of Trustees has oversight responsibility for the investment activities of the Fund, including its investment in the Subsidiary, and the Fund's role as sole shareholder of the Subsidiary. As noted above, the Subsidiary will be subject to the same investment restrictions and limitations, and follow the same compliance policies and procedures, as the Fund. Changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or the Subsidiary to operate as described in the Fund's Prospectus and this SAI and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely suffer decreased investment returns.

The Fund invests in commodity-linked derivatives indirectly through the Subsidiary because income from these investments, if made directly, might not be treated as "qualifying income" for purposes of the Fund qualifying as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Based on final regulations issued by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

Moreover, changes in the laws of the U.S. and/or the Cayman Islands could result in the inability of the Fund and/or Subsidiary to operate as described in the Fund's Prospectus and this SAI and could adversely affect the Fund. For example, the Cayman Islands does not currently impose any income, corporate or capital gains taxes, estate duty, inheritance tax, gift tax or withholding tax on the Subsidiary. If Cayman Islands law changes such that the Subsidiary must pay Cayman Islands taxes, Fund shareholders would likely experience decreased investment returns.

**Borrowing. The Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet payments due from redemptions or to facilitate the settlement of securities or other transactions.**

The purchase of securities or other assets while borrowings are outstanding may have the effect of leveraging the Fund. The incurrence of leverage increases the Fund's exposure to risk, and borrowed funds are subject to interest costs that will reduce net income. Purchasing securities while borrowings are outstanding creates special risks, such as the potential for greater volatility in the NAV of Fund shares and in the yield on the Fund's portfolio. In addition, the interest expenses from borrowings may exceed the income generated by the Fund's portfolio and, therefore, the amount available (if any) for

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distribution to shareholders as dividends may be reduced. BFA may determine to maintain outstanding borrowings if it expects that the benefits to the Fund's shareholders will outweigh the current reduced return.

Certain types of borrowings by the Fund must be made from a bank or may result in the Fund being subject to covenants in credit agreements relating to asset coverage, portfolio composition requirements and other matters. It is not anticipated that observance of such covenants would impede BFA's management of the Fund's portfolio in accordance with the Fund's investment objectives and policies. However, a breach of any such covenants not cured within the specified cure period may result in acceleration of outstanding indebtedness and require the Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

**Derivatives. The Fund may use instruments referred to as derivatives. Derivatives are financial instruments the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity (such as gold or oil), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500 Index or the prime lending rate). Derivatives allow the Fund to increase or decrease the level of risk to which the Fund is exposed more quickly and efficiently than transactions in other types of instruments. The Fund may use derivatives for hedging purposes. The Fund may also use derivatives for speculative purposes to seek to enhance returns or as a vehicle to obtain investment exposure to a security, commodity, currency, or index. The use of a derivative is speculative if the Fund is primarily seeking to achieve gains, rather than to offset the risk of other positions. When the Fund invests in a derivative for speculative purposes, the Fund will be fully exposed to the risks of loss of that derivative, which may sometimes be greater than the derivative's cost. Unless otherwise permitted, the Fund may not use any derivatives to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly.**

**Diversification Status. The Fund is classified as a diversified fund under the 1940 Act. This means that the Fund may not purchase securities of an issuer (other than (i) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities and (ii) securities of other investment companies) if, with respect to 75% of its total assets, (a) more than 5% of the Fund's total assets would be invested in securities of that issuer or (b) the Fund would hold more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of that issuer. With respect to the remaining 25% of its total assets, the Fund may invest more than 5% of its assets in one issuer. Under the 1940 Act, the Fund cannot change its classification from diversified to non-diversified without shareholder approval.**

The Fund intends to maintain the required level of diversification and otherwise conduct its operations so as to qualify as a RIC for purposes of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), and to relieve the Fund of any liability for U.S. federal income tax to the extent that its earnings are distributed to shareholders, provided that the Fund satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. Compliance with the diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code may limit the investment flexibility of the Fund and may make it less likely that the Fund will meet its investment objective.

**Futures and Options. The Fund may invest in options and futures. The Fund may also purchase call options or write put options. A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security or asset at a specified price ("exercise price") within a specified period of time. A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security or asset at an exercise price within a specified period of time. The initial purchaser of a call option pays the "writer" a premium, which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised.**

**Lending Portfolio Securities. The Fund may lend portfolio securities to certain borrowers that BFA determines to be creditworthy, including borrowers affiliated with BFA. The borrowers provide collateral that is maintained in an amount at least equal to the current market value of the securities loaned. No securities loan shall be made on behalf of the Fund if, as a result, the aggregate value of all securities loans of the Fund exceeds one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received). The Fund may terminate a loan at any time and obtain the return of the securities loaned. The Fund receives, by way of substitute payment, the value of any interest or cash or non-cash distributions paid on the loaned securities that it would have otherwise received if the securities were not on loan.**

With respect to loans that are collateralized by cash, the borrower may be entitled to receive a fee based on the amount of cash collateral. The Fund is compensated by any positive difference between the amount earned on the reinvestment of cash collateral and the fee paid to the borrower. In the case of collateral other than cash, the Fund is compensated by a fee paid by the borrower equal to a percentage of the market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral received by the Fund for such loans, and uninvested cash, may be reinvested in certain short-term instruments either directly on behalf of the Fund or through one or more joint accounts or money market funds, including those affiliated with BFA; such investments are subject to investment risk.

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The Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to an exemptive order from the SEC permitting it to lend portfolio securities to borrowers affiliated with the Fund and to retain an affiliate of the Fund to act as securities lending agent. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA. BTC administers the lending program in accordance with guidelines approved by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board," the trustees of which are the "Trustees"). JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan") serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities.

Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including operational risk (i.e., the risk of losses resulting from problems in the settlement and accounting process), "gap" risk (i.e., the risk of a mismatch between the return on cash collateral reinvestments and the fees the Fund has agreed to pay a borrower), foreign exchange risk (i.e., the risk of a shortfall at default when a cash collateral investment is denominated in a currency other than the currency of the assets being loaned due to movements in foreign exchange rates), and credit, legal, counterparty and market risks (including the risk that market events could lead the Fund to recall loaned securities or to lend less or not at all, which could lead to reduced securities lending revenue). If a securities lending counterparty were to default, the Fund would be subject to the risk of a possible delay in receiving collateral or in recovering the loaned securities, or to a possible loss of rights in the collateral. In the event a borrower does not return the Fund's securities as agreed, the Fund's ability to participate in a corporate action event may be impacted, or the Fund may experience losses if the proceeds received from liquidating the collateral do not at least equal the value of the loaned security at the time the collateral is liquidated, plus the transaction costs incurred in purchasing replacement securities. This latter event could trigger adverse tax consequences for the Fund. The Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan. Substitute payments received by the Fund representing dividends paid on securities loaned out by the Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. BTC will take into account the tax effects on shareholders caused by this difference in connection with the Fund's securities lending program. Substitute payments received on tax-exempt securities loaned out will not be tax-exempt income. There could also be changes in the status of issuers under applicable laws and regulations, including tax regulations, that may impact the regulatory or tax treatment of loaned securities and could, for example, result in a delay in the payment of dividend equivalent payments owed to the Fund (as permitted by applicable law).

Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these requirements, as well as potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect the Fund's ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

**Liquidity Risk Management. Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act (the "Liquidity Rule") requires open-end funds, including ETFs such as the Fund, to establish a liquidity risk management program (the "Liquidity Program") and enhance disclosures regarding fund liquidity. As required by the Liquidity Rule, the Fund has implemented a Liquidity Program, and the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust, has appointed BFA as the administrator of the Liquidity Program. Under the Liquidity Program, BFA assesses, manages, and periodically reviews the Fund's liquidity risk and classifies each investment held by the Fund as a "highly liquid investment," "moderately liquid investment," "less liquid investment" or "illiquid investment." The Liquidity Rule defines "liquidity risk" as the risk that the Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by the Fund without significant dilution of the remaining investors' interest in the Fund. The liquidity of the Fund's portfolio investments is determined based on relevant market, trading and investment-specific considerations under the Liquidity Program. There are exclusions from certain portions of the liquidity risk management program requirements for "in-kind" ETFs, as defined in the Liquidity Rule. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, the Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.**

**Non-U.S. Securities. The Fund intends to purchase publicly traded common stocks of non-U.S. issuers. To the extent the Fund invests in stocks of non-U.S. issuers, the Fund's investment in such stocks may be in the form of American Depositary Receipts ("ADRs"), Global Depositary Receipts ("GDRs") and European Depositary Receipts ("EDRs") (collectively, "depositary receipts"). Depositary receipts are receipts, typically issued by a bank or trust issuer, which evidence ownership of underlying securities issued by a non-U.S. issuer. Depositary receipts may not necessarily be denominated in the same currency as their underlying securities. ADRs typically are issued by a U.S. bank or trust company and evidence ownership of underlying securities issued by a non-U.S. issuer. EDRs, which are sometimes referred to as continental depositary receipts, are receipts issued in Europe, typically by foreign banks and trust companies, that evidence ownership of either foreign or domestic**

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underlying securities. GDRs are depositary receipts structured like global debt issues to facilitate trading on an international basis. Generally, ADRs, issued in registered form, are designed for use in the U.S. securities markets, and EDRs, issued in bearer form, are designed for use in European securities markets. GDRs are tradable both in the U.S. and in Europe and are designed for use throughout the world.

Depositary receipts are generally subject to the same risks as the foreign securities that they evidence or into which they may be converted. In addition to investment risks associated with the underlying issuer, depositary receipts expose the Fund to additional risks associated with the non-uniform terms that apply to depositary receipt programs, credit exposure to the depository bank and to the sponsors and other parties with whom the depository bank establishes the programs, currency risk and liquidity risk. Unsponsored programs, which are not sanctioned by the issuer of the underlying common stock, generally expose investors to greater risks than sponsored programs and do not provide holders with many of the shareholder benefits that come from investing in a sponsored depositary receipts.

Investing in the securities of non-U.S. issuers involves special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards; the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation; adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations; political instability, which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries; and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product ("GDP"), rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions.

**Options on Futures Contracts. The Fund may invest in options on futures contracts. An option on a futures contract, as contrasted with the direct investment in such a contract, gives the purchaser the right, in return for the premium paid, to assume a position in the underlying futures contract at a specified exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option. Upon exercise of an option, the delivery of the futures position by the writer of the option to the holder of the option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated balance in the writer's futures margin account that represents the amount by which the market price of the futures contract exceeds (in the case of a call) or is less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option on the futures contract. The potential for loss related to the purchase of an option on a futures contract is limited to the premium paid for the option plus transaction costs. Because the value of the option is fixed at the point of sale, there are no daily cash payments by the purchaser to reflect changes in the value of the underlying contract; however, the value of the option changes daily and that change would be reflected in the NAV of the Fund. The potential for loss related to writing call options is unlimited. The potential for loss related to writing put options is limited to the agreed upon price per share, also known as the "strike price," less the premium received from writing the put.**

**Regulation Regarding Derivatives. The CFTC subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if a fund that is advised by the investment adviser either (i) invests, directly or indirectly, more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps ("CFTC Derivatives") or (ii) markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Fund's potential use of CFTC Derivatives above the prescribed levels, the Fund will be considered a "commodity pool" under the CEA. Accordingly, BFA, the Fund's investment adviser, has registered as a commodity pool operator and is subject to CFTC regulation with respect to the Fund. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association.**

Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards, and NDFs, are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Swaps, NDFs and certain other derivatives traded in the OTC market are subject to variation margin and initial margin requirements. Implementation of the margining and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading, reporting and documentation of swaps and other derivatives have impacted and may continue to impact the costs to the Fund of trading these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in the Fund.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into Derivatives Transactions (as defined below) and certain other transactions notwithstanding the restrictions on the issuance of "senior securities" under Section 18 of the Investment Company Act. Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, among other things, prohibits open-end funds, including the Fund, from issuing or selling any "senior security," other than borrowing from a bank (subject to a requirement to maintain 300% "asset coverage").

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Under Rule 18f-4, "Derivatives Transactions" include the following: (1) any swap, security-based swap (including a contract for differences), futures contract, forward contract, option (excluding purchased options), any combination of the foregoing, or any similar instrument, under which the Fund is or may be required to make any payment or delivery of cash or other assets during the life of the instrument or at maturity or early termination, whether as margin or settlement payment or otherwise; (2) any short sale borrowing; (3) reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g*., recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, and borrowed bonds), if the Fund elects to treat these transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4; and (4) when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g.,* firm and standby commitments, including to-be-announced ("TBA") commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities, unless the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision").

Unless the Fund is relying on the Limited Derivatives User Exception (as defined below), the Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to its Derivatives Transactions. Rule 18f-4, among other things, requires the Fund to adopt and implement a comprehensive written derivatives risk management program ("DRMP") and comply with a relative or absolute limit on Fund leverage risk calculated based on value-at-risk ("VaR"). The DRMP is administered by a "derivatives risk manager," who is appointed by the Board, including a majority of Independent Directors/Trustees, and periodically reviews the DRMP and reports to the Board.

Rule 18f-4 provides an exception from the DRMP, VaR limit and certain other requirements if the Fund's "derivatives exposure" (as defined in Rule 18f-4) is limited to 10% of its net assets (as calculated in accordance with Rule 18f-4) and the Fund adopts and implements written policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks (the "Limited Derivatives User Exception").

**Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, the Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price, thereby determining the yield during the purchaser's holding period. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by the Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price, and, in the event of a default by the seller, the Fund may suffer time delays and incur costs or losses in connection with the disposition of the collateral.**

In any repurchase transaction, the collateral for a repurchase agreement may include: (i) cash items; (ii) obligations issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; or (iii) obligations that, at the time the repurchase agreement is entered into, are determined to (A) have exceptionally strong capacity to meet their financial obligations and (B) are sufficiently liquid such that they can be sold at approximately their carrying value in the ordinary course of business within seven days.

Repurchase agreements pose certain risks for the Fund, should it decide to utilize them. Such risks are not unique to the Fund, but are inherent in repurchase agreements. The Fund seeks to minimize such risks, but because of the inherent legal uncertainties involved in repurchase agreements, such risks cannot be eliminated. Lower quality collateral and collateral with a longer maturity may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality collateral and collateral with a shorter maturity. If the repurchase agreement counterparty were to default, lower quality collateral may be more difficult to liquidate than higher quality collateral. Should the counterparty default and the amount of collateral not be sufficient to cover the counterparty's repurchase obligation, the Fund would likely retain the status of an unsecured creditor of the counterparty (*i.e.*, the position the Fund would normally be in if it were to hold, pursuant to its investment policies, other unsecured debt securities of the defaulting counterparty) with respect to the amount of the shortfall. As an unsecured creditor, the Fund would be at risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.

**Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. Generally, the effect of such transactions is that the Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are advantageous only if the Fund has an opportunity to earn a rate of interest on the cash derived from these transactions that is greater than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required to be paid may not always be available, and the Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique**

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only when BFA believes it will be advantageous to the Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any increase or decrease in the value of the Fund's assets. The use of reverse repurchase agreements is a form of leverage, and the proceeds obtained by the Fund through reverse repurchase agreements may be invested in additional securities.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.,* recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, borrowed bonds) notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that the Fund either (i) complies with the 300% asset coverage ratio with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treats such transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4. (See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.)

**Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments. The Fund may invest in short-term instruments, including money market instruments, on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity or for other reasons. Money market instruments are generally short-term investments that may include, but are not limited to: (i) shares of money market funds (including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA); (ii) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (including government-sponsored enterprises); (iii) negotiable certificates of deposit ("CDs"), bankers' acceptances, fixed-time deposits and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks (including non-U.S. branches) and similar institutions; (iv) commercial paper rated, at the date of purchase, "Prime-1" by Moody's<sup>®</sup> Investors Service, Inc., "F-1" by Fitch Ratings, Inc., or "A-1" by S&P Global, Inc., a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies ("S&P Global Ratings"), or if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by BFA; (v) non-convertible corporate debt securities (*e.g.*, bonds and debentures) with remaining maturities at the date of purchase of not more than 397 days and that have been determined to present minimal credit risks, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act; (vi) repurchase agreements; and (vii) short-term U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of non-U.S. banks (including U.S. branches) that, in the opinion of BFA, are of comparable quality to obligations of U.S. banks that may be purchased by the Fund. Any of these instruments may be purchased on a current or forward-settled basis. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Bankers' acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.**

**Sovereign Obligations. The Fund may invest in sovereign obligations. An investment in sovereign debt obligations involves special risks not present in corporate debt obligations. Sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by a foreign sovereign government. The issuer of the sovereign debt that controls the repayment of the debt may be unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due, and the Fund may have limited recourse in the event of a default. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a non-U.S. government may cause the value of a sovereign debt to decline. During periods of economic uncertainty, the market prices of sovereign debt obligations may be more volatile than prices of U.S. debt obligations, which may affect the Fund's NAV. In the past, certain emerging market countries have encountered difficulties in servicing their debt obligations, withheld payments of principal and interest and declared moratoria on the payment of principal and interest on their sovereign debts. Several sovereign issuers have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about rising government debt levels, including Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.**

A sovereign debtor's willingness or ability to repay principal and pay interest in a timely manner may be affected by, among other factors, its cash flow situation, the extent of its non-U.S. currency reserves, the availability of sufficient foreign exchange, the relative size of the debt service burden, the sovereign debtor's policy toward principal international lenders and local political constraints. Sovereign debtors may also be dependent on expected disbursements from foreign governments, multilateral agencies and other entities to reduce principal and interest arrears on their debt. The failure of a sovereign debtor to implement economic reforms, achieve specified levels of economic performance or repay principal or interest when due may result in the cancellation of third-party commitments to lend funds to the sovereign debtor, which may further impair such debtor's ability or willingness to service its debts.

**Swap Agreements. Swap agreements are contracts between parties in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to the other party based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount. In return, the other party agrees to make periodic payments to the first party based on the return (or a differential in rate of return) earned or realized on the underlying investment or notional amount. Swap agreements will usually be performed on a net basis, with the Fund receiving or paying only the net amount of the two payments. The net amount of the excess, if any, of the Fund's obligations over its entitlements with respect to each swap is accrued on a daily basis.**

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The Fund may enter into currency, interest rate securities, commodity or index swaps. The use of such swaps is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions. These transactions generally do not involve the delivery of securities or other underlying assets.

**Future Developments. The Board may, in the future, authorize the Fund to invest in securities contracts and investments, other than those listed in this SAI and in the Prospectus, provided they are consistent with the Fund's investment objective and do not violate any of its investment restrictions or policies.**

## General Considerations and Risks
A discussion of some of the principal risks associated with an investment in the Fund is contained in the Prospectus.

An investment in the Fund should be made with an understanding that the value of the Fund's portfolio securities may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of stocks in general, and other factors that affect the market. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

Set forth below is more detailed information regarding the types of instruments in which the Fund may invest, strategies BFA may employ in pursuit of the Fund's investment objective and related risks (either directly or through the Fund's investments in the Subsidiary).

**Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the NAV of Fund shares and in the return on the Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cause the Fund to incur interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce the Fund's return. Borrowing may cause the Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.**

**Commodities Investment Risk. Exposure to commodities markets may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The commodities markets have experienced periods of extreme volatility. Similar future market conditions may result in rapid and substantial valuation increases or decreases in the Fund's holdings.**

The commodities markets may fluctuate widely based on a variety of factors. Movements in commodity investment prices are outside of the Fund's control and may not be anticipated by BFA. Price movements may be influenced by, among other things: governmental, agricultural, trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs and policies; changing market and economic conditions; market liquidity; weather and climate conditions, including droughts and floods; livestock disease; changing supply and demand relationships and levels of domestic production and imported commodities; changes in storage costs; the availability of local, intrastate and interstate transportation systems; energy conservation; the success of exploration projects; changes in international balances of payments and trade; domestic and foreign rates of inflation; currency devaluations and revaluations; domestic and foreign political and economic events; domestic and foreign interest rates and/or investor expectations concerning interest rates; foreign currency/exchange rates; domestic and foreign governmental regulation and taxation; war, acts of terrorism and other political upheaval and conflicts; governmental expropriation; investment and trading activities of mutual funds, hedge funds and commodities funds; and changes in philosophies and emotions of market participants. The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted. However, it is likely that current declines in trade relations between the U.S. and other countries and tariffs imposed by the U.S. on foreign products and by foreign countries on U.S. commodities will impact commodity prices.

The prices of commodities can also fluctuate widely due to supply and demand disruptions in major producing or consuming regions. Certain commodities or natural resources may be produced in a limited number of countries and may be controlled by a small number of producers or groups of producers. As a result, political, economic, regulatory and supply-related events in such countries could have a disproportionate impact on the prices of such commodities.

A decrease in the production of a physical commodity or a decrease in the volume of such commodity available for transportation, mining, processing, storage or distribution may adversely impact the financial performance of a commodity or commodity-related company that devotes a portion of its business to that commodity. Production declines and volume decreases could be caused by various factors, including catastrophic events affecting production, depletion of resources, labor difficulties, environmental proceedings, increased regulations, equipment failures and unexpected maintenance problems, import supply disruption, governmental expropriation, political upheaval or conflicts or increased competition

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from alternative energy sources or commodity prices. Agricultural commodities may be adversely affected by weather or other natural phenomena, such as drought, floods and pests.

A sustained decline in demand for such commodities could also adversely affect the financial performance of commodity-related companies. Factors that could lead to a decline in demand include economic recession or other adverse economic conditions, higher taxes on commodities or increased governmental regulations, increases in fuel economy, consumer shifts to the use of alternative commodities or fuel sources, changes in commodity prices, or weather.

The commodity markets are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions. U.S. futures exchanges and some foreign exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation in futures contract prices which may occur in a single business day (generally referred to as "daily price fluctuation limits"). The maximum or minimum price of a contract as a result of these limits is referred to as a "limit price." If the limit price has been reached in a particular contract, no trades may be made beyond the limit price. Limit prices have the effect of precluding trading in a particular contract or forcing the liquidation of contracts at disadvantageous times or prices.

**Commodity-Linked Derivatives Risk. The value of a commodity-linked derivative instrument typically is based upon the price movements of a commodity or an economic variable linked to such price movements. Therefore, the value of commodity-linked derivative instruments may be affected by changes in overall economic conditions, in interest rates, or factors affecting a particular commodity or industry, such as production, disease, climate conditions, supply or demand, politics, geopolitics, changes in international balance of payments and trade, currency devaluations and revaluations, market liquidity, and economic and regulatory developments. The prices of commodity-related investments may fluctuate quickly and dramatically and may or may not correlate to price movements in other asset classes, such as stocks, bonds and cash. A highly liquid secondary market may not exist for certain commodity-linked derivatives, and there can be no assurance that one will develop. Commodity derivatives are subject to the risk that the counterparty to the transaction may default or otherwise fail to perform. The Fund's use of commodity-linked derivatives can result in large amounts of financial leverage. Although the Fund will not borrow money in order to increase the amount of its trading, the low margin deposits normally required in futures trading permit a high degree of leverage on the investment itself. Accordingly, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial losses to the Fund. Like other leveraged investments, any trade may result in losses in excess of the amount invested. These factors and events could have a significant negative impact on the Fund.**

**Dividend-Paying Stock Risk. Investing in dividend-paying stocks involves the risk that such stocks may fall out of favor with investors and underperform the broader market. Companies that issue dividend-paying stocks are not required to pay or continue paying dividends on such stocks. It is possible that issuers of the stocks held by the Fund will not declare dividends in the future or will reduce or eliminate the payment of dividends (including reducing or eliminating anticipated accelerations or increases in the payment of dividends) in the future.**

**Energy Commodities Risk. Through its exposure to energy commodities, the Fund is subject to the risks of the energy sector and companies engaged in energy production and exploration. The energy sector and the price of energy commodity futures and other instruments may be adversely affected by changes to or trends that affect commodity prices, the imposition of import and export controls, and government regulations related to environmental protection, health and safety. Energy commodities have had significant price swings in recent years and may experience significant volatility. Energy commodities may also be subject to control by large producers or purchasers and their prices may fluctuate widely due to supply and demand. As a result, the price of an energy commodity could decline, which would negatively impact the Fund if it had exposure to that commodity. In addition, companies in the energy sector and the price of energy commodity futures may be impacted by economic conditions, technological developments, competition from alternative energy sources, and potential civil liabilities, such as environmental damage claims.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. The Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that the Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The liquidity of an investment will be determined based on relevant market, trading and investment specific considerations as set out in the Liquidity Program as required by the**

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Liquidity Rule. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount to comparable, more liquid investments and the Fund may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments in a timely fashion or at their expected prices. If illiquid investments exceed 15% of the Fund's net assets, the Liquidity Rule and the Liquidity Program will require that certain remedial actions be taken.

**Investment Companies. The Fund may invest in the securities of other investment companies (including money market funds) to the extent allowed by law. Under the 1940 Act, the Fund's investment in investment companies is limited to, subject to certain exceptions, (i) 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of any one investment company, (ii) 5% of the Fund's total assets with respect to any one investment company, and (iii) 10% of the Fund's total assets with respect to investment companies in the aggregate. To the extent allowed by law or regulation, the Fund may invest its assets in securities of investment companies that are money market funds, including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA, in excess of the limits discussed above. Investment companies in which the Fund invests can be expected to incur fees and expenses for operations, such as investment advisory and administration fees, that would be in addition to those incurred by the Fund.**

**LIBOR Risk. The Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. The Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. The Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by the Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. All other LIBOR settings and certain other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA") ceased to be published after December 31, 2021. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement ("repo") market and has been used increasingly on a voluntary basis in new instruments and transactions. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate Act was signed into law in the U.S., providing a statutory fallback mechanism to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Federal Reserve Board and based on SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR without adequate fallback provisions. On December 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve Board adopted regulations implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate Act by identifying benchmark rates based on SOFR that will replace LIBOR in different categories of financial contracts after June 30, 2023.**

The regulations include provisions that (i) provide a safe harbor for selection or use of a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; (ii) clarify who may choose the replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; and (iii) ensure that contracts adopting a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board will not be interrupted or terminated following the replacement of LIBOR. These regulations apply only contracts governed by U.S. law, among other limitations. Similar legislation and regulations have been and may be further adopted in other jurisdictions.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Parties to contracts, securities or other instruments using LIBOR may disagree on transition rates or the application of applicable transition regulations, potentially resulting in uncertainty of performance and the possibility of litigation. The Fund may have instruments linked to other interbank offered rates and currencies that may also cease to be published in the future.

The effect of these changes on the Fund will vary based on, among other things, existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and the potential renegotiation of existing contracts. In many cases, if an instrument falls back to an alternative reference rate, including SOFR, the alternative reference rate will not perform the same as LIBOR because the alternative reference rate does not include a credit-sensitive component in the rate calculation. In the event of a credit crisis, floating rate instruments using certain alternative reference rates could perform differently than those instruments using a rate indexed to the interbank lending market.

**Money Market Instruments Risk. The Fund may hold money market instruments. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changes in interest rates or in the credit ratings of the investments, among other things. If a significant amount of a Fund's assets is invested in money market instruments, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance**

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Corporation or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than U.S. government money market funds and retail money market funds "float" their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.

**Non-U.S. Issuers Risk. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers have different risks from securities issued by U.S. issuers. These risks include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability which could affect U.S. investments in non-U.S. countries, uncertainties of transnational litigation, and potential restrictions on the flow of international capital, including the possible seizure or nationalization of the securities issued by non-U.S. issuers held by the Fund. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product, rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions. Unfavorable political, economic or governmental developments in non-U.S. countries could affect the payment of a security's principal and interest. Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers may also be less liquid than, and more difficult to value than, securities of U.S. issuers. In addition, the value of these securities may fluctuate due to changes in the exchange rate of the issuer's local currency against the U.S. dollar.**

**Operational Risk. BFA and the Fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors such as processing errors or human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, or systems or technology failures, that could negatively impact the Fund. While service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, their methods of operational risk management may differ from the Fund's in the setting of priorities, the personnel and resources available or the effectiveness of relevant controls. BFA, through its monitoring and oversight of service providers, seeks to ensure that service providers take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors. However, it is not possible for BFA or the other Fund service providers to identify all of the operational risks that may affect the Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.**

**Risk of Derivatives. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, such as a security, a commodity (such as gold or silver), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500<sup>®</sup> or the prime lending rate). The Fund will invest in a combination of exchange-traded commodity futures contracts, exchange-traded options on futures contracts and exchange-cleared swaps. Compared to securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus the Fund's losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations. Derivatives generally involve the incurrence of leverage.**

When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that the Fund holds or is committed to purchase, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and in some cases, hedging can cause losses that are not offset by gains, and the Fund will recognize losses on both the investment and the hedge. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.

**Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. A position in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be closed only on the exchange on which the contract was made (or a linked exchange). While the Fund plans to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if the Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, a Fund may be required to deliver the instruments underlying the futures contracts it has sold.**

The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (e.g., selling uncovered bond index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Fund does not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a

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relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor relative to the size of a required margin deposit.

Utilization of futures and options on futures by the Fund involves the risk of loss by the Fund of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom the Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option. The purchase of put or call options will be based upon predictions by BFA as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect.

Because the futures market generally imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day's settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and subjecting the Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, the Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.

**Risk of Swap Agreements. The risk of loss with respect to swaps is generally limited to the net amount of payments that the Fund is contractually obligated to make. Swap agreements are subject to the risk that the swap counterparty will default on its obligations. If such a default occurs, the Fund will have contractual remedies pursuant to the agreements related to the transaction. However, such remedies may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could affect the Fund's rights as a creditor (*e.g.*, the Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it is contractually entitled to receive).**

The Fund is required to post and collect variation margin and initial margin (comprised of specified liquid securities subject to haircuts) in connection with trading of OTC swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for the Fund's investment in swaps.

Central clearing is expected to reduce counterparty credit risk and increase liquidity, but central clearing does not make swap transactions risk-free. Swaps entered into by the Fund through its Subsidiary are not expected to be centrally cleared and thus will expose the Fund to counter-party default risk and illiquidity risk, as liquidity depends on the willingness of counterparties to enter into, and the ability of counterparties to hedge the risks of, such contracts.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. Treasury securities may cause the value of the Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Because U.S. government debt obligations are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, a downgrade could also result in higher interest rates for a range of borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial adverse effect on the U.S. and global economy.**

A high national debt level may increase market pressures to meet government funding needs, which may drive debt cost higher and lead the government to issue additional debt, thereby increasing refinancing risk. A high national debt also raises concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. If market participants determine that U.S. sovereign debt levels have become unsustainable, the value of the U.S. dollar could decline, thus increasing inflationary pressures, particularly with respect to services outsourced to non-U.S. providers and imported goods and constrain or prevent the U.S. government from implementing effective countercyclical fiscal policy in economic downturns. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period that shareholders own shares of the Fund. Notwithstanding that U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S., circumstances could arise that would prevent the timely payment of interest or principal, which would result in losses to the Fund.

**Valuation Risk. In certain circumstances, the Fund's securities may be valued using techniques other than market quotations. The value established for a security may be different from what would be produced through the use of another methodology or if the value had been priced using market quotations. Securities that are valued using methods other than market quotations, including "fair valued" securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their value from one day to the**

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next than would be the case if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that the Fund could sell a security for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that the Fund could incur a loss if a security is sold for less than its established value.

**Risk of Investing in Australasia. The economies of Australasia, which include Australia and New Zealand, are dependent on exports from the agricultural and mining sectors. This makes Australasian economies susceptible to fluctuations in the commodity markets. Australasian economies are also increasingly dependent on their growing service industries. Australia and New Zealand are located in a part of the world that has historically been prone to natural disasters, such as drought and flooding. Any such event in the future could have a significant adverse impact on the economies of Australia and New Zealand and affect the value of securities held by the Fund. The economies of Australia and New Zealand are dependent on trading with certain key trading partners, including Asia and the U.S. Economic events in the U.S., Asia, or in other key trading countries can have a significant economic effect on the Australasian economies. The economies of Australia and New Zealand are heavily dependent on the mining sector. Passage of new regulations limiting foreign ownership of companies in the mining sector or imposition of new taxes on profits of mining companies may dissuade foreign investment, and as a result, have a negative impact on companies to which the Fund has exposure.**

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Many countries with developed markets have recently experienced significant economic pressures. These countries generally tend to rely on the services sectors (*e.g.*, the financial services sector) as the primary source of economic growth and may be susceptible to the risks of individual service sectors. For example, companies in the financial services sector are subject to governmental regulation and, recently, government intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and amount of capital they must maintain. Dislocations in the financial sector and perceived or actual governmental influence over certain financial companies may lead to credit rating downgrades and, as a result, impact, among other things, revenue growth for such companies. If financial companies experience a prolonged decline in revenue growth, certain developed countries that rely heavily on financial companies as an economic driver may experience a correlative slowdown. Concerns have emerged with respect to the economic health of certain developed countries. These concerns primarily stem from heavy indebtedness of many developed countries and their perceived inability to continue to service high debt loads without simultaneously implementing stringent austerity measures. Such concerns have led to tremendous downward pressure on the economies of these countries. As a result, it is possible that interest rates on debt of certain developed countries may rise to levels that make it difficult for such countries to service such debt. Spending on health care and retirement pensions in most developed countries has risen dramatically. Medical innovation, extended life expectancy and higher public expectations are likely to continue the increase in health care and pension costs. Any increase in health care and pension costs will likely have a negative impact on the economic growth of many developed countries. Certain developed countries rely on imports of certain key items, such as crude oil, natural gas, and other commodities. As a result, an increase in demand for, or price fluctuations of, certain commodities may negatively affect developed country economies. Developed market countries generally are dependent on the economies of certain key trading partners. Changes in any one economy may cause an adverse impact on several developed countries. In addition, heavy regulation of, among others, labor and product markets may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of the Fund's investments.**

**Risk of Investing in Europe. Investing in European countries may expose the Fund to the economic and political risks associated with Europe in general and the specific European countries in which it invests. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one European country can have an adverse impact on other European countries. The Fund makes investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, have significant operations in, or that are listed on at least one securities exchange within member states of the European Union (the "EU"). A number of countries within the EU are also members of the Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") and have adopted the euro as their currency. Eurozone membership requires member states to comply with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Changes in import or export tariffs, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro and other currencies of certain EU countries which are not in the eurozone, the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. Although certain European countries are not in the eurozone, many of these countries are obliged to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone.**

Consequently, these countries must comply with many of the restrictions noted above. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns, government debt levels and the

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possible default of government debt in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. In order to prevent further economic deterioration, certain countries, without prior warning, can institute "capital controls." Countries may use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering and exiting their country. Such controls may negatively affect the Fund's investments. A default or debt restructuring by any European country would adversely impact holders of that country's debt and sellers of credit default swaps linked to that country's creditworthiness, which may be located in countries other than those listed above. In addition, the credit ratings of certain European countries were downgraded in the past. These events have adversely affected the value and exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect the economies of every country in Europe, including countries that do not use the euro and non-EU member states. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly fashion, is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely impact the value of the Fund's investments in the region.

The United Kingdom (the "U.K.") left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.

Certain European countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect European issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region also could impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of the Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which the Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.*

**Risk of Investing in Gold. The Fund's portfolio may be adversely affected by changes or trends in the price of gold. Exposure to the gold market may subject the Fund to greater volatility than investments in traditional securities. The price of gold and of gold-related instruments historically has been volatile. Similar future market conditions may result in rapid and substantial valuation increases or decreases in the Fund's holdings.**

Factors that may cause a change in the price of gold, include, among other things:

• The strength of the U.S. dollar. Because the price of gold is generally inversely related to the value of the U.S. dollar, a stronger U.S. dollar tends to keep the price of gold lower and more controlled, while a weaker U.S. dollar is likely to drive the price of gold higher. During times of economic uncertainty and when the dollar is weak, investments in gold tend to increase.

• Large sales, including those by governments, central banks and related institutions, which own a significant portion of the aggregate world holdings in gold. If one or more of these institutions decide to sell in amounts large enough to cause a decline in world gold prices, the performance of the Fund may be adversely affected.

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• Changes in the supply and demand of goods or services of large users of gold. For example, as demand for consumer goods such as jewelry and electronics increases, the price of gold can rise.

• A significant increase in gold hedging activity by gold producers. Should there be an increase in the level of hedge activity of gold producing companies, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

• A significant change in the attitude of speculators and investors towards gold. Should the speculative community take a negative view towards gold, it could cause a decline in world gold prices, negatively affecting the performance of the Fund.

The frequency and magnitude of such changes cannot be predicted.

Certain factors may trigger a temporary increase in the price of gold. If that is the case, the Fund may be investing in securities at prices affected by the temporarily high prices of gold and may incur losses when the causes for the temporary increase disappear.

The commodity markets generally are subject to temporary distortions and other disruptions due to, among other factors, lack of liquidity, the participation of speculators, and government regulation and other actions.

## Proxy Voting Policy
For the Fund, the Board has delegated the voting of proxies for the Fund's securities to BFA pursuant to the Fund's Proxy Voting Policy (the "iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy"), and BFA has adopted policies and procedures (the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BFA, including the Fund.

Under the BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies, BFA will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of the Fund's shareholders, on the one hand, and those of BFA, or any affiliated person of the Fund or BFA, on the other. BFA maintains policies and procedures that are designed to prevent undue influence on BFA's proxy voting activity that might stem from any relationship between the issuer of a proxy (or any dissident shareholder) and BFA, BFA's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates. Most conflicts are managed through a structural separation of BFA's Corporate Governance Group from BFA's employees with sales and client responsibilities. In addition, BFA maintains procedures to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BFA's relationship with the issuer of the proxy or the dissident shareholder. In certain instances, BFA may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copies of the iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy, the BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies and the BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies are attached as Appendices A1, A2 and A3, respectively.

Information with respect to how proxies relating to the Fund's portfolio securities were voted during the 12-month period ended June 30 is available: (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or through the Fund's website at *www.iShares.com*; and (ii) on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

## Portfolio Holdings Information
On each Business Day (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI), prior to the opening of regular trading on the Fund's primary listing exchange, the Fund discloses on its website (<u>www.iShares.com</u>) certain information relating to the portfolio holdings that will form the basis of the Fund's next net asset value per share calculation.

In addition, certain information may also be made available to certain parties:

• **Communications of Data Files: The Fund may make available through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") or through posting on the <u>www.iShares.com</u>, prior to the opening of trading on each business day, a list of the Fund's holdings (generally pro-rata) that Authorized Participants could deliver to the Fund to settle purchases of the Fund (*i.e.* Deposit Securities) or that Authorized Participants would receive from the Fund to settle redemptions of the Fund (*i.e.* Fund Securities). These files are known as the Portfolio Composition File and the Fund** 

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | Data File (collectively, "Files"). The Files are applicable for the next trading day and are provided to the NSCC and/or posted on <u>www.iShares.com</u> after the close of markets in the U.S. |
| • | **Communications with Authorized Participants and Liquidity Providers: Certain employees of BFA are responsible for interacting with Authorized Participants and liquidity providers with respect to discussing custom basket proposals as described in the *Custom Baskets* section of this SAI. As part of these discussions, these employees may discuss with an Authorized Participant or liquidity provider the securities the Fund is willing to accept for a creation, and securities that the Fund will provide on a redemption.** |

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BFA employees may also discuss portfolio holdings-related information with broker/dealers, in connection with settling the Fund's transactions, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with the disclosure in the Fund's current registration statements.

• **Communications with Listing Exchanges: From time to time, employees of BFA may discuss portfolio holdings information with the applicable primary listing exchange for the Fund as needed to meet the exchange listing standards.** 

• **Communications with Other Portfolio Managers: Certain information may be provided to employees of BFA who manage funds that invest a significant percentage of their assets in shares of an underlying fund as necessary to manage the fund's investment objective and strategy.** 

• **Communication of Other Information: Certain explanatory information regarding the Files is released to Authorized Participants and liquidity providers on a daily basis, but is only done so after the Files are posted to <u>www.iShares.com</u>.** 

• **Third-Party Service Providers: Certain portfolio holdings information may be disclosed to Fund Trustees and their counsel, outside counsel for the Fund, auditors and to certain third-party service providers (*i.e.*, fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure, confidentiality agreement or other obligation is in place with such service providers, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with applicable policies, agreements with the Fund, the terms of the current registration statements and federal securities laws and regulations thereunder.** 

• **Liquidity Metrics: "Liquidity Metrics," which seek to ascertain the Fund's liquidity profile under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology, include but are not limited to: (a) disclosure regarding the number of days needed to liquidate a portfolio or the portfolio's underlying investments; and (b) the percentage of the Fund's NAV invested in a particular liquidity tier under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology. The dissemination of position-level liquidity metrics data and any non-public regulatory data pursuant to the Liquidity Rule (including SEC liquidity tiering) is not permitted unless pre-approved. Disclosure of portfolio-level liquidity metrics prior to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and approval of the Trust's Chief Compliance Officer. Portfolio-level liquidity metrics disclosure subsequent to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires the approval of portfolio management and must be disclosed to all parties requesting the information if disclosed to any party.** 

The Trust's Chief Compliance Officer or his delegate may authorize disclosure of portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures, subject to restrictions on selective disclosure imposed by applicable law. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of portfolio holdings information at least annually.

## Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Index
A description of the Fund's Underlying Index is provided below.

With respect to certain underlying indexes of the iShares funds, BFA or its affiliates have held discussions with the applicable index provider regarding their business interest in licensing an index to track a particular market segment and conveyed investment concepts and strategies that could be considered for the index. The index provider designed and constituted such indices using concepts conveyed by BFA or its affiliates. For certain of these indices, the relevant fund may be the first or sole user of the underlying index. In its sole discretion, the index provider determines the composition of the securities and other instruments in such underlying index, the rebalance protocols of the underlying index, the weightings of the securities and other instruments in the underlying index, and any updates to the methodology. From time to time, BFA or its affiliates may

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also provide input relating to possible methodology changes of such underlying index pursuant to the index provider's consultation process or pursuant to other communications with the index provider.

#### S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index

#### Number of Components: approximately 24 (reviewed annually)
**Index Description. The S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll (USD) Total Return Index is a commodity index that utilizes a more flexible monthly futures contract rolling strategy (to determine the new futures contract months for the underlying commodities) than the liquidity focused S&P GSCI. At each roll determination date, the dynamic roll algorithm ("DRA") measures the current shape of the forward curves of the Index's designated eligible futures contract prices for each commodity listed in the respective dynamic roll matrices. The contract rolling strategy is optimized based on the implied roll yields and the dynamic roll parity principle, with specific rank orders assigned to each of the S&P GSCI commodities.**

The S&P GSCI roll schedule is limited to the most liquid nearby contract months, whereas the S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll Matrix use a systematic methodology to search for the contract months with the largest roll yield for each commodity along the curve to roll into, subject to buffers and to using only the most liquid of all available contracts of a given commodity. When the futures curve for a given commodity is in a general state of contango, the S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll methodology will generally use futures contracts months that are further out on the futures curve, with the intention of minimizing the effects of negative roll yields. When the futures curve for a given commodity is in a general state of backwardation, the nature of the S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll methodology, the Index is to generally use nearby futures contracts.

**Index Methodology. Based on the closing values on the roll determination date, the DRA(k) algorithms are run for each of the commodities included in the S&P GSCI, based on the respective rank orders of the commodities. The "Dynamic Roll" selections of all the S&P GSCI commodities are assembled into the Monthly Dynamic Roll Schedule (see below). The Monthly Dynamic Roll Schedule is applied to the S& P GSCI Dynamic Roll calculations at the beginning of the S&P GSCI Roll Period. For a given S&P GSCI commodity, the roll schedule follows the S&P GSCI roll schedule; *i.e*., there is no need to perform the monthly Dynamic Roll Selection Process for those commodities on the months in which the S&P GSCI roll schedule uses the same contracts as in the prior month.**

1. *Rank the Contract Months from best to worst, based on their implied roll yields . The Contract Months are ranked based on their implied roll yields, with the best candidate for the new Rolled-in Contract Month being that having the largest implied roll yield, and the next best candidate being that having the second largest implied roll yield, and so on.* 

2. *Create the Optimum Set of Contract Months based on the Rank Order of the Commodity. Select the first k Contract Months based on their rankings, where k is the Rank Order of the given commodity and create the Optimum Set of Contracts for that commodity.* 

3. *Apply the Dynamic Roll Parity Principle. For a given commodity, if the Rolled-out Contract is included in the Optimum Set of Contract Months, continue to use the same contract month as the Rolled-in Contract for the current month; otherwise, choose the first ranked contract month in the Optimum Set of Contract Months to be the new Rolled-in Contract for the current month.* 

4. *Assemble the New Rolled-in Contract Months. S&P Dow Jones Indices creates a Monthly Dynamic Roll Schedule of the S&P GSCI DR by assembling all the new Rolled-in Contract Months for all the S&P GSCI Commodities. This set of Contract Months is effective for the upcoming monthly Roll Period, from the fifth (5th) business day to the ninth (9th) business day.* 

The Rank Orders of the S&P GSCI Commodities. Rank orders are reviewed annually. Rank order descriptions are as follows:

• Rank Order of 1 – Use the DRA(1) Algorithm, with the Optimum Set of Contracts consisting of only the top one contract

• Rank Order of 2 – Use the DRA(2) Algorithm, with the Optimum Set of Contracts consisting of the top two ranked contracts

• Rank Order of 3 – Use the DRA(3) Algorithm, with the Optimum Set of Contracts consisting of the top three ranked contracts

• Rank Order of 4 – Use the DRA(4) Algorithm, with the Optimum Set of Contracts consisting of the top four ranked contracts

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The Dynamic Roll Matrices of the S&P GSCI Commodities; The Dynamic Roll Matrix of a given commodity is a listing of all eligible contract months for that commodity, on a month by month basis. The eligible contract months are determined based on the liquidity profile measured by open interest and volume, which are verified annually.

## Investment Policies
The Board has adopted as fundamental policies the following numbered investment policies, which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities. A vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund is defined in the Investment Company Act as the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a shareholder meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund. The Fund has also adopted certain non-fundamental investment policies, including its investment objective. Non-fundamental investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval. Therefore, the Fund may change its investment objective without shareholder approval.

#### Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund may not:

1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act , provided that the Fund will cause 25% or more of its total assets at the time of purchase to be invested in (i) equity securities issued by commodity-related companies, derivatives with exposure to commodity-related companies or investments in securities and derivatives linked to the underlying price movement of commodities, including but not limited to commodity-linked derivatives such as commodity-linked notes, commodity futures, forward contracts and swaps and other similar derivative instruments and investment vehicles that invest in commodities, or commodity-linked derivatives, and (ii) the industry or group of industries that constitutes the energy sector.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

#### Notations Regarding the Fund's Fundamental Investment Policies
The following notations are not considered to be part of the Fund's fundamental investment policies and are subject to change without shareholder approval.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to concentration set forth in (1) above, the Investment Company Act does not define what constitutes "concentration" in an industry. The SEC staff has taken the position that investment of 25% or more of a fund's total assets in one or more issuers conducting their principal activities in the same industry or group of industries constitutes concentration. The Fund will look to the reference asset underlying any derivative, including a participation note, when determining its industry classifications. For purposes of this limitation, the Fund will generally value derivative instruments at their notional value. It is possible that interpretations of concentration could change in the future. The policy in (1) above will be interpreted to refer to concentration as that term may be interpreted from time to time. The policy also will be interpreted to permit investment without limit in the following: securities of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities; securities of state, territory, possession or municipal governments and their authorities, agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and repurchase agreements collateralized by any such obligations. Accordingly, issuers of the foregoing securities will not be considered to be members of any industry. There also will be no limit on investment in issuers domiciled in a single jurisdiction or country. Finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Each foreign

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government will be considered to be a member of a separate industry. With respect to the Fund's industry classifications, the Fund currently utilizes any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. The policy also will be interpreted to give broad authority to the Fund as to how to classify issuers within or among industries.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to borrowing money set forth in (2) above, the Investment Company Act permits the Fund to borrow money in amounts of up to one-third of the Fund's total assets from banks for any purpose, and to borrow up to 5% of the Fund's total assets from banks or other lenders for temporary purposes. (The Fund's total assets include the amounts being borrowed.) To limit the risks attendant to borrowing, the Investment Company Act requires the Fund to maintain at all times an "asset coverage" of at least 300% of the amount of its borrowings. Asset coverage means the ratio that the value of the Fund's total assets (including amounts borrowed), minus liabilities other than borrowings, bears to the aggregate amount of all borrowings. Borrowing money to increase portfolio holdings is known as "leveraging." Certain trading practices and investments, such as reverse repurchase agreements, may be considered to be borrowings or involve leverage and thus are subject to the Investment Company Act restrictions. In accordance with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act, when the Fund engages in reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, the Fund may either (i) maintain asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treat such transactions as "derivatives transactions" and comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to such transactions. Short-term credits necessary for the settlement of securities transactions and arrangements with respect to securities lending will not be considered to be borrowings under the policy. Practices and investments that may involve leverage but are not considered to be borrowings are not subject to the policy.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to underwriting set forth in (5) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit a fund from engaging in the underwriting business or from underwriting the securities of other issuers; in fact, in the case of diversified funds, the Investment Company Act permits a fund to have underwriting commitments of up to 25% of its assets under certain circumstances. Those circumstances currently are that the amount of a fund's underwriting commitments, when added to the value of a fund's investments in issuers where a fund owns more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of those issuers, cannot exceed the 25% cap. A fund engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act. Although it is not believed that the application of the 1933 Act provisions described above would cause a fund to be engaged in the business of underwriting, the policy in (5) above will be interpreted not to prevent a fund from engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities, regardless of whether a fund may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act or is otherwise engaged in the underwriting business to the extent permitted by applicable law.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to lending set forth in (7) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit the Fund from making loans (including lending its securities); however, SEC staff interpretations currently prohibit funds from lending more than one-third of their total assets (including lending its securities), except through the purchase of debt obligations or the use of repurchase agreements. In addition, collateral arrangements with respect to options, forward currency and futures transactions and other derivative instruments (as applicable), as well as delays in the settlement of securities transactions, will not be considered loans.

#### Non-Fundamental Investment Policies
The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except to the extent permitted by the Fund's Prospectus and SAI, as amended from time to time, and applicable law.

The Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to purchase securities of other investment companies, except to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act. As a matter of policy, however, the Fund will not purchase shares of any registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust, in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or (G) (the "fund of funds" provisions) of the Investment Company Act, at any time the Fund has knowledge that its shares are purchased by another investment company investor in reliance on the provisions of subparagraph (G) of Section 12(d)(1).

Unless otherwise indicated, all limitations under the Fund's fundamental or non-fundamental investment policies apply only at the time that a transaction is undertaken. Any change in the percentage of the Fund's assets invested in certain securities or other instruments resulting from market fluctuations or other changes in the Fund's total assets will not require the Fund to dispose of an investment until BFA determines that it is practicable to sell or close out the investment without undue market or tax consequences.

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## Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Fund on an ongoing basis, at any point a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the 1933 Act must take into account all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, generally are required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Fund are reminded that, pursuant to Rule 153 under the 1933 Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the 1933 Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Listing Exchange generally is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Listing Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available only with respect to transactions on an exchange.

## Management
**Trustees and Officers. The Board has responsibility for the overall management and operations of the Fund, including general supervision of the duties performed by BFA and other service providers. Each Trustee serves until he or she resigns, is removed, dies, retires or becomes incapacitated. The President, Chief Compliance Officer, Treasurer and Secretary shall each hold office until their successors are chosen and qualify, and all other officers shall hold office until he or she resigns or is removed. Trustees who are not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust are referred to as independent trustees ("Independent Trustees").**

The registered investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates (the "BlackRock-advised Funds") are organized into one complex of open-end equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds and ETFs (the "BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex"), one complex of closed-end funds and open-end non-index fixed-income funds (including ETFs) (the "BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex") and one complex of ETFs ("Exchange-Traded Fund Complex") (each, a "BlackRock Fund Complex"). The Fund is included in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex. Each Trustee also serves as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust, and, as a result, oversees all of the funds within the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, which consists of 381 funds as of March 1, 2023. With the exception of Robert S. Kapito, Salim Ramji and Charles Park, the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of Mr. Kapito, Mr. Ramji and Mr. Park is c/o BlackRock, Inc., Park Avenue Plaza, 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055. The Board has designated John E. Kerrigan as its Independent Board Chair. Additional information about the Fund's Trustees and officers may be found in this SAI, which is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

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#### Interested Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Robert S. Kapito<sup>1</sup><br> (1957) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;President, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (since its formation in 1998) and BlackRock, Inc.'s predecessor entities (since 1988); Trustee, University of Pennsylvania (since 2009); President of Board of Directors, Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2009); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2009). |
| Salim Ramji<sup>2</sup><br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2014); Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments Business (since 2019); Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business (2015-2019); Global Head of Corporate Strategy, BlackRock, Inc. (2014-2015); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (2010-2014). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2019); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2019). |

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<sup>1</sup> Robert S. Kapito is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

<sup>2</sup> Salim Ramji is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

#### Independent Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Kerrigan<br> (1955) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Independent Board Chair<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Investment Officer, Santa Clara University (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005); Independent Board Chair of iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. (since 2022). |
| Jane D. Carlin<br> (1956) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2015); Risk Committee Chair (since 2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Consultant (since 2012); Member of the Audit Committee (2012-2018), Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee (2017-2018) and Director of PHH Corporation (mortgage solutions) (2012-2018); Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley (2006-2012). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2015); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2015); Member of the Audit Committee (since 2016), Chair of the Audit Committee (since 2020) and Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (since 2016). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Richard L. Fagnani<br> (1954) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); Audit Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Partner, KPMG LLP (2002-2016); Director of One Generation Away (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017). |
| Cecilia H. Herbert<br> (1949) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Nominating and Governance and Equity Plus Committee Chairs<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair of the Finance Committee (since 2019) and Trustee and Member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees of Stanford Health Care (since 2016); Trustee of WNET, New York's public media company (since 2011) and Member of the Audit Committee (since 2018), Investment Committee (since 2011) and Personnel Committee (since 2022); Chair (1994-2005) and Member (1992-2021) of the Investment Committee, Archdiocese of San Francisco; Trustee of Forward Funds (14 portfolios) (2009-2018); Trustee of Salient MF Trust (4 portfolios) (2015-2018); Director (1998-2013) and President (2007-2011) of the Board of Directors, Catholic Charities CYO; Trustee (2002-2011) and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (2006-2010) of the Thacher School; Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole (since 2020); Director of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts (since 2021); Member of the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005). |
| Drew E. Lawton<br> (1959) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); 15(c) Committee Chair (since 2017). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director of New York Life Insurance Company (2010-2015). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017); Director of Jackson Financial Inc. (since 2021). |
| John E. Martinez<br> (1961) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011);<br> Securities Lending Committee Chair<br> (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc. (since 2005); Director of Cloudera Foundation (2017-2020); and Director of Reading Partners (2012-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2003); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2003). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Madhav V. Rajan<br> (1964) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Fixed Income Plus Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Dean, and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (since 2017); Advisory Board Member (since 2016) and Director (since 2020) of C.M. Capital Corporation; Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (since 2020); Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2001-2017); Professor of Law (by courtesy), Stanford Law School (2005-2017); Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA Program, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2010-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2011);<br> Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2011). |

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#### Officers

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Armando Senra<br> (1971) | &nbsp;&nbsp;President (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2007); Head of U.S., Canada and Latin America iShares, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2019); Head of Latin America Region, BlackRock, Inc. (2006-2019); Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (1994-2006). |
| Trent Walker<br> (1974) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer<br> (since 2020). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since September 2019); Chief Financial Officer of iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, BlackRock Funds, BlackRock Funds II, BlackRock Funds IV, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Funds VI (since 2021); Executive Vice President of PIMCO (2016-2019); Senior Vice President of PIMCO (2008-2015); Treasurer (2013-2019) and Assistant Treasurer (2007-2017) of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds. |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Charles Park<br> (1967) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex (since 2014); Chief Compliance Officer of BFA (since 2006). |
| Marisa Rolland<br> (1980) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Secretary (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2023); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2018-2022); Vice President, BlackRock, Inc. (2010-2017). |
| Rachel Aguirre<br> (1982) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2018); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2009-2018); Head of U.S. iShares Product (since 2022); Head of EII U.S. Product Engineering (since 2021); Co-Head of EII's Americas Portfolio Engineering (2020-2021); Head of Developed Markets Portfolio Engineering (2016-2019). |
| Jennifer Hsui<br> (1976) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2009); Co-Head of Index Equity (since 2022). |
| James Mauro<br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2010); Head of Fixed Income Index Investments in the Americas and Head of San Francisco Core Portfolio Management (since 2020). |

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The Board has concluded that, based on each Trustee's experience, qualifications, attributes or skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees, each Trustee should serve as a Trustee of the Board. Among the attributes common to all Trustees are their ability to review critically, evaluate, question and discuss information provided to them, to interact effectively with the Fund's investment adviser, other service providers, counsel and the independent registered public accounting firm, and to exercise effective business judgment in the performance of their duties as Trustees. A Trustee's ability to perform his or her duties effectively may have been attained through the Trustee's educational background or professional training; business, consulting, public service or academic positions; experience from service as a Board member of the Fund and the other funds in the Trust (and any predecessor funds), other investment funds, public companies, or non-profit entities or other organizations; and/or other life experiences. Also, set forth below is a brief discussion of the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of each Trustee that led the Board to conclude that he or she should serve (or continue to serve) as a Trustee.

Robert S. Kapito has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011. Mr. Kapito has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2009 and a Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. Mr. Kapito served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. In addition, he has over 20 years of experience as part of BlackRock, Inc. and BlackRock's predecessor entities. Mr. Kapito serves as President of BlackRock, Inc., and is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Chairman of the Global Operating Committee. He is responsible for day-to-day oversight of BlackRock's key operating units, including Investment Strategies, Client Businesses, Technology & Operations, and Risk & Quantitative Analysis. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2007, Mr. Kapito served as Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all portfolio management within BlackRock, including the Fixed Income, Equity, Liquidity, and Alternative Investment Groups. Mr. Kapito serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's

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Advisors. He has also been President of the Board of Directors for the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund since 2002. Mr. Kapito earned a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Salim Ramji has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji is the Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments business. In addition, he is a member of BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors. Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the Asset and Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London and Hong Kong. He has served as a Trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency, since 2007. Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

John E. Kerrigan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Trust's Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board from 2019 to 2021, and as Chair of each Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Kerrigan has served as Chief Investment Officer of Santa Clara University since 2002. Mr. Kerrigan was formerly a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., including the following responsibilities: Managing Director, Institutional Client Division, Western United States. Mr. Kerrigan has been a Director, since 1999, of The BASIC Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner City Children). Mr. Kerrigan has a BA degree from Boston College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder.

Jane D. Carlin has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2015 and Chair of the Risk Committee since 2016. Ms. Carlin has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2015, and Chair of the Risk Committee of each Board since 2016. Ms. Carlin has served as a consultant since 2012 and formerly served as Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012. In addition, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Global Head of the Bank Operational Risk Oversight Department of Credit Suisse Group from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Carlin has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector and has served in a number of legal, regulatory, and risk management positions. Ms. Carlin has served as a member of the Audit Committee and as a Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., each since 2016, and as Chair of the Audit Committee since 2020. Ms. Carlin served as a member of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2018, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2017 to 2018 and as an Independent Director on the Board of PHH Corporation from 2012 to 2018. She previously served as a Director on the Boards of Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank. Ms. Carlin was appointed by the United States Treasury to the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, where she served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2012 and Vice Chair and Chair of the Cyber Security Committee from 2009 to 2010. Ms. Carlin has a BA degree in political science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Richard L. Fagnani has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2017, and Chair of the Audit Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Fagnani served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. from April 2017 to June 2017. Mr. Fagnani served as a Senior Audit Partner at KPMG LLP from 2002 to 2016, most recently as the U.S. asset management audit practice leader responsible for setting strategic direction and execution of the operating plan for the asset management audit practice. In addition, from 1977 to 2002, Mr. Fagnani served as an Audit Partner at Andersen LLP, where he developed and managed the asset management audit practice in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fagnani served as a Trustee on the Board of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2014 and as a member of the School of Business Advisory Board at LaSalle University from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of One Generation Away, a non-profit which works to bring healthy food directly to people in need, since 2021. Mr. Fagnani has a BS degree in Accounting from LaSalle University.

Cecilia H. Herbert has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of the Trust since 2022. Ms. Herbert has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust

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since 2005, Chair of the Trust's Board from 2016 to 2021, and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board since 2022. Ms. Herbert served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Ms. Herbert served as Trustee of the Montgomery Funds from 1992 to 2003, the Pacific Select Funds from 2004 to 2005, the Forward Funds from 2009 to 2018, the Salient Funds from 2015 to 2018 and the Thrivent Church Loan and Income Fund from 2019 to 2022. She has served as a member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees and Trustee of Stanford Health Care since 2016 and became Chair of the Finance Committee of Stanford Health Care in 2019. She has served as a Trustee of WNET, New York's public media station, since 2011 and a Member of its Audit Committee since 2018. She was appointed to the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee in 2022. She became a member of the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Forum in 2018. She has served as a Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole since 2020 and of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts since 2021. She was President of the Board of Catholic Charities CYO, the largest social services agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 2007 to 2011 and a member of that board from 1992 to 2013. She worked from 1973 to 1990 at J.P. Morgan/Morgan Guaranty Trust doing international corporate finance and corporate lending, retiring as Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Office. Ms. Herbert has been on numerous non-profit boards, chairing investment and finance committees. She holds a double major in economics and communications from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Drew E. Lawton has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of the Trust since 2017. Mr. Lawton has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust, and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of each Board since 2017. Mr. Lawton also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares, Inc. and iShares Trust from 2016 to 2017. Mr. Lawton served as Director of Principal Funds, Inc., Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc. and Principal Exchange-Traded Funds from March 2016 to October 2016. Mr. Lawton has also served as a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk Committees and Director of Jackson Financial Inc. since 2021. Mr. Lawton served in various capacities at New York Life Insurance Company from 2010 to 2015, most recently as a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life Investment Management. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Lawton was the President of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC. Mr. Lawton previously held multiple roles at Fidelity Investments from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Lawton has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas since 2021. Mr. Lawton has a BA degree in Administrative Science from Yale University and an MBA from University of North Texas.

John E. Martinez has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Martinez has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2003, and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Martinez served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Martinez is a Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., providing governance oversight and consulting services to this privately held firm that develops products and strategies for homeowners in managing the equity in their homes. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Martinez served as a Board member for the Cloudera Foundation. Mr. Martinez previously served as Director of Barclays Global Investors ("BGI") UK Holdings, where he provided governance oversight representing BGI's shareholders (Barclays PLC, BGI management shareholders) through oversight of BGI's worldwide activities. Mr. Martinez also previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Index and Markets Group of BGI, Chairman of Barclays Global Investor Services and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Group of BGI. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Director and Executive Committee Member for Larkin Street Youth Services. He now serves on the Larkin Street Honorary Board. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Martinez served as a Director for Reading Partners. Mr. Martinez has an AB degree in economics from The University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA degree in finance and statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Madhav V. Rajan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Rajan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2011, and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Rajan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Rajan is the Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also serves as Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, since 2020. He has served on the Advisory Board of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2016 and as a Director of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2020. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Rajan was the Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In April 2017, he received the school's Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service. He has taught accounting for over 25 years to undergraduate, MBA and law students, as well as to senior executives. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Rajan served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and head of the MBA Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rajan served as editor of "The Accounting Review" from 2002 to 2008 and is co-author of "Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis," a

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leading cost accounting textbook. From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Rajan served on the Board of Directors of Cavium Inc., a semiconductor company. Mr. Rajan holds MS and PhD degrees in Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University.

<u>Board – Leadership Structure and Oversight Responsibilities</u>

Overall responsibility for oversight of the Fund rests with the Board. The Board has engaged BFA to manage the Fund on a day-to-day basis. The Board is responsible for overseeing BFA and other service providers in the operations of the Fund in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act, applicable provisions of state and other laws and the Trust's charter. The Board is currently composed of nine members, seven of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board currently conducts regular in person meetings four times a year. In addition, the Board frequently holds special in person or telephonic meetings or informal conference calls to discuss specific matters that may arise or require action between regular meetings. The Independent Trustees meet regularly outside the presence of management, in executive session or with other service providers to the Trust.

The Board has appointed an Independent Trustee to serve in the role of Board Chair. The Board Chair's role is to preside at all meetings of the Board and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys, and other Trustees generally between meetings. The Board Chair may also perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Board from time to time. The Board has established seven standing Committees: a Nominating and Governance Committee, an Audit Committee, a 15(c) Committee, a Securities Lending Committee, a Risk Committee, an Equity Plus Committee and a Fixed Income Plus Committee to assist the Board in the oversight and direction of the business and affairs of the Fund, and from time to time the Board may establish ad hoc committees or informal working groups to review and address the policies and practices of the Fund with respect to certain specified matters. The Chair of each standing Committee is an Independent Trustee. The role of the Chair of each Committee is to preside at all meetings of the Committee and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys and other Trustees between meetings. Each standing Committee meets regularly to conduct the oversight functions delegated to the Committee by the Board and reports its finding to the Board. The Board and each standing Committee conduct annual assessments of their oversight function and structure. The Board has determined that the Board's leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise independent judgment over management and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees of Independent Trustees and the full Board to enhance effective oversight.

Day-to-day risk management with respect to the Fund is the responsibility of BFA or other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk), subject to the supervision of BFA. The Fund is subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, reputational, counterparty and valuation risks, among others. While there are a number of risk management functions performed by BFA and other service providers, as applicable, it is not possible to identify and eliminate all of the risks applicable to the Fund. The Trustees have an oversight role in this area, satisfying themselves that risk management processes and controls are in place and operating effectively. Risk oversight forms part of the Board's general oversight of the Fund and is addressed as part of various Board and committee activities. In some cases, risk management issues are specifically addressed in presentations and discussions. For example, BFA has an independent dedicated Risk and Quantitative Analysis Group ("RQA") that assists BFA in managing fiduciary and corporate risks, including investment, operational, counterparty credit and enterprise risk. Representatives of RQA meet with the Board to discuss their analysis and methodologies, as well as specific risk topics such as operational and counterparty risks relating to the Fund. The Board, directly or through a committee, also reviews reports from, among others, management and the independent registered public accounting firm for the Trust, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by the Fund and management's risk functions. The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer who oversees the implementation and testing of the Trust's compliance program, including assessments by independent third parties, and reports to the Board regarding compliance matters for the Trust and its principal service providers. In testing and maintaining the compliance program, the Chief Compliance Officer (and his or her delegates) assesses key compliance risks affecting the Fund, and addresses them in periodic reports to the Board. In addition, the Audit Committee meets with both the Fund's independent registered public accounting firm and BFA's internal audit group to review risk controls in place that support the Fund as well as test results. Board oversight of risk is also performed as needed between meetings through communications between BFA and the Board. The Independent Trustees have engaged independent legal counsel to assist them in performing their oversight responsibilities. From time to time, the Board may modify the manner in which it conducts risk oversight. The Board's oversight role does not make it a guarantor of the Fund's investment performance or other activities.

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**Committees of the Board of Trustees. The members of the Audit Committee are Richard L. Fagnani (Chair), Cecilia H. Herbert and Madhav V. Rajan, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The purposes of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board (i) in its oversight of the Trust's accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and related controls and procedures maintained by or on behalf of the Trust; (ii) in its oversight of the Trust's financial statements and the independent audit thereof; (iii) in selecting, evaluating and, where deemed appropriate, replacing the independent accountants (or nominating the independent accountants to be proposed for shareholder approval in any proxy statement); (iv) in evaluating the independence of the independent accountants; (v) in complying with legal and regulatory requirements that relate to the Trust's accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, compliance controls and independent audits; and (vi) to assume such other responsibilities as may be delegated by the Board. The Audit Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.**

The members of the Nominating and Governance Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), Madhav V. Rajan and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The Nominating and Governance Committee nominates individuals for Independent Trustee membership on the Board and recommends appointments to the Advisory Board. The Nominating and Governance Committee functions include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) reviewing the qualifications of any person properly identified or nominated to serve as an Independent Trustee; (ii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the nominee(s) for appointment as an Independent Trustee by the Board and current Independent Trustees and/or for election as Independent Trustees by shareholders to fill any vacancy for a position of Independent Trustee(s) on the Board; (iii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the size and composition of the Board and Board committees and whether they comply with applicable laws and regulations; (iv) recommending a current Independent Trustee to the Board and current Independent Trustees to serve as Board Chair; (v) periodic review of the Board's retirement policy; and (vi) recommending an appropriate level of compensation for the Independent Trustees for their services as Trustees, members or chairpersons of committees of the Board, Board Chair and any other positions as the Nominating and Governance Committee considers appropriate. The Nominating and Governance Committee does not consider Board nominations recommended by shareholders (acting solely in their capacity as a shareholder and not in any other capacity). The Nominating and Governance Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Each Independent Trustee serves on the 15(c) Committee. The Chair of the 15(c) Committee is Drew E. Lawton. The principal responsibilities of the 15(c) Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for the annual review and renewal of the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements. These responsibilities include: (i) meeting with BlackRock, Inc. in advance of the Board meeting at which the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements are to be considered to discuss generally the process for providing requested information to the Board and the format in which information will be provided; and (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to evaluate the investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements of the Trust. The 15(c) Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Securities Lending Committee are John E. Martinez (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Securities Lending Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of the Trust's securities lending activities. These responsibilities include: (i) requesting that certain information be provided to the Committee for its review and consideration prior to such information being provided to the Board; (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to oversee the Trust's securities lending activities and make required findings and approvals; and (iii) providing a recommendation to the Board regarding the annual approval of the Trust's Securities Lending Guidelines and the required findings with respect to, and annual approval of, the Trust's agreement with the securities lending agent. The Securities Lending Committee met five times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Equity Plus Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), John E. Martinez and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Equity Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for equity funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Equity Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

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The members of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are Madhav V. Rajan (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Richard L. Fagnani, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for fixed-income or multi-asset funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Fixed Income Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Risk Committee are Jane D. Carlin (Chair), Richard L. Fagnani and John E. Martinez, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibility of the Risk Committee is to consider and organize on behalf of the Board risk related matters of the Fund so the Board may most effectively structure itself to oversee them. The Risk Committee commenced on January 1, 2016. The Risk Committee met seven times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

As the Chair of the Board, John E. Kerrigan may serve as an ex-officio member of each Committee.

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2022, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by each Trustee in the Fund and in other registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee within the same family of investment companies as the Trust. If a fund is not listed below, the Trustee did not own any securities in that fund as of the date indicated above:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
| Robert S. Kapito |  |  |  |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares High Yield Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares TIPS Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Technology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Select Dividend ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares California Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares National Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Biotechnology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 2000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

---

As of December 31, 2022, none of the Independent Trustees or their immediate family members owned beneficially or of record any securities of BFA (the Fund's investment adviser), the Distributor or any person controlling, controlled by or under common control with BFA or the Distributor.

**Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members. Effective January 1, 2023, each current Independent Trustee is paid an annual retainer of $440,000 for his or her services as a Board member to the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, together with out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with the Board's policy on travel and other business expenses relating to attendance at meetings. The annual retainer for services as an Advisory Board Member is the same as the annual retainer for services as a Board member. The Independent Chair of the Board is paid an additional annual retainer of $125,000. The Chair of each of the Equity Plus Committee, Fixed Income Plus Committee, Securities Lending Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and 15(c) Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $30,000. The Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $45,000. Each Independent Trustee that served as a director of subsidiaries of the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex is paid an additional annual retainer of $10,000 (plus an additional $1,765 paid annually to compensate for taxes due in the Republic of Mauritius in connection with such Trustee's service on the boards of certain Mauritius-based subsidiaries).**

The table below sets forth the compensation earned by each Independent Trustee and Interested Trustee for services to the Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the aggregate compensation paid to them for services to the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022.

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares GSCI Commodity<br> Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Pension or<br> Retirement Benefits Accrued As<br> Part of Trust<br> Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Estimated Annual<br> Benefits Upon<br> Retirement<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total<br> Compensation<br> From the Fund<br> and Fund Complex<sup>2</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;$528 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$465000 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;531 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;476764 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;548 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;475000 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;571 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;505000 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;513 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;461764 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;513 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;513 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

---

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<sup>1</sup> No Trustee or officer is entitled to any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust. <br> <sup>2</sup> Also includes compensation for service on the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc.

#### Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities.
The Trustees and officers of the Trust collectively owned less than 1% of the Fund's outstanding shares as of January 31, 2023.

Although the Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants (as defined below), as of January 31, 2023, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund were as follows:

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;34.82% |
| National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;11.93% |
| Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9.95% |
| TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.00% |

---

**Conflicts of Interest. Certain activities of BFA, BlackRock, Inc. and the other subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. (collectively referred to in this section as "BlackRock") and their respective directors, officers and employees, with respect to the Fund and/or other accounts managed by BlackRock, may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest such as those described below.**

BlackRock is one of the world's largest asset management firms. BlackRock, its subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers and employees, including the business units or entities and personnel who may be involved in the investment

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activities and business operations of the Fund, are engaged worldwide in businesses, including managing equities, fixed-income securities, cash and alternative investments, and have interests other than that of managing the Fund. These are considerations of which investors in the Fund should be aware, and which may cause conflicts of interest that could disadvantage the Fund and its shareholders. These businesses and interests include potential multiple advisory, financial and other relationships with, or interests in, companies and interests in securities or other instruments that may be purchased or sold by the Fund.

BlackRock has proprietary interests in, and may manage or advise with respect to, accounts or funds (including separate accounts and other funds and collective investment vehicles) that have investment objectives similar to those of the Fund and/or that engage in transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and instruments as the Fund. BlackRock is also a major participant in the global currency, equities, swap and fixed income markets, in each case, for the accounts of clients and, in some cases, on a proprietary basis. As such, BlackRock is or may be actively engaged in transactions in the same securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests. Such activities could affect the prices and availability of the securities, currencies, and instruments in which the Fund invests, which could have an adverse impact on the Fund's performance. Such transactions, particularly in respect of most proprietary accounts or client accounts, will be executed independently of the Fund's transactions and thus at prices or rates that may be more or less favorable than those obtained by the Fund.

When BlackRock seeks to purchase or sell the same assets for managed accounts, including the Fund, the assets actually purchased or sold may be allocated among the accounts on a basis determined in its good faith discretion to be equitable. In some cases, this system may adversely affect the size or price of the assets purchased or sold for the Fund. In addition, transactions in investments by one or more other accounts managed by BlackRock may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of the Fund, particularly, but not limited to, with respect to small-capitalization, emerging market or less liquid strategies. This may occur with respect to BlackRock-advised accounts when investment decisions regarding the Fund are based on research or other information that is also used to support decisions for other accounts. When BlackRock implements a portfolio decision or strategy on behalf of another account ahead of, or contemporaneously with, similar decisions or strategies for the Fund, market impact, liquidity constraints, or other factors could result in the Fund receiving less favorable trading results and the costs of implementing such decisions or strategies could be increased or the Fund could otherwise be disadvantaged. BlackRock may, in certain cases, elect to implement internal policies and procedures designed to limit such consequences, which may cause the Fund to be unable to engage in certain activities, including purchasing or disposing of securities, when it might otherwise be desirable for it to do so.

Conflicts may also arise because portfolio decisions regarding the Fund may benefit other accounts managed by BlackRock. For example, the sale of a long position or establishment of a short position by the Fund may impair the price of the same security sold short by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds, and the purchase of a security or covering of a short position in a security by the Fund may increase the price of the same security held by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds. In addition, to the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest its assets in other funds advised by BlackRock, including funds that are managed by one or more of the same portfolio managers, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of Fund purchases and sales, and increased remuneration and profitability for BlackRock, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.

In certain circumstances, BlackRock, on behalf of the Fund, may seek to buy from or sell securities to another fund or account advised by BlackRock. BlackRock may (but is not required to) effect purchases and sales between BlackRock clients ("cross trades"), including the Fund, if BlackRock believes such transactions are appropriate based on each party's investment objectives and guidelines, subject to applicable law and regulation. There may be potential conflicts of interest or regulatory issues relating to these transactions which could limit BlackRock's decision to engage in these transactions for the Fund. BlackRock may have a potentially conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the parties in such transactions. On any occasion when the Fund participates in a cross trade, BlackRock will comply with procedures adopted under applicable rules and SEC guidance.

BlackRock and its clients may pursue or enforce rights with respect to an issuer in which the Fund has invested, and those activities may have an adverse effect on the Fund. As a result, prices, availability, liquidity and terms of the Fund's investments may be negatively impacted by the activities of BlackRock or its clients, and transactions for the Fund may be impaired or effected at prices or terms that may be less favorable than would otherwise have been the case.

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The results of the Fund's investment activities may differ significantly from the results achieved by BlackRock for its proprietary accounts or other accounts (including investment companies or collective investment vehicles) which it manages or advises. It is possible that one or more accounts managed or advised by BlackRock and such other accounts will achieve investment results that are substantially more or less favorable than the results achieved by the Fund. Moreover, it is possible that the Fund will sustain losses during periods in which one or more proprietary or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock achieve significant profits. The opposite result is also possible.

From time to time, the Fund may be restricted from purchasing or selling securities, or from engaging in other investment activities because of regulatory, legal or contractual requirements applicable to BlackRock or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock, and/or the internal policies of BlackRock designed to comply with such requirements. As a result, there may be periods, for example, when BlackRock will not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions in certain securities or instruments with respect to which BlackRock is performing services or when position limits have been reached. For example, the investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and accounts under its management may limit the investment opportunities for the Fund in certain emerging and other markets in which limitations are imposed upon the amount of investment, in the aggregate or in individual issuers, by affiliated foreign investors.

In connection with its management of the Fund, BlackRock may have access to certain fundamental analysis and proprietary technical models developed by BlackRock. BlackRock will not be under any obligation, however, to effect transactions on behalf of the Fund in accordance with such analysis and models. In addition, BlackRock will not have any obligation to make available any information regarding its proprietary activities or strategies, or the activities or strategies used for other accounts managed by them, for the benefit of the management of the Fund and it is not anticipated that BlackRock will have access to such information for the purpose of managing the Fund. The proprietary activities or portfolio strategies of BlackRock, or the activities or strategies used for accounts managed by BlackRock or other client accounts could conflict with the transactions and strategies employed by BlackRock in managing the Fund.

The Fund may be included in investment models developed by BlackRock for use by clients and financial advisors. To the extent clients invest in these investment models and increase the assets under management of the Fund, the investment management fee amounts paid by the Fund to BlackRock may also increase. The price, availability and liquidity of the Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by model-driven investment portfolios, as well as by BlackRock itself and by its advisory clients.

In addition, certain principals and certain employees of the Fund's investment adviser are also principals or employees of other business units or entities within BlackRock. As a result, these principals and employees may have obligations to such other business units or entities or their clients and such obligations to other business units or entities or their clients may be a consideration of which investors in the Fund should be aware.

BlackRock may enter into transactions and invest in securities, instruments and currencies on behalf of the Fund in which clients of BlackRock or, to the extent permitted by the SEC and applicable law, BlackRock serves as the counterparty, principal or issuer. In such cases, such party's interests in the transaction will be adverse to the interests of the Fund, and such party may have no incentive to assure that the Fund obtains the best possible prices or terms in connection with the transactions. In addition, the purchase, holding and sale of such investments by the Fund may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock may also create, write or issue derivatives for clients based on the underlying securities, currencies or instruments in which the Fund may invest or on the performance of the Fund. An entity in which BlackRock has a significant minority interest will create, write or issue options which may be based on the performance of certain Funds. BlackRock has the right to receive a portion of the gross revenue earned by such entity. Options writing by such entity on the Fund could potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to the Fund and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

BlackRock has entered into an arrangement with Markit Indices Limited, the index provider for underlying fixed-income indexes used by certain iShares funds, related to derivative fixed-income products that are based on such iShares funds. BlackRock may receive certain payments for licensing intellectual property belonging to BlackRock and for facilitating the provision of data in connection with such derivative products, which may include payments based on the trading volumes of, or revenues generated by, the derivative products. However, BlackRock will not receive any such payments on those derivative products utilized by the Fund or other BlackRock funds or accounts. Other funds and accounts managed by BlackRock may from time to time transact in such derivative products, which could contribute to the viability or success of such derivative products by making them more appealing to funds and accounts managed by third parties, and in turn lead to increased

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payments to BlackRock. Trading activity in such derivative products could also potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to these iShares funds and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

The Fund may, subject to applicable law, purchase investments that are the subject of an underwriting or other distribution by BlackRock and may also enter into transactions with other clients of BlackRock where such other clients have interests adverse to those of the Fund.

At times, these activities may cause business units or entities within BlackRock to give advice to clients that may cause these clients to take actions adverse to the interests of the Fund. To the extent such transactions are permitted, the Fund will deal with BlackRock on an arm's-length basis.

To the extent authorized by applicable law, BlackRock may act as broker, dealer, agent, lender or adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities for the Fund. It is anticipated that the commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs, financial advisory fees, underwriting and placement fees, sales fees, financing and commitment fees, brokerage fees, other fees, compensation or profits, rates, terms and conditions charged by BlackRock will be in its view commercially reasonable, although BlackRock, including its sales personnel, will have an interest in obtaining fees and other amounts that are favorable to BlackRock and such sales personnel, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. Index based funds may use an index provider that is affiliated with another service provider of the Fund or BlackRock that acts as a broker, dealer, agent, lender or in other commercial capacities for the Fund or BlackRock.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock (and its personnel and other distributors) will be entitled to retain fees and other amounts that they receive in connection with their service to the Fund as broker, dealer, agent, lender, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities. No accounting to the Fund or its shareholders will be required, and no fees or other compensation payable by the Fund or its shareholders will be reduced by reason of receipt by BlackRock of any such fees or other amounts.

When BlackRock acts as broker, dealer, agent, adviser, futures commission merchants or in other commercial capacities in relation to the Fund, BlackRock may take commercial steps in its own interests, which may have an adverse effect on the Fund. The Fund will be required to establish business relationships with its counterparties based on the Fund's own credit standing. BlackRock will not have any obligation to allow its credit to be used in connection with the Fund's establishment of its business relationships, nor is it expected that the Fund's counterparties will rely on the credit of BlackRock in evaluating the Fund's creditworthiness.

BTC, an affiliate of BFA pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, acts as securities lending agent to, and receives a share of securities lending revenues from, the Fund. BlackRock will also receive compensation for managing the reinvestment of the cash collateral from securities lending. There are potential conflicts of interests in managing a securities lending program, including but not limited to: (i) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to increase or decrease the amount of securities on loan or to lend particular securities in order to generate additional risk-adjusted revenue for BlackRock and its affiliates; and (ii) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to allocate loans to clients that would provide more revenue to BlackRock. As described further below, BlackRock seeks to mitigate this conflict by providing its securities lending clients with equal lending opportunities over time in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation.

As part of its securities lending program, BlackRock indemnifies the Fund and certain other clients and/or funds against a shortfall in collateral in the event of borrower default. On a regular basis, BlackRock calculates the potential dollar exposure of collateral shortfall resulting from a borrower default ("shortfall risk") in the securities lending program. BlackRock establishes program-wide borrower limits ("credit limits") to actively manage borrower-specific credit exposure. BlackRock oversees the risk model that calculates projected collateral shortfall values using loan-level factors such as loan and collateral type and market value as well as specific borrower credit characteristics. When necessary, BlackRock may adjust securities lending program attributes by restricting eligible collateral or reducing borrower credit limits. As a result, the management of program-wide exposure as well as BlackRock-specific indemnification exposure may affect the amount of securities lending activity BlackRock may conduct at any given point in time by reducing the volume of lending opportunities for certain loans (including by asset type, collateral type and/or revenue profile).

BlackRock uses a predetermined systematic process in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation over time. In order to allocate a loan to a portfolio: (i) BlackRock as a whole must have sufficient lending capacity pursuant to the various program limits (*i.e.,* indemnification exposure limit and borrower credit limits); (ii) the lending portfolio must hold the asset at the time a loan opportunity arrives; and (iii) the lending portfolio must also have enough inventory, either on its own or when

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aggregated with other portfolios into one single market delivery, to satisfy the loan request. In doing so, BlackRock seeks to provide equal lending opportunities for all portfolios, independent of whether BlackRock indemnifies the portfolio. Equal opportunities for lending portfolios does not guarantee equal outcomes. Specifically, short and long-term outcomes for individual clients may vary due to asset mix, asset/liability spreads on different securities, and the overall limits imposed by the firm.

BlackRock may decline to make a securities loan on behalf of the Fund, discontinue lending on behalf of the Fund or terminate a securities loan on behalf of the Fund for any reason, including but not limited to regulatory requirements and/or market rules, liquidity considerations, or credit considerations, which may impact Funds by reducing or eliminating the volume of lending opportunities for certain types of loans, loans in particular markets, loans of particular securities or types of securities, or for loans overall.

Purchases and sales of securities and other assets for the Fund may be bunched or aggregated with orders for other BlackRock client accounts, including with accounts that pay different transaction costs solely due to the fact that they have different research payment arrangements. BlackRock, however, is not required to bunch or aggregate orders if portfolio management decisions for different accounts are made separately, or if they determine that bunching or aggregating is not practicable or required, or in cases involving client direction.

Prevailing trading activity frequently may make impossible the receipt of the same price or execution on the entire volume of securities purchased or sold. When this occurs, the various prices may be averaged, and the Fund will be charged or credited with the average price. Thus, the effect of the aggregation may operate on some occasions to the disadvantage of the Fund. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Fund will not be charged the same commission or commission equivalent rates in connection with a bunched or aggregated order.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock may select brokers that furnish BlackRock, the Fund, other BlackRock client accounts or personnel, directly or through correspondent relationships, with research or other appropriate services which provide, in BlackRock's view, appropriate assistance to BlackRock in the investment decision-making process (including with respect to futures, fixed-price offerings and OTC transactions). Such research or other services may include, to the extent permitted by law, research reports on companies, industries and securities; economic and financial data; financial publications; proxy analysis; trade industry seminars; computer data bases; research-oriented software and other services and products. Research or other services obtained in this manner may be used in servicing any or all of the Fund and other BlackRock client accounts, including in connection with BlackRock client accounts other than those that pay commissions to the broker relating to the research or other service arrangements. Such products and services may disproportionately benefit other BlackRock client accounts relative to the Fund based on the amount of brokerage commissions paid by the Fund and such other BlackRock client accounts. For example, research or other services that are paid for through one client's commissions may not be used in managing that client's account. In addition, other BlackRock client accounts may receive the benefit, including disproportionate benefits, of economies of scale or price discounts in connection with products and services that may be provided to the Fund and to such other BlackRock client accounts. To the extent that BlackRock uses soft dollars, it will not have to pay for those products and services itself.

BlackRock does not currently enter into arrangements to use the Fund's assets for, or participate in, soft dollars, although BlackRock may receive research that is bundled with the trade execution, clearing, and/or settlement services provided by a particular broker-dealer. To the extent that BlackRock receives research on this basis, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist. For example, the research effectively will be paid by client commissions that also will be used to pay for the execution, clearing, and settlement services provided by the broker-dealer and will not be paid by BlackRock. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may endeavor to execute trades through brokers who, pursuant to such arrangements, provide research or other services in order to ensure the continued receipt of research or other services BlackRock believes are useful in its investment decision-making process. BlackRock may from time to time choose not to engage in the above described arrangements to varying degrees. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may also enter into commission sharing arrangements under which BlackRock may execute transactions through a broker-dealer, and request that the broker-dealer allocate a portion of the commissions or commission credits to another firm that provides research to BlackRock. To the extent that BlackRock engages in commission sharing arrangements, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist.

BlackRock may utilize certain electronic crossing networks ("ECNs") (including, without limitation, ECNs in which BlackRock has an investment or other interest, to the extent permitted by applicable law) in executing client securities transactions for

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certain types of securities. These ECNs may charge fees for their services, including access fees and transaction fees. The transaction fees, which are similar to commissions or markups/markdowns, will generally be charged to clients and, like commissions and markups/markdowns, would generally be included in the cost of the securities purchased. Access fees may be paid by BlackRock even though incurred in connection with executing transactions on behalf of clients, including the Fund. In certain circumstances, ECNs may offer volume discounts that will reduce the access fees typically paid by BlackRock. BlackRock will only utilize ECNs consistent with its obligation to seek to obtain best execution in client transactions.

BlackRock owns a minority interest in, and is a member of, Members Exchange ("MEMX"), a newly created U.S. stock exchange. Transactions for the Fund may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for execution of orders placed by BlackRock traders on behalf of such Funds. In addition, transactions in Fund shares may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for the execution of such orders.

BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing proxy voting decisions that it makes on behalf of advisory clients, including the Fund, and to help ensure that such decisions are made in accordance with BlackRock's fiduciary obligations to its clients. Nevertheless, notwithstanding such proxy voting policies and procedures, actual proxy voting decisions of BlackRock may have the effect of favoring the interests of other clients or businesses of other divisions or units of BlackRock, provided that BlackRock believes such voting decisions to be in accordance with its fiduciary obligations. For a more detailed discussion of these policies and procedures, see the *Proxy Voting Policy* section of this SAI.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of the Fund. Increasing the Fund's assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification and may contribute to economies of scale that tend to reduce the Fund's expense ratio. BlackRock reserves the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell into the market or redeem in Creation Units through an Authorized Participant at any time some or all of the shares of the Fund acquired for its own accounts or the account of a BlackRock advisory client. A large sale or redemption of shares of the Fund by BlackRock itself or a BlackRock advisory client could significantly reduce the asset size of the Fund, which might have an adverse effect on the Fund's liquidity, investment flexibility, portfolio diversification, expense ratio or ability to comply with the listing requirements for the Fund.

It is possible that the Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in transactions with, companies in which BlackRock has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. The Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which BlackRock provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. In making investment decisions for the Fund, BlackRock is not permitted to obtain or use material non-public information acquired by any unit of BlackRock in the course of these activities. In addition, from time to time, the activities of BlackRock may limit the Fund's flexibility in purchases and sales of securities. As indicated below, BlackRock may engage in transactions with companies in which BlackRock-advised funds or other clients of BlackRock have an investment.

BlackRock, its personnel and other financial service providers may have interests in promoting sales of the Fund. With respect to BlackRock and its personnel, the remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of the Fund or other products may be greater than remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of certain funds or other products that might be provided or offered. BlackRock and its sales personnel may directly or indirectly receive a portion of the fees and commissions charged to the Fund or its shareholders. BlackRock and its advisory or other personnel may also benefit from increased amounts of assets under management. Fees and commissions may also be higher than for other products or services, and the remuneration and profitability to BlackRock and such personnel resulting from transactions on behalf of or management of the Fund may be greater than the remuneration and profitability resulting from other funds or products.

Third parties, including service providers to BlackRock or the Fund, may sponsor events (including, but not limited to, marketing and promotional activities and presentations, educational training programs and conferences) for registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors. There is a potential conflict of interest as such sponsorships may defray the costs of such activities to BlackRock, and may provide an incentive to BlackRock to retain such third parties to provide services to the Fund.

BlackRock may provide valuation assistance to certain clients with respect to certain securities or other investments and the valuation recommendations made for such clients' accounts may differ from the valuations for the same securities or investments assigned by the Fund's pricing vendors, especially if such valuations are based on broker-dealer quotes or other

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data sources unavailable to the Fund's pricing vendors. While BlackRock will generally communicate its valuation information or determinations to the Fund's pricing vendors and/or fund accountants, there may be instances where the Fund's pricing vendors or fund accountants assign a different valuation to a security or other investment than the valuation for such security or investment determined or recommended by BlackRock.

As disclosed in more detail in the *Determination of Net Asset Value* section in this SAI, when market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value by BFA. BFA has been designated as the Fund's valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act and acts through BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee (the "2a-5 Committee"), with assistance from other BFA pricing committees and in accordance with BFA's policies and procedures (the "Valuation Procedures"). When determining a "fair value price," the 2a-5 Committee seeks to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction. The price generally may not be determined based on what the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. While fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models, fair value represents only a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued by the 2a-5 Committee at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders and may affect the amount of revenue received by BFA with respect to services for which it receives an asset-based fee.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Fund may invest all or some of its short-term cash investments in any money market fund or similarly-managed private fund advised or managed by BlackRock. In connection with any such investments, the Fund, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, may pay its share of expenses of a money market fund or other similarly-managed private fund in which it invests, which may result in the Fund bearing some additional expenses.

BlackRock and its directors, officers and employees, may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on behalf of the Fund. As a result of differing trading and investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by directors, officers and employees that are the same, different from or made at different times than positions taken for the Fund. To lessen the possibility that the Fund will be adversely affected by this personal trading, the Fund, BFA and BlackRock have each adopted a code of ethics in compliance with Section 17(j) of the 1940 Act that restricts securities trading in the personal accounts of investment professionals and others who normally come into possession of information regarding the Fund's portfolio transactions. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.

BlackRock will not purchase securities or other property from, or sell securities or other property to, the Fund, except that the Fund may in accordance with rules or guidance adopted under the 1940 Act engage in transactions with another Fund or accounts that are affiliated with the Fund as a result of common officers, directors, or investment advisers or pursuant to exemptive orders granted to the Fund and/or BlackRock by the SEC. These transactions would be effected in circumstances in which BlackRock determined that it would be appropriate for the Fund to purchase and another client of BlackRock to sell, or the Fund to sell and another client of BlackRock to purchase, the same security or instrument on the same day. From time to time, the activities of the Fund may be restricted because of regulatory requirements applicable to BlackRock and/or BlackRock's internal policies designed to comply with, limit the applicability of, or otherwise relate to such requirements. A client not advised by BlackRock would not be subject to some of those considerations. There may be periods when BlackRock may not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions, or may otherwise restrict or limit its advice in certain securities or instruments issued by or related to companies for which BlackRock is performing advisory or other services or has proprietary positions. For example, when BlackRock is engaged to provide advisory or risk management services for a company, BlackRock may be prohibited from or limited in purchasing or selling securities of that company on behalf of the Fund, particularly where such services result in BlackRock obtaining material non-public information about the company (*e.g.*, in connection with participation in a creditors' committee). Similar situations could arise if personnel of BlackRock serve as directors of companies the securities of which the Fund wishes to purchase or sell. However, if permitted by applicable law, and where consistent with BlackRock's policies and procedures (including the necessary implementation of appropriate

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information barriers), the Fund may purchase securities or instruments that are issued by such companies, are the subject of an advisory or risk management assignment by BlackRock, or where personnel of BlackRock are directors or officers of the issuer.

The investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and for client accounts may also limit the investment strategies and rights of the Fund. For example, in certain circumstances where the Fund invests in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, or is subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invests in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount invested by BlackRock for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Fund) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BlackRock, the Fund or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

If certain aggregate ownership thresholds are reached either through the actions of BlackRock or the Fund or as a result of third-party transactions, the ability of BlackRock, on behalf of clients (including the Fund), to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. As a result, BlackRock, on behalf of its clients (including the Fund), may limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise restrict, forgo or limit the exercise of rights (including transferring, outsourcing or limiting voting rights or forgoing the right to receive dividends) when BlackRock, in its sole discretion, deems it appropriate in light of potential regulatory or other restrictions on ownership or other consequences resulting from reaching investment thresholds.

In those circumstances where ownership thresholds or limitations must be observed, BlackRock seeks to allocate limited investment opportunities equitably among clients (including the Fund), taking into consideration benchmark weight and investment strategy. BlackRock has adopted certain controls designed to prevent the occurrence of a breach of any applicable ownership threshold or limits, including, for example, when ownership in certain securities nears an applicable threshold, BlackRock may remove such securities from the list of Deposit Securities to be delivered to the Fund in connection with purchases of Creation Units of such Fund and may limit purchases in such securities to the issuer's weighting in the applicable benchmark used by BlackRock to manage such Fund. If client (including Fund) holdings of an issuer exceed an applicable threshold and BlackRock is unable to obtain relief to enable the continued holding of such investments, it may be necessary to sell down these positions to meet the applicable limitations. In these cases, benchmark overweight positions will be sold prior to benchmark positions being reduced to meet applicable limitations.

In addition to the foregoing, other ownership thresholds may trigger reporting requirements to governmental and regulatory authorities, and such reports may entail the disclosure of the identity of a client or BlackRock's intended strategy with respect to such security or asset.

BlackRock may not serve as an Authorized Participant in the creation and redemption of iShares ETFs.

BlackRock may maintain securities indices. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, the Fund may seek to license and use such indices as part of its investment strategy. Index based funds that seek to track the performance of securities indices also may use the name of the index or index provider in the fund name. Index providers, including BlackRock (to the extent permitted by applicable law), may be paid licensing fees for use of their index or index name. BlackRock may benefit from the Fund using BlackRock indices by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock is not obligated to license its indices to the Fund and the Fund is under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. Any Fund that enters into a license for a BlackRock index cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The custody arrangement described in "Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services" may lead to potential conflicts of interest with BlackRock where BlackRock has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse ordinary operating expenses in order to cap expenses of the Fund (or where BlackRock charges a unitary management fee). This is because the custody arrangements with the Fund's custodian may have the effect of reducing custody fees when the Fund leaves cash balances uninvested. This could be viewed as having the potential to provide BlackRock an incentive to keep high positive cash balances for the Fund in order to offset fund custody fees that BlackRock might otherwise reimburse or pay. However, BlackRock's portfolio managers do not intentionally keep uninvested balances high, but rather make investment decisions that they anticipate will be beneficial to fund performance. For funds without a unitary management fee, when a fund's actual operating expense ratio exceeds a stated cap, a reduction in custody fees reduces the amount of waivers and/or reimbursements BlackRock would be required to make to the fund.

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BlackRock may enter into contractual arrangements with third-party service providers to the Fund (*e.g.*, custodians, administrators and index providers) pursuant to which BlackRock receives fee discounts or concessions in recognition of BlackRock's overall relationship with such service providers. BlackRock may also enter into contractual arrangements with such service providers pursuant to which BlackRock incurs additional costs if the service provider's services are terminated with respect to the Fund. To the extent that BlackRock is responsible for paying these service providers out of its management fee, the benefits of any such fee discounts or concessions, or any additional costs, may accrue, in whole or in part, to BlackRock, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to the use or termination of service providers to the Fund.

BlackRock owns or has an ownership interest in certain trading, portfolio management, operations and/or information systems used by Fund service providers. These systems are, or will be, used by the Fund service provider in connection with the provision of services to accounts managed by BlackRock and funds managed and sponsored by BlackRock, including the Fund, that engage the service provider (typically the custodian). The Fund's service provider remunerates BlackRock for the use of the systems. The Fund service provider's payments to BlackRock for the use of these systems may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock's receipt of fees from a service provider in connection with the use of systems provided by BlackRock may create an incentive for BlackRock to recommend that the Fund enter into or renew an arrangement with the service provider.

In recognition of a BlackRock client's overall relationship with BlackRock, BlackRock may offer special pricing arrangements for certain services provided by BlackRock. Any such special pricing arrangements will not apply to the client's investment in the Fund.

Present and future activities of BlackRock (including BFA), its directors, officers and employees, in addition to those described in this section, may give rise to additional conflicts of interest.

## Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services
**Investment Adviser. BFA serves as investment adviser to the Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between the Trust, on behalf of the Fund, and BFA. BFA is a California corporation indirectly owned by BlackRock, Inc. and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Under the investment advisory agreement, BFA, subject to the supervision of the Board and in conformity with the stated investment policies of the Fund, manages and administers the Trust and the investment of the Fund's assets. BFA is responsible for making investment decisions for the Fund.**

Pursuant to the investment advisory agreement, BFA may, from time to time, in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory or other services with respect to the Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the investment advisory agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion upon appropriate notice at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Fund, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Fund will bear, the management fees, interest expense, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities, commodities or other financial instruments and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and any extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Independent Trustees). For the avoidance of doubt, extraordinary expenses do not include expenses related to the organization of any subsidiary for the Fund or the ongoing corporate expenses of maintaining such subsidiary.

BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses to reduce the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

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For its investment advisory services to the Fund, BFA received a management fee at the annual rate (as a percentage of the Fund's average net assets) set forth below for the fiscal years noted. BFA also serves as investment adviser to the Subsidiary. No fee will be paid to BFA for the advisory services that it provides to the Subsidiary.

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Management Fee<br> for Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 0.48%<sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;10/15/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$14103753 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$6414733 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1372501 |

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<sup>1</sup> BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other registered investment companies advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 29, 2024. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2024 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $27,090, $7,517 and $2,711 of its management fees, respectively.

**Investment Sub-Adviser. Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust entered into on behalf of the Fund, BFA may from time to time, in its sole discretion, to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory services with respect to the Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the Investment Advisory Agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.**

BFA has entered into an investment sub-advisory agreement (the "Sub-Advisory Agreement" and together with the Investment Advisory Agreement, the "Advisory Agreements") with BlackRock International Limited ("BIL" or the "Sub-Adviser") with respect to the Fund. The Sub-Adviser is an investment adviser located in the U.K. at 40 Torphichen Street, Edinburgh EH3 8JB. The Sub-Adviser is an SEC registered investment adviser and a commodity pool operator organized in 1999.

Under the Sub-Advisory Agreement, subject to the supervision and oversight of the Board and BFA, the Sub-Adviser will be responsible for day-to-day management of specified assets in the Fund's portfolio.

Pursuant to the Sub-Advisory Agreement, BFA pays the Sub-Adviser for services it provides a fee equal to 60% of the management fee paid to BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement. The Sub-Adviser also serves as Sub-Adviser to the Subsidiary.

Unless earlier terminated as described below, each Advisory Agreement will remain in effect for an initial two year period and from year to year if approved annually (i) by the Board or by a vote of a majority of the applicable Fund's outstanding voting securities and (ii) by a majority of the Trustees who are not parties to such agreement or interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of any such party by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

Each Advisory Agreement with respect to the Fund is terminable without penalty, on 60 days' notice, by the Board or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act). The Sub-Advisory Agreement is also terminable on 60 days' written notice at the option of either BFA or the Sub-Adviser. Each Advisory Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The investment advisory agreement with respect to the Fund continues in effect for two years from its effective date, and thereafter is subject to annual approval by (i) the Board, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, provided that in either event such continuance also is approved by a majority of the Board members who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund, by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

**Portfolio Managers. As of October 31, 2022, the individuals named as Portfolio Managers in the Fund's Prospectus were also primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of other iShares funds and certain other types of portfolios and/or accounts as follows:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$125099000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9485000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;106 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;34905000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$4971000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 1526000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;270000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Tim Parsons** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$44469000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1079000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;282 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1626435000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;36 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8776000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;57 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4167000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;302 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1624391000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5400000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4230000000 |

---

Pursuant to BFA's and BIL's policies, investment opportunities are allocated equitably among the Fund and other portfolios and accounts. For example, under certain circumstances, an investment opportunity may be restricted due to limited supply in the market, legal constraints or other factors, in which event the investment opportunity will be allocated equitably among those portfolios and accounts, including the Fund, seeking such investment opportunity. As a consequence, from time to time the Fund may receive a smaller allocation of an investment opportunity than it would have if the Portfolio Managers and BFA and its affiliates did not manage other portfolios or accounts.

Like the Fund, the other portfolios or accounts for which the Portfolio Managers are primarily responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management generally pay an asset-based fee to BFA or its affiliates, as applicable, for its advisory services. One or more of those other portfolios or accounts, however, may pay BFA or its affiliates a performance-based fee in lieu of, or in addition to, an asset-based fee for its advisory services. A portfolio or account with a performance-based fee would pay BFA or its affiliates a portion of that portfolio's or account's gains, or would pay BFA or its affiliates more for its services than would otherwise be the case if BFA or any of its affiliates meets or exceeds specified performance targets. Performance-based fee arrangements could present an incentive for BFA or its affiliates to devote greater resources, and allocate more investment opportunities, to the portfolios or accounts that have those fee arrangements, relative to other portfolios or accounts, in order to earn larger fees. Although BFA and each of its affiliates have an obligation to allocate resources and opportunities equitably among portfolios and accounts and intend to do so, shareholders of the Fund should be aware that, as with any group of portfolios and accounts managed by an investment adviser and/or its affiliates pursuant to varying fee arrangements, including performance-based fee arrangements, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, which may result in the Portfolio Managers favoring those portfolios or accounts with performance-based fee arrangements.

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The tables below show, for each Portfolio Manager, the number of portfolios or accounts of the types set forth in the above tables and the aggregate of total assets in those portfolios or accounts with respect to which the investment management fees are based on the performance of those portfolios or accounts as of October 31, 2022:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Richard Mejzak** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Orlando Montalvo** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Tim Parsons** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Greg Savage** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Paul Whitehead** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other Accounts<br> with Performance Fees<br> Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

*Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview*

The discussion below describes the Portfolio Managers' compensation as of October 31, 2022.

BlackRock, Inc.'s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock, Inc.

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Each portfolio manager receives base compensation based on their position with the firm, as well as retirement and other benefits offered to all BlackRock employees. Additionally, each portfolio manager receives discretionary incentive compensation, determined based on several components, including: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the performance of portfolios managed by the portfolio manager and the team relative to the portfolios' investment objectives (which in the case of index ETFs would be how closely the ETF tracks its Underlying Index), and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. Discretionary incentive compensation is paid in cash up to a certain threshold with the remaining portion represented by deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock awards. In some cases, additional deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock may be granted to certain key employees as part of a long-term incentive award to aid in retention, align interests with long-term shareholders and motivate performance.

As of October 31, 2022, the Portfolio Managers did not beneficially own shares of the Fund.

**Codes of Ethics. The Trust, BFA, the Sub-Adviser and the Distributor have adopted codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. The codes of ethics permit personnel subject to the codes of ethics to invest in securities, subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Fund. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of the Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.**

**Anti-Money Laundering Requirements. The Fund is subject to the USA PATRIOT Act (the "Patriot Act"). The Patriot Act is intended to prevent the use of the U.S. financial system in furtherance of money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities. Pursuant to requirements under the Patriot Act, the Fund may request information from Authorized Participants to enable it to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of its Authorized Participants. This information will be used to verify the identity of Authorized Participants or, in some cases, the status of financial professionals; it will be used only for compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.**

The Fund reserves the right to reject purchase orders from persons who have not submitted information sufficient to allow the Fund to verify their identity. The Fund also reserves the right to redeem any amounts in the Fund from persons whose identity it is unable to verify on a timely basis. It is the Fund's policy to cooperate fully with appropriate regulators in any investigations conducted with respect to potential money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities.

#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.
State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") serves as administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Fund under the Master Services Agreement and related Service Schedule (the "Service Module"). State Street's principal address is 1 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111. Pursuant to the Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services with the Trust, State Street provides necessary administrative, legal, tax and accounting and financial reporting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and the Fund. In addition, State Street makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services. Pursuant to the Service Module for Custodial Services with the Trust, State Street maintains, in separate accounts, cash, securities and other assets of the Trust and the Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records and provides other services. State Street is required, upon the order of the Trust, to deliver securities held by State Street and to make payments for securities purchased by the Trust for the Fund. State Street is authorized to appoint certain foreign custodians or foreign custody managers for Fund investments outside the U.S. Pursuant to the Service Module for Transfer Agency Services with the Trust, State Street acts as a transfer agent for the Fund's authorized and issued shares of beneficial interest, and as dividend disbursing agent of the Trust. As compensation for these services, State Street receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset-based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by BFA from its management fee.

The following table sets forth the administration, custodian and transfer agency expenses of the Fund paid by BFA to State Street for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| 10/15/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$12704 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$35461 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$26007 |

---

JPMorgan serves as custodian for the Fund in connection with certain securities lending activities under a Custody Services Agreement. JPMorgan's principal address is 383 Madison Avenue, 11<sup>th</sup> Floor, New York, NY 10179. Pursuant to the Custody Services Agreement with BTC and the Trust, JPMorgan provides custody and related services required to facilitate securities lending by the Fund. JPMorgan maintains custody as may be necessary to facilitate Fund securities lending activity in coordination with other funds, maintains custodial records and provides other services. As compensation for these services, JPMorgan receives certain fees and expenses paid by BTC from its compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

**Distributor. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Fund through the Distributor or its agent only in Creation Units, as described in the Prospectus and below in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Fund shares in amounts less than Creation Units are generally not distributed by the Distributor or its agent. The Distributor or its agent will arrange for the delivery of the Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it or its agents and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it or its agents. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "1934 Act"), and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The Distributor is also licensed as a broker-dealer in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.**

The Distribution Agreement for the Fund provides that it may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days' prior written notice to the other party following (i) the vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers ("Soliciting Dealers") who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Fund shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as described below), DTC participants and/or investor services organizations.

BFA or its affiliates may, from time to time and from its own resources, pay, defray or absorb costs relating to distribution, including payments out of its own resources to the Distributor, or to otherwise promote the sale of shares.

**Securities Lending. The Fund may engage in securities lending. To the extent that the Fund engages in securities lending, the Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, and BTC acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA, pursuant to a written agreement (the "Securities Lending Agency Agreement").**

If the the were to engage in securities lending, it would retain a portion of the securities lending income and remit the remaining portion to BTC as compensation for its services as securities lending agent. Securities lending income is generally equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral (and excludes collateral investment fees as defined below), and any fees or other payments to and from borrowers of securities. As securities lending agent, BTC bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending, including custodial costs of JPMorgan. To the extent that the the engages in securities lending, the Fund is responsible for fees in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan in a money market fund managed by BFA (the "collateral investment fees"); however, BTC has agreed to reduce the amount of securities lending income it receives in order to effectively limit the collateral investment fees the Fund bears to an annual rate of 0.04%. Such money market fund shares will not be subject to a sales load, redemption fee, distribution fee or service fee.

Under the securities lending program, funds are categorized into one of several specific asset classes. The determination of a fund's asset class category (fixed-income, domestic equity, international equity or fund-of-funds), each of which may be subject to a different fee arrangement, is based on a methodology agreed to by the Trust and BTC.

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Pursuant to the Securities Lending Agency Agreement effective through December 31, 2021:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 77% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, effective January 1, 2022:

(i) domestic equity funds retain 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, (i) international equity funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) fixed-income funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

(iii) fund-of-funds retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income (which includes, for this purpose, collateral investment fees) earned across the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex (as defined in the "*Management—Trustees and Officers* section of this SAI) in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement:

(i) each applicable domestic equity fund will receive 81% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of the securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(ii) each applicable international equity fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees;

(iii) each applicable fixed-income fund will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees; and

(iv) each applicable fund-of-funds will receive 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) for the remainder of that calendar year and this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

No services have been provided by BTC as the Fund's securities lending agent, and the Fund had no income and fees/compensation related to securities lending activities for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

**Payments by BFA and its Affiliates. BFA and/or its affiliates ("BFA Entities") may pay certain broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks and other financial intermediaries ("Intermediaries") for certain activities related to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products in general. BFA Entities make these payments from their own assets and not from the assets of the Fund. Although a portion of BFA Entities' revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, these payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. BFA Entities make payments for Intermediaries' participation in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Fund and other iShares funds, or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems ("Education Costs"). BFA Entities also make payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs or materials relating to the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products ("Publishing Costs"). In addition, BFA Entities make payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products available to their clients, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, develop new products that feature iShares, create**

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educational content about the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products that is featured on an Intermediary's platform, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds and exchange-traded products. BFA Entities may also reimburse expenses or make payments from their own assets to Intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services or other activities that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.

Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients, what services to provide for various products, or what marketing content to make available to its clients based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, such payments may create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients. These financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products over other investments. The same conflicts of interest and financial incentives exist with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

In addition to the payments described above, BFA Entities have developed proprietary tools, calculators and related interactive or digital content that is made available through the www.BlackRock.com website at no additional cost to Intermediaries. BlackRock may configure these tools and calculators and localize the content for Intermediaries as part of its customary digital marketing support and promotion of the Fund, other iShares funds, exchange-traded products and BlackRock mutual funds.

As of March 1, 2013, BFA Entities have contractual arrangements to make payments (in addition to payments for Education Costs or Publishing Costs) to one Intermediary, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC ("FBS"). Effective June 4, 2016, this relationship was expanded to include National Financial Services, LLC ("NFS"), an affiliate of FBS. Pursuant to this special, long-term and significant arrangement (the "Marketing Program"), FBS, NFS and certain of their affiliates (collectively "Fidelity") have agreed, among other things, to actively promote iShares funds to customers, investment professionals and other intermediaries and in advertising campaigns as the preferred exchange-traded product, to offer certain iShares funds in certain Fidelity platforms and investment programs, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, and to provide marketing data to BFA Entities. BFA Entities have agreed to facilitate the Marketing Program by, among other things, making certain payments to FBS and NFS for marketing and implementing certain brokerage and investment programs. Upon termination of the arrangement, the BFA Entities will make additional payments to FBS and/or NFS based upon a number of criteria, including the overall success of the Marketing Program and the level of services provided by FBS and NFS during the wind-down period.

In addition, BFA Entities may enter into other contractual arrangements with Intermediaries and certain other third parties that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in iShares funds. Such agreements may include payments by BFA Entities to such Intermediaries and third parties for data collection and provision, technology support, platform enhancement, or educational content, co-marketing and cross-promotional efforts. Payments made pursuant to such arrangements may vary in any year and may be different for different Intermediaries and third parties. In certain cases, the payments described in the preceding sentence may be subject to certain minimum payment levels. As of the date of this SAI, the Intermediaries and other third parties receiving one or more types of the contractual payments described above include (in addition to FBS and NFS): Advisor Credit Exchange, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics, LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, Dorsey Wright and Associates, LLC, Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., Envestnet Asset Management, Inc., FDx Advisors, Inc., LPL Financial LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, Pershing LLC, Public Holdings, Inc., Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Riskalyze, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. Any additions, modifications, or deletions to Intermediaries and other third parties listed above that have occurred since the date of this SAI are not included in the list.

Further, BFA Entities make Education Costs and Publishing Costs payments to other Intermediaries that are not listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. BFA Entities may determine to make such payments based on any number of metrics. For example, BFA Entities may make payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary's services at defined levels or an amount based on the Intermediary's net sales of one or more iShares funds in a

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year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, BFA anticipates that the payments paid by BFA Entities in connection with the Fund, iShares funds and exchange-traded products in general will be immaterial to BFA Entities in the aggregate for the next year. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments or financial incentives his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made, or financial incentives offered, by the BFA Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for the Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of the Fund, other iShares funds or other exchange-traded products.**

The Fund may participate in certain market maker incentive programs of a national securities exchange in which an affiliate of the Fund would pay a fee to the exchange used for the purpose of incentivizing one or more market makers in the securities of the Fund to enhance the liquidity and quality of the secondary market of securities of the Fund. The fee would then be credited by the exchange to one or more market makers that meet or exceed liquidity and market quality standards with respect to the securities of the Fund. Each market maker incentive program is subject to approval from the SEC. Any such fee payments made to an exchange will be made by an affiliate of the Fund solely for the benefit of the Fund and will not be paid from any Fund assets. Other funds managed by BFA may also participate in such programs.

## Determination of Net Asset Value
**Valuation of Shares. The NAV for the Fund is generally calculated as of the close of regular trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each business day the NYSE is open. Valuation of assets held by the Fund is as follows:**

**Equity Investments. Equity securities traded on a recognized securities exchange (*e.g.*, NYSE), on separate trading boards of a securities exchange or through a market system that provides contemporaneous transaction pricing information (each an "Exchange") are valued using information obtained via independent pricing services, generally at the closing price or, if an Exchange closing price is not available, the last traded price on that Exchange prior to the time as of which the assets or liabilities are valued. However, under certain circumstances, other means of determining current market value may be used. If an equity security is traded on more than one Exchange, the current market value of the security where it is primarily traded generally will be used. In the event that there are no sales involving an equity security held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such security, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the security, in which case such asset would be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

**Fixed-Income Investments. Fixed-income securities for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued using such securities' current market value. The Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using the last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by the Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. The pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values, including transaction data (*e.g*., recent representative bids and offers), credit quality information, perceived market movements, news, and other relevant information and by other methods, which may include consideration of: yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type; indications as to values from dealers; general market conditions; and/or other factors and assumptions. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but the Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. The amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with 60 days or less remaining to maturity unless such method does not represent fair value. Certain fixed-income investments, including asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, may be valued based on valuation models that consider the estimated cash flows of each tranche of the issuer, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.**

**Options, Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Exchange-traded equity options (except those that are customized) for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the mean of the last bid and ask prices as quoted on the Exchange or the board of trade on which such options are traded. In the event that there is no mean price available for an exchange traded equity option held by the Fund on a day on which the Fund values such option, the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price, if available, will be used as the value of such option. If no bid or ask price is available on a day on which the Fund values such option, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the option, in which case such option will be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

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Customized exchange-traded equity options, as well as OTC derivatives, may be valued using a mathematical model which may incorporate a number of market data factors. Financial futures contracts and options thereon, which are traded on exchanges, are valued at their last sale price or settle price as of the close of such exchanges. Swap agreements and other derivatives are generally valued daily based upon quotations from market makers or by a pricing service in accordance with the Valuation Procedures.

**Underlying Funds. Shares of underlying open-end funds (including money market funds) are valued at NAV. Shares of underlying exchange-traded closed-end funds or other ETFs will be valued at their most recent closing price.**

**General Valuation Information. Prices obtained from independent third-party pricing services, broker-dealers or market makers to value the Fund's securities and other assets and liabilities are based on information available at the time the Fund values its assets and liabilities. In the event that a pricing service quotation is revised or updated subsequent to the day on which the Fund valued such security, the revised pricing service quotation generally will be applied prospectively. Such determination will be made considering pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding the revision.**

The price the Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from the Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for assets that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by the Fund, and the Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. The Fund's ability to value its investment may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

All cash, receivables and current payables are carried on the Fund's books at their fair value.

In the event that application of the methods of valuation discussed above result in a price for a security which is deemed not to be representative of the fair market value of such security, the security will be valued by, under the direction of or in accordance with a method approved by BFA, the Fund's valuation designee, as reflecting fair value. All other assets and liabilities (including securities for which market quotations are not readily available) held by the Fund (including restricted securities) are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by BFA pursuant to the Valuation Procedures. Any assets and liabilities which are denominated in a foreign currency are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates.

Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate the Fund's NAV and the prices used in the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between the Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

**Fair Value. When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, the Fund's investments are valued at fair value ("Fair Value Assets"). Fair Value Assets are valued by BFA in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act, the Board of Trustees has designated BFA as the valuation designee for the respective Funds for which it serves as investment adviser. BFA may reasonably conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if, among other things, a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its complete lack of trading, if BFA believes a market quotation from a broker-dealer or other source is unreliable (*e.g.*, where it varies significantly from a recent trade, or no longer reflects the fair value of the security or other asset or liability subsequent to the most recent market quotation), or where the security or other asset or liability is only thinly traded or due to the occurrence of a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation. For this purpose, a "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment, that an event has occurred after the close of trading for an asset or liability but prior to or at the time of pricing the Fund's assets or liabilities, is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, the Fund. On any day the NYSE is open and a foreign market or the primary exchange on which a foreign asset or liability is traded is closed, such asset or liability will be valued using the prior day's price, provided that BFA is not aware of any significant event or other information that would cause such price to no longer reflect the fair value of the asset or liability, in which case such asset or liability would be treated as a Fair Value Asset.**

BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving methodologies by investment type and significant inputs used in the fair valuation of Fund assets or liabilities. In addition, the Fund's accounting agent assists BFA by periodically endeavoring to confirm the prices it receives from all third-party pricing services, index providers and broker-dealers and regularly evaluating the values assigned to the securities and other assets and liabilities of the Fund. The pricing of all Fair Value Assets is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof.

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When determining the price for a Fair Value Asset, BFA will seek to determine the price that the Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction on the date on which the asset or liability is being valued, and does not seek to determine the price the Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. Fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. When determining the fair value of an investment, one or more fair value methodologies may be used (depending on certain factors, including the asset type). For example, the investment may be initially priced based on the original cost of the investment or, alternatively, using proprietary or third-party models that may rely upon one or more unobservable inputs. Prices of actual, executed or historical transactions in the relevant investment (or comparable instruments) or, where appropriate, an appraisal by a third-party experienced in the valuation of similar instruments, may also be used as a basis for establishing the fair value of an investment.

The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining the Fund's NAV. As a result, the Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

The Fund's annual audited financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), follow the requirements for valuation set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"), which defines and establishes a framework for measuring fair value under US GAAP and expands financial statement disclosure requirements relating to fair value measurements.

Generally, ASC 820 and other accounting rules applicable to funds and various assets in which they invest are evolving. Such changes may adversely affect the Fund. For example, the evolution of rules governing the determination of the fair market value of assets or liabilities, to the extent such rules become more stringent, would tend to increase the cost and/or reduce the availability of third-party determinations of fair market value. This may in turn increase the costs associated with selling assets or affect their liquidity due to the Fund's inability to obtain a third-party determination of fair market value.

## Brokerage Transactions
Subject to policies established by the Board, BFA is primarily responsible for the execution of the Fund's portfolio transactions and the allocation of brokerage. BFA does not execute transactions through any particular broker or dealer, but seeks to obtain the best net results for the Fund, taking into account such factors as price (including the applicable brokerage commission or dealer spread), size of order, difficulty of execution, operational facilities of the firm and the firm's risk and skill in positioning blocks of securities. While BFA generally seeks reasonable trade execution costs, the Fund does not necessarily pay the lowest spread or commission available, and payment of the lowest commission or spread is not necessarily consistent with obtaining the best price and execution in particular transactions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, BFA may select a broker based partly upon brokerage or research services provided to BFA and its clients, including the Fund. In return for such services, BFA may cause the Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if BFA determines in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to the services provided.

In selecting brokers or dealers to execute portfolio transactions, BFA seeks to obtain the best price and most favorable execution for the Fund and may take into account a variety of factors including: (i) the size, nature and character of the security or instrument being traded and the markets in which it is purchased or sold; (ii) the desired timing of the transaction; (iii) BFA's knowledge of the expected commission rates and spreads currently available; (iv) the activity existing and expected in the market for the particular security or instrument, including any anticipated execution difficulties; (v) the full range of brokerage services provided; (vi) the broker's or dealer's capital; (vii) the quality of research and research services provided; (viii) the reasonableness of the commission, dealer spread or its equivalent for the specific transaction; and (ix) BFA's knowledge of any actual or apparent operational problems of a broker or dealer. Brokers may also be selected because of their ability to handle special or difficult executions, such as may be involved in large block trades, thinly traded securities, or other circumstances.

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Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act ("Section 28(e)") permits a U.S. investment adviser, under certain circumstances, to cause an account to pay a broker or dealer a commission for effecting a transaction in securities that exceeds the amount another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting the same transaction in recognition of the value of brokerage and research services provided by that broker or dealer. This includes commissions paid on riskless principal transactions in securities under certain conditions.

From time to time, the Fund may purchase new issues of securities in a fixed price offering. In these situations, the broker may be a member of the selling group that will, in addition to selling securities, provide BFA with research services. FINRA has adopted rules expressly permitting these types of arrangements under certain circumstances. Generally, the broker will provide research "credits" in these situations at a rate that is higher than that available for typical secondary market transactions. These arrangements may not fall within the safe harbor of Section 28(e).

The Fund anticipates that brokerage transactions involving foreign equity securities generally will be conducted primarily on the principal stock exchanges of the applicable country. Foreign equity securities may be held by the Fund in the form of depositary receipts, or other securities convertible into foreign equity securities. Depositary receipts may be listed on stock exchanges, or traded in OTC markets in the U.S. or Europe, as the case may be. ADRs, like other securities traded in the U.S., will be subject to negotiated commission rates.

OTC issues, including most fixed-income securities such as corporate debt and U.S. Government securities, are normally traded on a "net" basis without a stated commission, through dealers acting for their own account and not as brokers. The Fund will primarily engage in transactions with these dealers or deal directly with the issuer unless a better price or execution could be obtained by using a broker. Prices paid to a dealer with respect to both foreign and domestic securities will generally include a "spread," which is the difference between the prices at which the dealer is willing to purchase and sell the specific security at the time, and includes the dealer's normal profit.

Under the 1940 Act, persons affiliated with the Fund and persons who are affiliated with such affiliated persons are prohibited from dealing with the Fund as principal in the purchase and sale of securities unless a permissive order allowing such transactions is obtained from the SEC. Since transactions in the OTC market usually involve transactions with the dealers acting as principal for their own accounts, the Fund will not deal with affiliated persons and affiliated persons of such affiliated persons in connection with such transactions. The Fund will not purchase securities during the existence of any underwriting or selling group relating to such securities of which BFA, BRIL or any affiliated person (as defined in the 1940 Act) thereof is a member except pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board in accordance with Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act.

Purchases of money market instruments by the Fund are made from dealers, underwriters and issuers. The Fund does not currently expect to incur any brokerage commission expense on such transactions because money market instruments are generally traded on a "net" basis with dealers acting as principal for their own accounts without a stated commission. The price of the security, however, usually includes a profit to the dealer.

BFA may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions.

Securities purchased in underwritten offerings include a fixed amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter's concession or discount. When securities are purchased or sold directly from or to an issuer, no commissions or discounts are paid.

Investment decisions for the Fund and for other investment accounts managed by BFA and the other Affiliates are made independently of each other in light of differing conditions. A variety of factors will be considered in making investment allocations. These factors include: (i) investment objectives or strategies for particular accounts, including sector, industry, country or region and capitalization weightings; (ii) tax considerations of an account; (iii) risk or investment concentration parameters for an account; (iv) supply or demand for a security at a given price level; (v) size of available investment; (vi) cash availability and liquidity requirements for accounts; (vii) regulatory restrictions; (viii) minimum investment size of an account; (ix) relative size of account; and (x) such other factors as may be approved by BlackRock's general counsel. Moreover, investments may not be allocated to one client account over another based on any of the following considerations: (i) to favor one client account at the expense of another; (ii) to generate higher fees paid by one client account over another

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or to produce greater performance compensation to BlackRock; (iii) to develop or enhance a relationship with a client or prospective client; (iv) to compensate a client for past services or benefits rendered to BlackRock or to induce future services or benefits to be rendered to BlackRock; or (v) to manage or equalize investment performance among different client accounts. BFA and the other Affiliates may deal, trade and invest for their own respective accounts in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest.

Initial public offerings ("IPOs") of securities may be over-subscribed and subsequently trade at a premium in the secondary market. When BFA is given an opportunity to invest in such an initial offering or "new" or "hot" issue, the supply of securities available for client accounts is often less than the amount of securities the accounts would otherwise take. In order to allocate these investments fairly and equitably among client accounts over time, each portfolio manager or a member of his or her respective investment team will indicate to BFA's trading desk their level of interest in a particular offering with respect to eligible clients' accounts for which that team is responsible. IPOs of U.S. equity securities will be identified as eligible for particular client accounts that are managed by portfolio teams who have indicated interest in the offering based on market capitalization of the issuer of the security and the investment mandate of the client account and in the case of international equity securities, the country where the offering is taking place and the investment mandate of the client account. Generally, shares received during the IPO will be allocated among participating client accounts within each investment mandate on a *pro rata* basis. This *pro rata* allocation may result in the Fund receiving less of a particular security than if pro-rating had not occurred. All allocations of securities will be subject, where relevant, to share minimums established for accounts and compliance constraints. In situations where supply is too limited to be allocated among all accounts for which the investment is eligible, portfolio managers may rotate such investment opportunities among one or more accounts so long as the rotation system provides for fair access for all client accounts over time. Other allocation methodologies that are considered by BFA to be fair and equitable to clients may be used as well.

Because different accounts may have differing investment objectives and policies, BFA may buy and sell the same securities at the same time for different clients based on the particular investment objective, guidelines and strategies of those accounts. For example, BFA may decide that it may be entirely appropriate for a growth fund to sell a security at the same time a value fund is buying that security. To the extent that transactions on behalf of more than one client of BFA or the other Affiliates during the same period increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, there may be an adverse effect on price. For example, sales of a security by BlackRock on behalf of one or more of its clients may decrease the market price of such security, adversely impacting other BlackRock clients that still hold the security. If purchases or sales of securities arise for consideration at or about the same time that would involve the Fund or other clients or funds for which BFA or another Affiliate act as investment manager, transactions in such securities will be made, insofar as feasible, for the respective funds and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all.

In certain instances, BFA may find it efficient for purposes of seeking to obtain best execution, to aggregate or "bunch" certain contemporaneous purchases or sale orders of its advisory accounts and advisory accounts of affiliates. In general, all contemporaneous trades for client accounts under management by the same portfolio manager or investment team will be bunched in a single order if the trader believes the bunched trade would provide each client with an opportunity to achieve a more favorable execution at a potentially lower execution cost. The costs associated with a bunched order will be shared *pro rata* among the clients in the bunched order. Generally, if an order for a particular portfolio manager or management team is filled at several different prices through multiple trades, all accounts participating in the order will receive the average price (except in the case of certain international markets where average pricing is not permitted). While in some cases this practice could have a detrimental effect upon the price or value of the security as far as the Fund is concerned, in other cases it could be beneficial to the Fund. Transactions effected by BFA or the other Affiliates on behalf of more than one of its clients during the same period may increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, causing an adverse effect on price. The trader will give the bunched order to the broker-dealer that the trader has identified as being able to provide the best execution of the order. Orders for purchase or sale of securities will be placed within a reasonable amount of time of the order receipt and bunched orders will be kept bunched only long enough to execute the order.

The table below sets forth the brokerage commissions paid by the Fund for the fiscal years noted. Any differences in brokerage commissions paid by the Fund from year to year are principally due to increases or decreases in the Fund's assets over those periods or changes to the allocation of equities and derivatives in the Fund's portfolio:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended October 31, 2020** |
| 10/15/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1340986 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$751227 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$273226 |

---

The Fund did not pay any brokerage commissions to BRIL, an affiliate of BFA, or to any other broker-dealer that is part of the BlackRock group of companies, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The following table sets forth the names of the Fund's "regular broker dealers," as defined under Rule 10b-1 of the 1940 Act, which derive more than 15% of their gross revenues from securities-related activities and in which the Fund invests, together with the market value of each investment as of the Fund's fiscal year ended October 31, 2022:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Issuer** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Market Value of<br> Investment** |
| Citigroup, Inc. | &nbsp;&nbsp;$9982261 |
| Royal Bank of Canada | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9910231 |

---

The Fund's purchase and sale orders for securities may be combined with those of other investment companies, clients or accounts that BlackRock manages or advises. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities of the Fund and one or more other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Fund and the other accounts in a manner deemed equitable to all by BlackRock. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Fund is concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower transaction costs will be beneficial to the Fund. BlackRock may deal, trade and invest for its own account in the types of securities in which the Fund may invest. BlackRock may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Fund with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions. The Fund will not deal with affiliates in principal transactions unless permitted by applicable SEC rules or regulations, or by SEC exemptive order.

Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year. High turnover rates may result in comparatively greater brokerage expenses. The table below sets forth the portfolio turnover rates of the Fund for the fiscal years noted:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended Oct. 31, 2021** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% |

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## Additional Information Concerning the Trust
**Shares. The Trust currently consists of 16 separate investment series or portfolios called funds. The Trust issues shares of beneficial interests in the funds with no par value. The Board may designate additional iShares funds.**

Each share issued by a fund has a *pro rata* interest in the assets of that fund. Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the relevant fund, and in the net distributable assets of such fund on liquidation.

Each share has one vote with respect to matters upon which the shareholder is entitled to vote. In any matter submitted to shareholders for a vote, each fund shall hold a separate vote, provided that shareholders of all affected funds will vote together when: (i) required by the 1940 Act, or (ii) the Trustees determine that the matter affects the interests of more than one fund.

Under Delaware law, the Trust is not required to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. The policy of the Trust is not to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940

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Act. All shares (regardless of the fund) have noncumulative voting rights in the election of members of the Board. Under Delaware law, Trustees of the Trust may be removed by vote of the shareholders.

Following the creation of the initial Creation Unit(s) of shares of a fund and immediately prior to the commencement of trading in such fund's shares, a holder of shares may be a "control person" of the fund, as defined in Rule 0-1 under the 1940 Act. A fund cannot predict the length of time for which one or more shareholders may remain a control person of the fund.

Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to iShares U.S. ETF Trust, c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC, 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, beneficial owners of more than 5% of the shares of a fund may be subject to the reporting provisions of Section 13 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. In addition, absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, officers and trustees of a fund and beneficial owners of 10% of the shares of a fund ("Insiders") may be subject to the insider reporting, short-swing profit and short sale provisions of Section 16 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. Beneficial owners and Insiders should consult with their own legal counsel concerning their obligations under Sections 13 and 16 of the 1934 Act and existing guidance provided by the SEC staff.

In accordance with the Trust's current Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust"), the Board may, without shareholder approval (unless such shareholder approval is required by the Declaration of Trust or applicable law, including the 1940 Act), authorize certain funds to merge, reorganize, consolidate, sell all or substantially all of their assets, or take other similar actions with, to or into another fund. The Trust or a fund may be terminated by a majority vote of the Board, or the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders of the Trust or such fund entitled to vote on termination; however, in certain circumstances described in the Declaration of Trust, only a majority vote of the Board is required. Although the shares are not automatically redeemable upon the occurrence of any specific event, the Declaration of Trust provides that the Board will have the unrestricted power to alter the number of shares in a Creation Unit. Therefore, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Board, in its sole discretion, could determine to permit the shares to be redeemable in aggregations smaller than Creation Units or to be individually redeemable. In such circumstance, the Trust or a fund may make redemptions in-kind, for cash or for a combination of cash or securities. Further, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Trust or a fund might elect to pay cash redemptions to all shareholders, with an in-kind election for shareholders owning in excess of a certain stated minimum amount.

**DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Fund. Shares of the Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.**

DTC was created in 1973 to enable electronic movement of securities between its participants ("DTC Participants"), and NSCC was established in 1976 to provide a single settlement system for securities clearing and to serve as central counterparty for securities trades among DTC Participants. In 1999, DTC and NSCC were consolidated within The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") and became wholly-owned subsidiaries of DTCC. The common stock of DTCC is owned by the DTC Participants, but NYSE and FINRA, through subsidiaries, hold preferred shares in DTCC that provide them with the right to elect one member each to the DTCC board of directors. Access to the DTC system is available to entities, such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly ("Indirect Participants").

Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as "Beneficial Owners") is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in shares of the Fund.

Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee to be charged to the Trust a listing of the shares of the Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC

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Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Share distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares of the Trust. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall credit immediately DTC Participants' accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in shares of the Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a "street name," and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.

The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants. DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to shares of the Trust at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.

**Distribution of Shares. In connection with the Fund's launch, the Fund was seeded through the sale of one or more Creation Units by the Fund to one or more initial investors. Initial investors participating in the seeding may be Authorized Participants, a lead market maker or other third party investor or an affiliate of the Fund or the Fund's adviser. Each such initial investor may sell some or all of the shares underlying the Creation Unit(s) held by them pursuant to the registration statement for the Fund (each, a "Selling Shareholder"), which shares have been registered to permit the resale from time to time after purchase. The Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale by the Selling Shareholders of these shares.**

Selling Shareholders may sell shares owned by them directly or through broker-dealers, in accordance with applicable law, on any national securities exchange on which the shares may be listed or quoted at the time of sale, through trading systems, in the OTC market or in transactions other than on these exchanges or systems at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected through brokerage transactions, privately negotiated trades, block sales, entry into options or other derivatives transactions or through any other means authorized by applicable law. Selling Shareholders may redeem the shares held in Creation Unit size by them through an Authorized Participant.

Any Selling Shareholder and any broker-dealer or agents participating in the distribution of shares may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act, in connection with such sales.

Any Selling Shareholder and any other person participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

## Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
**General. The Trust issues and sells shares of the Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor or its agent, without a sales load, at a price based on the Fund's NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order received by the Distributor or its agent in proper form. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to be placed earlier in the day. The following table sets forth the number of shares of the Fund that constitute a Creation Unit for the Fund and the approximate value of such Creation Unit as of November 30, 2022:**

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Shares Per<br> Creation Unit** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Approximate<br> Value Per<br> Creation<br> Unit (U.S.$)** |
| 100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$3779621.70 |

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In its discretion, the Trust reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of the Fund's shares that constitute a Creation Unit. The Board reserves the right to declare a split or a consolidation in the number of shares outstanding of the Fund, and to make a corresponding change in the number of shares constituting a Creation Unit, in the event that the per share price in the secondary market rises (or declines) to an amount that falls outside the range deemed desirable by the Board.

A "Business Day" with respect to the Fund is any day the Fund is open for business, including any day when it satisfies redemption requests as required by Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act. The Fund is open for business any day on which the Listing Exchange on which the Fund is listed for trading is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, the Listing Exchange observes the following holidays, as observed: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

**Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of Creation Units of the Fund, generally consists of Deposit Securities and the Cash Component computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to creation requests received in proper form. The Fund Deposit represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of the Fund. Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, to purchases of Creation Units of shares of the Fund until such time as the next-announced Fund Deposit is made available.**

The "Cash Component" is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares (per Creation Unit) and the "Deposit Amount," which is an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities, and serves to compensate for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the Deposit Amount. Payment of any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities are the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant purchasing the Creation Unit. The Fund generally offers Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind.

The identity and number of shares of the Deposit Securities change pursuant to changes in the composition of the Fund's portfolio and as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by BFA with a view to the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities constituting the Underlying Index.

The Fund Deposit may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Deposit Securities portion of the Fund Deposit through "systematic rounding." The rounding methodology "rounds up" position sizes of securities in the Deposit Securities (which in turn reduces the cash portion). However, the methodology limits the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Fund Deposit.

Fund Deposits may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when instruments are not available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) when instruments are not eligible for transfer through DTC or the clearing process (as discussed below); (iii) when instruments that the Authorized Participant (or an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) are not able to be traded due to a trading restriction; (iv) when delivery of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant (or by an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws; (v) in connection with distribution payments to be made by the Fund; or (vi) in certain other situations.

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**Cash Purchase Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified (Creation Units of the Fund are generally offered partially for cash), they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof. In the case of a partial or full cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser.**

**Procedures for Creation of Creation Units. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit of the Fund, an entity must be: (i) a "Participating Party," *i.e*., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the "Clearing Process"), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC, or (ii) a DTC Participant, and must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units ("Authorized Participant Agreement") (discussed below). A member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units is referred to as an "Authorized Participant." All shares of the Fund, however created, will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.**

**Role of the Authorized Participant. Creation Units may be purchased only by or through a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Fund or one of its service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units (an "Authorized Participant"). Such Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of such Authorized Participant Agreement and on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that such Authorized Participant will make available in advance of each purchase of shares an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component, once the NAV of a Creation Unit is next determined after receipt of the purchase order in proper form, together with the transaction fees described below. An Authorized Participant, acting on behalf of an investor, may require the investor to enter into an agreement with such Authorized Participant with respect to certain matters, including payment of the Cash Component. Investors who are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not be a DTC Participant or may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that orders to purchase Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant. As a result, purchase orders placed through an Authorized Participant may result in additional charges to such investor. The Trust does not expect to enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with more than a small number of DTC Participants. A list of current Authorized Participants may be obtained from the Distributor. The Distributor has adopted guidelines regarding Authorized Participants' transactions in Creation Units that are made available to all Authorized Participants. These guidelines set forth the processes and standards for Authorized Participants to transact with the Distributor and its agents in connection with creation and redemption transactions. In addition, the Distributor may be appointed as the proxy of the Authorized Participant and may be granted a power of attorney under its Authorized Participant Agreement.**

**Purchase Orders. To initiate an order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit to the Distributor or its agent an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund, in proper form, generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day to receive that day's NAV. The Distributor or its agent will notify BFA and the custodian of such order. The custodian will then provide such information to any appropriate sub-custodian. Procedures and requirements governing the delivery of the Fund Deposit are set forth in the procedures handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a creation request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request. Those placing orders to purchase Creation Units through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor or its agent by the Cutoff Time (as defined below) on such Business Day.**

The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the Fund, immediately available or same day funds estimated by the Fund to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with the applicable purchase transaction fees. Those placing orders should ascertain the deadline for cash transfers by contacting the operations department of the broker or depositary institution effectuating the transfer of the Cash Component. This deadline is likely to be significantly earlier than the Cutoff Time of the Fund. Investors should be aware that an Authorized Participant may require orders for purchases of shares placed with it to be in the particular form required by the individual Authorized Participant.

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The Authorized Participant is responsible for any and all expenses and costs incurred by the Fund, including any applicable cash amounts, in connection with any purchase order.

**Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable order to purchase shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. Creation Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent pursuant to procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure, may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or its agent or an Authorized Participant. Orders to create shares of the Fund that are submitted on the Business Day immediately preceding a holiday or a day (other than a weekend) when the equity markets in the relevant non-U.S. market are closed may not be accepted. The Fund's deadline specified above for the submission of purchase orders is referred to as the Fund's "Cutoff Time." The Distributor or its agent, in their discretion, may permit the submission of such orders and requests by or through an Authorized Participant at any time (including on days on which the Listing Exchange is not open for business) via communication through the facilities of the Distributor's or its agent's proprietary website maintained for this purpose. Purchase orders and redemption requests, if accepted by the Trust, will be processed based on the NAV next determined after such acceptance in accordance with the Fund's Cutoff Times as provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement and disclosed in this SAI.**

**Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. Subject to the conditions that (i) an irrevocable purchase order has been submitted by the Authorized Participant (either on its own or another investor's behalf) and (ii) arrangements satisfactory to the Fund are in place for payment of the Cash Component and any other cash amounts which may be due, the Fund will accept the order, subject to the Fund's right (and the right of the Distributor and BFA) to reject any order until acceptance, as set forth below.**

Once the Fund has accepted an order, upon the next determination of the NAV of the shares, the Fund will confirm the issuance of a Creation Unit, against receipt of payment, at such NAV. The Distributor or its agent will then transmit a confirmation of acceptance to the Authorized Participant that placed the order.

The Fund reserves the right to reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent provided that a rejection or revocation of a creation order does not violate Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act. For example, the Fund may reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent if (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of the Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered do not conform to the identity and number of shares specified, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities is not legally required or would, in the opinion of the Trust, be unlawful or have an adverse effect on the Fund or its shareholders (*e.g*., jeopardize the Fund's tax status); or (v) circumstances outside the control of the Fund, the Distributor or its agent and BFA make it impracticable to process purchase orders. The Distributor or its agent shall notify a prospective purchaser of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such purchaser of its rejection of such order. The Fund, State Street, the sub-custodian and the Distributor or its agent are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for failure to give such notification.

**Issuance of a Creation Unit. Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When the sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the securities included in the Fund Deposit (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian or sub-custodians, the Distributor or its agent and BFA shall be notified of such delivery and the Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit. Creation Units are generally issued on a "T+2 basis" (*i.e.*, two Business Days after trade date). The Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law.**

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor, the Fund will issue Creation Units to such Authorized Participant, notwithstanding the fact that the corresponding Fund Deposits have not been received in part or in whole, in reliance on the undertaking of the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Deposit Securities as soon as possible, which undertaking shall be secured by such Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to buy Deposit Securities for the Fund. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the contractual settlement date. Information concerning the Fund's current procedures for collateralization of missing Deposit Securities is

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available from the Distributor or its agent. The Authorized Participant Agreement will permit the Fund to buy the missing Deposit Securities at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Fund of purchasing such securities and the collateral including, without limitation, liability for related brokerage, borrowings and other charges.

In certain cases, Authorized Participants may create and redeem Creation Units on the same trade date and in these instances, the Fund reserves the right to settle these transactions on a net basis or require a representation from the Authorized Participants that the creation and redemption transactions are for separate beneficial owners. All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by the Fund and the Fund's determination shall be final and binding.

#### Costs Associated with Creation Transactions.
A standard creation transaction fee is imposed to offset the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant creates a Creation Unit, and is the same, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a purchase consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Deposit Securities to the Fund. Certain fees/costs associated with creation transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to acquire Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth the Fund's standard creation transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $700 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit.

**Redemption of Creation Units. Shares of the Fund may be redeemed by Authorized Participants only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Distributor or its agent and only on a Business Day. The Fund will not redeem shares in amounts less than Creation Units. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the secondary market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of shares to constitute a Creation Unit that could be redeemed by an Authorized Participant. Beneficial owners also may sell shares in the secondary market.**

The Fund generally redeems Creation Units partially for cash. However, the Fund reserves the right to distribute securities and other portfolio instruments in-kind as payment for Creation Units being redeemed. Please see the *Cash Redemption Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the in-kind method for further information on redeeming Creation Units of the Fund.

The Fund publishes the designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) that will be applicable to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day ("Fund Securities" or "Redemption Basket"), and an amount of cash (the "Cash Amount," as described below) in order to effect redemptions of Creation Units of the Fund. Such Fund Securities and Cash Amount will remain in effect until such time as the next announced composition of the Fund Securities and Cash Amount is made available. The Fund Securities and Cash Amount are subject to possible amendment or correction. Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities that are applicable to creations of Creation Units. Procedures and requirements governing redemption transactions are set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time.

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If redemptions are not paid in cash, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of Fund Securities, plus the Cash Amount, which is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares being redeemed, as next determined after the receipt of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of Fund Securities, less a redemption transaction fee (as described below).

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant (or to an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws or due to a trading restriction; (ii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Fund Security by the Authorized Participant due to restrictions under applicable securities or other local laws; (iii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in unfavorable tax treatment; (iv) when a Fund Security cannot be settled or otherwise delivered in time to facilitate an in-kind redemption; or (v) in certain other situations. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder. The Fund generally redeems Creation Units partially for cash. The Redemption Basket may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Fund Securities portion of the Redemption Basket through systematically rounding. The rounding methodology allows position sizes of securities in the Fund Securities to be "rounded up," while limiting the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Redemption Basket. Redemption Baskets may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

**Cash Redemption Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit full cash redemptions of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units are available or specified (*e.g.,* Creation Units of the Fund are generally redeemed partially for cash), they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof. In the case of partial or full cash redemption, the Authorized Participant receives the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.**

#### Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions.
A redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by the Fund. The standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and is the same regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed by an Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a redemption consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from the Fund to their account on their order. Certain fees/costs associated with redemption transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to dispose of Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth the Fund's standard redemption transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Standard Redemption<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| $700 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit, inclusive of the standard redemption transaction fee.

**Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemption requests for Creation Units of the Fund must be submitted to the Distributor or its agent by or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable request to redeem shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to redeem Creation Units to be placed**

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earlier that day. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a redemption request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request.

The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption in the form required by the Fund to the Distributor or its agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant who has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement. At any time, only a limited number of broker-dealers will have an Authorized Participant Agreement in effect. Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant. Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the shares to the Fund's transfer agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.

A redemption request is considered to be in "proper form" if: (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Fund's transfer agent the Creation Unit redeemed through the book-entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the Listing Exchange closing time on any Business Day on which the redemption request is submitted; (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the Fund is received by the Distributor or its agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified above; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement are properly followed.

Upon receiving a redemption request, the Distributor or its agent shall notify the Fund and the Fund's transfer agent of such redemption request. The tender of an investor's shares for redemption and the distribution of the securities and/or cash included in the redemption payment made in respect of Creation Units redeemed will be made through DTC and the relevant Authorized Participant to the Beneficial Owner thereof as recorded on the book-entry system of DTC or the DTC Participant through which such investor holds, as the case may be, or by such other means specified by the Authorized Participant submitting the redemption request.

A redeeming Authorized Participant, whether on its own account or acting on behalf of a Beneficial Owner, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the portfolio securities are customarily traded, to which account such portfolio securities will be delivered.

Deliveries of redemption proceeds by the Fund are generally made within two Business Days (*i.e.*, "T+2"). The Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law.

If neither the Authorized Participant nor the Beneficial Owner on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting has appropriate arrangements to take delivery of Fund Securities in the applicable non-U.S. jurisdiction and it is not possible to make other such arrangements, or if it is not possible to effect deliveries of Fund Securities in such jurisdiction, the Fund may in its discretion exercise its option to redeem such shares in cash, and the redeeming Beneficial Owner will be required to receive its redemption proceeds in cash. In such case, the investor will receive a cash payment equal to the net asset value of its shares based on the NAV of the Fund next determined after the redemption request is received in proper form (minus a redemption transaction fee and additional charges specified above to offset the Fund's brokerage and other transaction costs associated with the disposition of Fund Securities). Redemptions of shares for Fund Securities will be subject to compliance with applicable U.S. federal and state securities laws and the Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Units for cash to the extent that the Fund cannot lawfully deliver specific Fund Securities upon redemptions or cannot do so without first registering the Fund Securities under such laws.

Although the Trust does not ordinarily permit cash redemptions of Creation Units (except that, as noted above, Creation Units of the Fund generally will be redeemed partially for cash), in the event that cash redemptions are permitted or required by the Trust, proceeds will be paid to the Authorized Participant redeeming shares as soon as practicable after the date of redemption (within seven calendar days thereafter). If the Fund includes a foreign investment in its basket, and if a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming Authorized Participants prevents timely delivery of the foreign investment in response to a redemption request, the Fund may delay delivery of the foreign investment more than seven days if the Fund delivers the foreign investment as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 days.

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To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant's agreement with the Distributor or its agent, in the event an Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation Unit to be redeemed to the Fund, at or prior to the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request, the Distributor or its agent will accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by the Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request and shall be held by State Street and marked-to-market daily. The fees of State Street and any sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant Agreement permits the Fund to acquire shares of the Fund at any time and subjects the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the aggregate of the cost to the Fund of purchasing such shares, plus the value of the Cash Amount, and the value of the collateral together with liability for related brokerage and other charges.

Because the portfolio securities or other assets of the Fund may trade on exchange(s) on days that the Listing Exchange is closed or are otherwise not Business Days for the Fund, shareholders may not be able to redeem their shares of the Fund or purchase or sell shares of the Fund on the Listing Exchange on days when the NAV of the Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant non-U.S. markets.

The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to the Fund: (i) for any period during which the Listing Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the Listing Exchange is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the shares of the Fund's portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.

**Custom Baskets. Creation and Redemption baskets may differ and the Fund will accept "custom baskets." A custom basket may include any of the following: (i) a basket that is composed of a non-representative selection of the Fund's portfolio holdings; (ii) a representative basket that is different from the initial basket used in transactions on the same business day; or (iii) a basket that contains bespoke cash substitutions for a single Authorized Participant. The Fund has adopted policies and procedures that govern the construction and acceptance of baskets, including heightened requirements for certain types of custom baskets. Such policies and procedures provide the parameters for the construction and acceptance of custom baskets that are in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, establish processes for revisions to, or deviations from, such parameters, and specify the titles and roles of the employees of BFA who are required to review each custom basket for compliance with those parameters. In addition, when constructing custom baskets for redemptions, the tax efficiency of the Fund may be taken into account. The policies and procedures distinguish among different types of custom baskets that may be used for the Fund and impose different requirements for different types of custom baskets in order to seek to mitigate against potential risks of conflicts and/or overreaching by an Authorized Participant. BlackRock has established a governance process to oversee basket compliance for the Fund, as set forth in the Fund's policies and procedures.**

**Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units. An Authorized Participant generally will recognize either gain or loss upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units. This gain or loss is calculated by taking the market value of the Creation Units purchased over the Authorized Participant's aggregate basis in the Deposit Securities exchanged therefor. However, the IRS may apply the wash sales rules to determine that any loss realized upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units is not currently deductible. Authorized Participants should consult their own tax advisors.**

Current U.S. federal income tax laws dictate that capital gain or loss realized from the redemption of Creation Units will generally create long-term capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the Creation Units for more than one year, or short-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Units were held for one year or less, if the Creation Units are held as capital assets.

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## Taxes
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of the Fund. This summary does not address all of the potential U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be applicable to the Fund or to all categories of investors, some of which may be subject to special tax rules. Current and prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the specific U.S. federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of investing in the Fund. The summary is based on the laws and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof in effect on the date of this SAI, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect.

**Regulated Investment Company Qualifications. The Fund intends to qualify for treatment as a separate RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, the Fund must annually distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (which includes dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements. Among such other requirements are the following: (i) at least 90% of the Fund's annual gross income must be derived from dividends, interest, payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock or securities or non-U.S. currencies, other income (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect to its business of investing in such stock, securities or currencies, and net income derived from interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships (*i.e.,* partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than partnerships that derive at least 90% of their income from interest, dividends, capital gains and other traditionally permitted RIC income); and (ii) at the close of each quarter of the Fund's taxable year, (a) at least 50% of the market value of the Fund's total assets must be represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs and other securities, with such other securities limited for purposes of this calculation in respect of any one issuer to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund's assets and not greater than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (b) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund's total assets may be invested in the securities (other than U.S. government securities or the securities of other RICs) of any one issuer, of two or more issuers of which 20% or more of the voting stock is held by the Fund and that are engaged in the same or similar trades or businesses or related trades or businesses, or the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships.**

The Fund may be able to cure a failure to derive at least 90% of its income from the sources specified above or a failure to diversify its holdings in the manner described above by paying a tax and/or by disposing of certain assets. If, in any taxable year, the Fund fails one of these tests and does not timely cure the failure, the Fund will be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation and distributions to its shareholders will not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

Although, in general, the passive loss rules of the Internal Revenue Code do not apply to RICs, such rules do apply to a RIC with respect to items attributable to interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships. The Fund's investments in partnerships, including in qualified publicly-traded partnerships, may result in the Fund being subject to state, local, or non-U.S. income, franchise or withholding tax liabilities.

**Taxation of RICs. As a RIC, the Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders, provided that it satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. To satisfy the minimum distribution requirement, the Fund must distribute to its shareholders at least the sum of (i) 90% of its "investment company taxable income" (*i.e.,* income other than its net realized long-term capital gain over its net realized short-term capital loss), plus or minus certain adjustments, and (ii) 90% of its net tax-exempt income for the taxable year. The Fund will be subject to income tax at regular corporate rates on any taxable income or gains that it does not distribute to its shareholders. If the Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC or fails to meet the distribution requirement, all of its taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, distributions to individuals should be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income and distributions to corporate shareholders generally should be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Although the Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and its capital gains for each taxable year, the Fund may decide to retain a portion of its income or gains if the Fund determines that doing so is in the interest of its shareholders. The Fund will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent any such income or**

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gains are not distributed. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC in any year, it must pay out its earnings and profits accumulated in that year in order to qualify again as a RIC. If the Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two taxable years, the Fund may be required to recognize any net built-in gains with respect to certain of its assets (*i.e.,* the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if the Fund had been liquidated) if it qualifies as a RIC in a subsequent year.

The Subsidiary will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax. The Subsidiary will, however, be considered a controlled foreign corporation, and the Fund will be required to include as income annually amounts earned by the Subsidiary during that year. The Fund will be subject to the distribution requirements described above on such Subsidiary income, whether or not the Subsidiary makes a distribution to the Fund during the taxable year. Based on final regulations issued by the IRS on which taxpayers may rely for taxable years beginning after September 28, 2016, the Fund expects its income with respect to the Subsidiary to be qualifying income. In the future, if the IRS issues regulations or other guidance, or Congress enacts legislation, limiting the circumstances in which the Fund's income with respect to the Subsidiary will be considered "qualifying income," the Fund might be required to make changes to its operations, which could reduce the Fund's ability to gain investment exposure to commodities. Fund shareholders could also experience adverse tax consequences in such circumstances.

In addition, the Fund's income from the Subsidiary will be treated as ordinary income. If the Fund were able to invest directly in commodity-linked derivatives, its gains and losses would generally be treated as 60% long-term and 40% short-term gain or loss, to the extent such derivatives are subject to the rules for Section 1256 futures contracts. See "Taxation of Certain Derivatives" below.

**Excise Tax. The Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus at least 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the 12 months ended October 31 of such year. For this purpose, however, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by the Fund that is subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed by year-end. In addition, the minimum amounts that must be distributed in any year to avoid the excise tax will be increased or decreased to reflect any underdistribution or overdistribution, as the case may be, from the previous year. The Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax.**

**Net Capital Loss Carryforwards. Net capital loss carryforwards may be applied against any net realized capital gains in each succeeding year, until they have been reduced to zero.**

In the event that the Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Internal Revenue Code, the loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of the Fund, if any, may be subject to limitation.

As of October 31, 2022, the tax year-end of the Fund, the Fund had non-expiring capital loss carryforwards in the amount of $47,283,976 available to offset future realized capital gains.

**Taxation of U.S. Shareholders. Dividends and other distributions by the Fund are generally treated under the Internal Revenue Code as received by the shareholders at the time the dividend or distribution is made. However, any dividend or distribution declared by the Fund in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in such a month shall be deemed to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year and to have been paid by the Fund not later than such December 31, provided such dividend is actually paid by the Fund during January of the following calendar year.**

The Fund intends to distribute annually to its shareholders substantially all of its investment company taxable income and any net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers). However, if the Fund retains for investment an amount equal to all or a portion of its net long-term capital gains in excess of its net short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers), it will be subject to a corporate tax (at a flat rate of 21%) on the amount retained. In that event, the Fund will designate such retained amounts as undistributed capital gains in a notice to its shareholders who (a) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gains, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount, (b) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on the undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent their credits exceed their liabilities, if any, and (c) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in their shares by an amount equal to the excess of the amount in clause (a) over

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the amount in clause (b). Organizations or persons not subject to U.S. federal income tax on such capital gains will be entitled to a refund of their *pro rata* share of such taxes paid by the Fund upon filing appropriate returns or claims for refund with the IRS.

Distributions of net realized long-term capital gains, if any, that the Fund reports as capital gains dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, whether paid in cash or in shares and regardless of how long a shareholder has held shares of the Fund. All other dividends of the Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits ("regular dividends") are generally subject to tax as ordinary income, subject to the discussion of qualified dividend income below. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.

If an individual receives a regular dividend qualifying for the long-term capital gains rates and such dividend constitutes an "extraordinary dividend," and the individual subsequently recognizes a loss on the sale or exchange of stock in respect of which the extraordinary dividend was paid, then the loss will be long-term capital loss to the extent of such extraordinary dividend. An "extraordinary dividend" on common stock for this purpose is generally a dividend (i) in an amount greater than or equal to 10% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within an 85-day period, or (ii) in an amount greater than 20% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within a 365-day period.

Distributions in excess of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of a shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund, and as a capital gain thereafter (if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets). Distributions in excess of the Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. Shareholders receiving dividends or distributions in the form of additional shares should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of money that the shareholders receiving cash dividends or distributions will receive and should have a cost basis in the shares received equal to such amount. Dividends paid by the Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from domestic corporations may qualify for the federal dividends received deduction for corporations.

A 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on net investment income, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain from investments, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly) and of estates and trusts.

Investors considering buying shares just prior to a dividend or capital gain distribution should be aware that, although the price of shares purchased at that time may reflect the amount of the forthcoming distribution, such dividend or distribution may nevertheless be taxable to them. If the Fund is the holder of record of any security on the record date for any dividends payable with respect to such security, such dividends will be included in the Fund's gross income not as of the date received but as of the later of (a) the date such security became ex-dividend with respect to such dividends (*i.e.*, the date on which a buyer of the security would not be entitled to receive the declared, but unpaid, dividends); or (b) the date the Fund acquired such security. Accordingly, in order to satisfy its income distribution requirements, the Fund may be required to pay dividends based on anticipated earnings, and shareholders may receive dividends in an earlier year than would otherwise be the case.

In certain situations, the Fund may, for a taxable year, defer all or a portion of its net capital loss (or if there is no net capital loss, then any net long-term or short-term capital loss) realized after October and its late-year ordinary loss (defined as the sum of (i) the excess of post-October foreign currency and passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") losses over post-October foreign currency and PFIC gains and (ii) the excess of post-December ordinary losses over post-December ordinary income) until the next taxable year in computing its investment company taxable income and net capital gain, which will defer the recognition of such realized losses. Such deferrals and other rules regarding gains and losses realized after October (or December) may affect the tax character of shareholder distributions.

**Sales of Shares. Upon the sale or exchange of shares of the Fund, a shareholder will realize a taxable gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund. A redemption of shares by the Fund will be treated as a sale for this purpose. Such gain or loss will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder's hands and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for more than one year and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized on a sale or exchange will be disallowed to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced, including replacement through the reinvesting of dividends or capital gains distributions, or by an option or contract to acquire substantially identical shares, within a 61-day period**

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beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition of the shares. In such a case, the basis of the shares acquired will be increased to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss realized by a shareholder on the sale of Fund shares held by the shareholder for six months or less will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any distributions or deemed distributions of long-term capital gains received by the shareholder with respect to such share. The Medicare contribution tax described above will apply to the sale of Fund shares.

If a shareholder incurs a sales charge in acquiring shares of the Fund, disposes of those shares within 90 days and then, on or before January 31 of the following calendar year, acquires shares in a mutual fund for which the otherwise applicable sales charge is reduced by reason of a reinvestment right (*e.g.*, an exchange privilege), the original sales charge will not be taken into account in computing gain/loss on the original shares to the extent the subsequent sales charge is reduced. Instead, the disregarded portion of the original sales charge will be added to the tax basis of the newly acquired shares. Furthermore, the same rule also applies to a disposition of the newly acquired shares made within 90 days of the second acquisition. This provision prevents shareholders from immediately deducting the sales charge by shifting their investments within a family of mutual funds.

**Backup Withholding. In certain cases, the Fund will be required to withhold at a 24% rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury such amounts withheld from any distributions paid to a shareholder who: (i) has failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; (ii) is subject to backup withholding by the IRS; (iii) has failed to certify to the Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding; or (iv) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amount withheld may be credited against a shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability.**

**Sections 351 and 362. The Trust, on behalf of the Fund, has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Sections 351 and 362 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. If the Fund's basis in such securities on the date of deposit was less than market value on such date, the Fund, upon disposition of the securities, would recognize more taxable gain or less taxable loss than if its basis in the securities had been equal to market value. It is not anticipated that the Trust will exercise the right of rejection except in a case where the Trust determines that accepting the order could result in material adverse tax consequences to the Fund or its shareholders. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.**

**Taxation of Certain Derivatives. The Fund's transactions in zero coupon securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward contracts, options and futures contracts (including options and futures contracts on non-U.S. currencies), to the extent permitted, will be subject to special provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to "hedging transactions" and "straddles") that, among other consequences, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (*i.e.*, may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer Fund losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also (a) will require the Fund to mark-to-market certain types of the positions in its portfolio (*i.e.*, treat them as if they were closed out at the end of each year) and (b) may cause the Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to pay dividends or make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. The Fund will monitor its transactions, will make the appropriate tax elections and will make the appropriate entries in its books and records when it acquires any zero coupon security, non-U.S. currency, forward contract, option, futures contract or hedged investment in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and prevent disqualification of the Fund as a RIC.**

The Fund's investments in so-called "Section 1256 contracts," such as regulated futures contracts, most non-U.S. currency forward contracts traded in the interbank market and options on most security indexes, are subject to special tax rules. All Section 1256 contracts held by the Fund at the end of its taxable year are required to be marked to their market value, and any unrealized gain or loss on those positions will be included in the Fund's income as if each position had been sold for its fair market value at the end of the taxable year. The resulting gain or loss will be combined with any gain or loss realized by the Fund from positions in Section 1256 contracts closed during the taxable year. Provided such positions were held as capital assets and were not part of a "hedging transaction" nor part of a "straddle," 60% of the resulting net gain or loss will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% of such net gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, regardless of the period of time the positions were actually held by the Fund.

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As a result of entering into swap contracts, the Fund may make or receive periodic net payments. The Fund may also make or receive a payment when a swap is terminated prior to maturity through an assignment of the swap or other closing transaction. Periodic net payments will generally constitute ordinary income or deductions, while termination of a swap will generally result in capital gain or loss (which will be a long-term capital gain or loss if the Fund has been a party to the swap for more than one year). With respect to certain types of swaps, the Fund may be required to currently recognize income or loss with respect to future payments on such swaps or may elect under certain circumstances to mark such swaps to market annually for tax purposes as ordinary income or loss.

**Qualified Dividend Income. Distributions by the Fund of investment company taxable income (including any short-term capital gains), whether received in cash or shares, will be taxable either as ordinary income or as qualified dividend income, which is eligible to be taxed at long-term capital gain rates to the extent the Fund receives qualified dividend income on the securities it holds and the Fund reports the distribution as qualified dividend income. Qualified dividend income is, in general, dividend income from taxable U.S. corporations (but generally not from a U.S. real estate investment trust ("REIT")) and certain non-U.S. corporations (*e.g.*, non-U.S. corporations that are not PFICs and which are incorporated in a possession of the U.S. or in certain countries with a comprehensive tax treaty with the U.S., or the stock of which is readily tradable on an established securities market in the U.S. (where the dividends are paid with respect to such stock)). Under current IRS guidance, the U.S. has appropriate comprehensive income tax treaties with the following countries: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China (but not with Hong Kong, which is treated as a separate jurisdiction for U.S. tax purposes), Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the U.K. and Venezuela. Substitute payments received by the Fund for securities lent out by the Fund will not be qualified dividend income.**

A dividend from the Fund will not be treated as qualified dividend income to the extent that: (i) the shareholder has not held the shares on which the dividend was paid for 61 days during the 121-day period that begins on the date that is 60 days before the date on which the shares become ex-dividend with respect to such dividend or the Fund fails to satisfy those holding period requirements with respect to the securities it holds that paid the dividends distributed to the shareholder (or, in the case of certain preferred stocks, the holding requirement of 91 days during the 181-day period beginning on the date that is 90 days before the date on which the stock becomes ex-dividend with respect to such dividend); (ii) the Fund or the shareholder is under an obligation (whether pursuant to a short sale or otherwise) to make related payments with respect to substantially similar or related property; or (iii) the shareholder elects to treat such dividend as investment income under Section 163(d)(4)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. Dividends received by the Fund from a REIT or another RIC may be treated as qualified dividend income only to the extent the dividend distributions are attributable to qualified dividend income received by such REIT or other RIC. It is expected that dividends received by the Fund from a REIT and distributed to a shareholder generally will be taxable to the shareholder as ordinary income. However, for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017 and before January 1, 2026, a non-corporate taxpayer who is a direct REIT shareholder may claim a 20% "qualified business income" deduction for ordinary REIT dividends, and a RIC may report dividends as eligible for this deduction to the extent the RIC's income is derived from ordinary REIT dividends (reduced by allocable RIC expenses). A shareholder may treat the dividends as such provided the RIC and the shareholder satisfy applicable holding period requirements. Distributions by the Fund of its net short-term capital gains will be taxable as ordinary income.

**Corporate Dividends Received Deduction. Dividends paid by the Fund that are attributable to dividends received by the Fund from U.S. corporations may qualify for the U.S. federal dividends received deduction for corporations. A 46-day minimum holding period during the 90-day period that begins 45 days prior to ex-dividend date (or 91-day minimum holding period during the 180 period beginning 90 days prior to ex-dividend date for certain preference dividends) during which risk of loss may not be diminished is required for the applicable shares, at both the Fund and shareholder level, for a dividend to be eligible for the dividends received deduction. Restrictions may apply if indebtedness, including a short sale, is attributable to the investment.**

**Excess Inclusion Income. Under current law, the Fund serves to block unrelated business taxable income ("UBTI") from being realized by its tax-exempt shareholders. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a tax-exempt shareholder could realize UBTI by virtue of its investment in the Fund if shares in the Fund constitute debt-financed property in the hands of the tax-exempt shareholder within the meaning of Section 514(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. Certain types of income received by the Fund from REITs, real estate mortgage investment conduits, taxable mortgage pools or other investments may cause the**

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Fund to report some or all of its distributions as "excess inclusion income." To Fund shareholders, such excess inclusion income may: (i) constitute taxable income, as UBTI for those shareholders who would otherwise be tax-exempt such as individual retirement accounts, 401(k) accounts, Keogh plans, pension plans and certain charitable entities; (ii) not be offset by otherwise allowable deductions for tax purposes; (iii) not be eligible for reduced U.S. withholding for non-U.S. shareholders even from tax treaty countries; and (iv) cause the Fund to be subject to tax if certain "disqualified organizations," as defined by the Internal Revenue Code, are Fund shareholders. If a charitable remainder annuity trust or a charitable remainder unitrust (each as defined in Section 664 of the Internal Revenue Code) has UBTI for a taxable year, a 100% excise tax on the UBTI is imposed on the trust.

The Fund tries to avoid investing in REITs that are expected to generate excess inclusion income, but the Fund may not always be successful in doing so. Because information about a REIT's investments may be inadequate or inaccurate, or because a REIT may change its investment program, the Fund may not be successful in avoiding the consequences described above. Avoidance of investments in REITs that generate excess inclusion income may require the Fund to forego otherwise attractive investment opportunities.

**Non-U.S. Investments. Under Section 988 of the Internal Revenue Code, gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the time the Fund accrues income or receivables or expenses or other liabilities denominated in a non-U.S. currency and the time the Fund actually collects such income or pays such liabilities are generally treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss. In general, gains (and losses) realized on debt instruments will be treated as Section 988 gain (or loss) to the extent attributable to changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the instruments are denominated. Similarly, gains or losses on non-U.S. currency, non-U.S. currency forward contracts and certain non-U.S. currency options or futures contracts denominated in non-U.S. currency, to the extent attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the acquisition and disposition dates, are also treated as ordinary income or loss unless the Fund were to elect otherwise.**

The Fund may be subject to non-U.S. income taxes withheld at the source. The Fund, if permitted to do so, may elect to "pass through" to its investors the amount of non-U.S. income taxes paid by the Fund provided that the Fund held the security on the dividend settlement date and for at least 15 additional days immediately before and/or thereafter, with the result that each investor with respect to shares of the Fund held for a minimum 16-day holding period at the time of deemed distribution will (i) include in gross income, even though not actually received, the investor's *pro rata* share of the Fund's non-U.S. income taxes, and (ii) either deduct (in calculating U.S. taxable income, but only for investors who itemize their deductions on their personal tax returns) or credit (in calculating U.S. federal income tax) the investor's *pro rata* share of the Fund's non-U.S. income taxes. Withholding taxes on dividends on non-U.S. securities while such securities are lent out by the Fund are not eligible for non-U.S. tax credit pass through. Taxes not "passed through" for tax purposes will not be available to shareholders for foreign tax credit purposes. A non-U.S. person invested in the Fund in a year that the Fund elects to "pass through" its non-U.S. taxes may be treated as receiving additional dividend income subject to U.S. withholding tax. A non-U.S. tax credit may not exceed the investor's U.S. federal income tax otherwise payable with respect to the investor's non-U.S. source income. For this purpose, shareholders must treat as non-U.S. source gross income (i) their proportionate shares of non-U.S. taxes paid by the Fund and (ii) the portion of any dividend paid by the Fund that represents income derived from non-U.S. sources; the Fund's gain from the sale of securities will generally be treated as U.S.-source income. Certain limitations will be imposed to the extent to which the non-U.S. tax credit may be claimed. If your Fund shares are loaned pursuant to securities lending arrangements, you may lose the ability to use any non-U.S. tax credits passed through by the Fund or to treat Fund dividends (paid while the shares are held by the borrower) as qualified dividends. Regarding a short sale with respect to shares of the Fund, substitute payments made to the lender of such shares may not be deductible under certain circumstances. Consult your financial intermediary or tax advisor.

**Passive Foreign Investment Companies. If the Fund purchases shares in PFICs, it may be subject to U.S. federal income tax on a portion of any "excess distribution" or gain from the disposition of such shares even if such income is distributed as a taxable dividend by the Fund to its shareholders. Additional charges in the nature of interest may be imposed on the Fund in respect of deferred taxes arising from such distributions or gains.**

If the Fund were to invest in a PFIC and elect to treat the PFIC as a "qualified electing fund" under the Internal Revenue Code, in lieu of the foregoing requirements, the Fund might be required to include in income each year a portion of the ordinary earnings and net capital gains of the qualified electing fund, even if not distributed to the Fund, and such amounts would be subject to the 90% and excise tax distribution requirements described above. In order to make this election, the Fund would be required to obtain certain annual information from the PFICs in which it invests, which may be difficult or impossible to

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obtain. Currently proposed IRS regulations, if adopted, would treat such included amounts as nonqualifying RIC income to the Fund unless such amounts were also distributed to the Fund.

Alternatively, the Fund may make a mark-to-market election that would result in the Fund being treated as if it had sold and repurchased its PFIC stock at the end of each year. In such case, the Fund would report any such gains as ordinary income and would deduct any such losses as ordinary losses to the extent of previously recognized gains. The election must be made separately for each PFIC owned by the Fund and, once made, would be effective for all subsequent taxable years, unless revoked with the consent of the IRS. By making the election, the Fund could potentially ameliorate the adverse tax consequences with respect to its ownership of shares in a PFIC, but in any particular year may be required to recognize income in excess of the distributions it receives from PFICs and its proceeds from dispositions of PFIC stock. The Fund may have to distribute this "phantom" income and gain to satisfy the 90% distribution requirement and to avoid imposition of the 4% excise tax.

The Fund will make the appropriate tax elections, if possible, and take any additional steps that are necessary to mitigate the effects of these rules.

**Reporting. If a shareholder recognizes a loss with respect to the Fund's shares of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a RIC are not exempted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer's treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.**

#### Other Taxes. Dividends, distributions and redemption proceeds may also be subject to additional state, local and non-U.S. taxes depending on each shareholder's particular situation.
**Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders. Dividends paid by the Fund to non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or a reduced rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty to the extent derived from investment income and short-term capital gains. Dividends paid by the Fund from net tax-exempt income or long-term capital gains are generally not subject to such withholding tax. In order to obtain a reduced rate of withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will be required to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E certifying its entitlement to benefits under a treaty. The withholding tax does not apply to regular dividends paid to a non-U.S. shareholder who provides an IRS Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the non-U.S. shareholder were a U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to additional "branch profits tax" imposed at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate). A non-U.S. shareholder who fails to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form may be subject to backup withholding at the appropriate rate.**

Properly-reported dividends are generally exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax where they (i) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified net interest income" (generally, the Fund's U.S. source interest income, other than certain contingent interest and interest from obligations of a corporation or partnership in which the Fund is at least a 10% shareholder or partner, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income) or (ii) are paid in respect of the Fund's "qualified short-term capital gains" (generally, the excess of the Fund's net short-term capital gain over the Fund's long-term capital loss for such taxable year). However, depending on its circumstances, the Fund may report all, some or none of its potentially eligible dividends as such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains and/or treat such dividends, in whole or in part, as ineligible for this exemption from withholding. In order to qualify for this exemption from withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will need to comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its non-U.S. status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or substitute Form). In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if the Fund reports the payment as qualified net interest income or qualified short-term capital gain. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.

Special rules may apply to a foreign shareholder receiving a Fund distribution if at least 50% of the Fund's assets consist of interests in U.S. real property interests, including certain REITs and U.S. real property holding corporations (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations). Fund distributions that are attributable to gain from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest will be taxable as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding at a 30% or lower treaty rate if the

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foreign shareholder held no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. If the foreign shareholder held at least 5% of the Fund's shares, the distribution would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business within the U.S. and the foreign shareholder would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 21% and would generally be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return.

Similar consequences would generally apply to a foreign shareholder's gain on the sale of Fund shares unless the Fund is domestically controlled (meaning that more than 50% of the value of the Fund's shares is held by U.S. shareholders) or the foreign shareholder owns no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of sale. Finally, a domestically controlled Fund may be required to recognize a portion of its gain on the in-kind distribution of certain U.S. real property interests. Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in the Fund.

The rules laid out in the previous paragraph, other than the withholding rules, will apply notwithstanding the Fund's participation in a wash sale transaction or its payment of a substitute dividend.

Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in a Fund.

Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to: (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders; and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to: (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information, including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information concerning their account holders, or (ii) in the event an intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities may need to report the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership unless certain exceptions apply.

Shares of the Fund held by a non-U.S. shareholder at death will be considered situated within the U.S. and subject to the U.S. estate tax.

The foregoing discussion is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such shares, including consequences under state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date of this SAI. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.

## Financial Statements
The Fund's audited Financial Statements, including the Consolidated Financial Highlights, appearing in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) to Shareholders and the report therein of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, are hereby incorporated by reference in this SAI. The Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the referenced audited financial statements, is available upon request and without charge.

## Miscellaneous Information

#### Counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, located at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, is counsel to the Trust.

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**Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, located at Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, serves as the Trust's independent registered public accounting firm, audits the Fund's financial statements, and may perform other services.**

**Shareholder Communications to the Board. The Board has established a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders may contact the Board by mail. Correspondence should be addressed to iShares Board of Trustees, c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors, iShares Fund Administration, 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Shareholder communications to the Board should include the following information: (i) the name and address of the shareholder; (ii) the number of shares owned by the shareholder; (iii) the Fund(s) of which the shareholder owns shares; and (iv) if these shares are owned indirectly through a broker, financial intermediary or other record owner, the name of the broker, financial intermediary or other record owner. All correspondence received as set forth above shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Trust and reported to the Board.**

**Investors' Rights. The Fund relies on the services of BFA and its other service providers, including the Distributor, administrator, custodian and transfer agent. Further information about the duties and roles of these service providers is set out in this SAI. Investors who acquire shares of the Fund are not parties to the relevant agreement with these service providers and do not have express contractual rights against the Fund or its service providers, except certain institutional investors that are Authorized Participants may have certain express contractual rights with respect to the Distributor under the terms of the relevant Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors may have certain legal rights under federal or state law against the Fund or its service providers. In the event that an investor considers that it may have a claim against the Fund, or against any service provider in connection with its investment in the Fund, such investor should consult its own legal advisor.**

By contract, Authorized Participants irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State or U.S. federal court sitting in New York City over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Authorized Participant Agreement. Jurisdiction over other claims, whether by investors or Authorized Participants, will turn on the facts of the particular case and the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is brought.

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## Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy

#### BlackRock U.S. Registered Funds

#### Open-End Fund Proxy Voting Policy

#### Procedures Governing Delegation of Proxy Voting to Fund Advisers

#### August 1, 2022

#### Open-End Mutual Funds (including money market funds)

#### iShares and BlackRock ETFs
The Boards of Trustees/Directors ("Directors") of open-end funds (the "Funds") advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors or BlackRock Advisors, LLC ("BlackRock"), have the responsibility for the oversight of voting proxies relating to portfolio securities of the Funds, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to delegate the responsibility to vote proxies to BlackRock, subject to the principles outlined in this Policy, as part of BlackRock's authority to manage, acquire and dispose of account assets, all as contemplated by the Funds' respective investment management agreements.

BlackRock has adopted guidelines and procedures (together and as from time to time amended, the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BlackRock.

BlackRock will cast votes on behalf of each of the Funds on specific proxy issues in respect of securities held by each such Fund (or may refrain from voting) in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines.

BlackRock will report on an annual basis to the Directors on (1) a summary of all proxy votes that BlackRock has made on behalf of the Funds in the preceding year together with a representation that all votes were in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines, and (2) any changes to the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines that have not previously been reported.

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## Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| [Introduction to BlackRock](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Philosophy on corporate governance](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Corporate governance, engagement and voting](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [- Boards and directors](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-5 |
| [- Auditors and audit-related issues](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-6 |
| [- Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Compensation and benefits](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Environmental and social issues](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-8 |
| [- General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Oversight](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Vote execution](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-10 |
| [- Conflicts management policies and procedures](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-11 |
| [- Voting guidelines](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |
| [- Reporting and vote transparency](#xx_cda464f6-12e1-4dd0-b0dd-7172db179b19_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |

---

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#### INTRODUCTION TO BLACKROCK
BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. We manage assets on behalf of institutional and individual clients, across a full spectrum of investment strategies, asset classes and regions. Our client base includes pension plans, endowments, foundations, charities, official institutions, insurers and other financial institutions, as well as individuals around the world.

#### PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") activities are focused on maximizing long-term value for our clients. BIS does this through engagement with boards and management of investee companies and, for those clients who have given us authority, through voting at shareholder meetings.

We believe that there are certain fundamental rights attached to shareholding. Companies and their boards should be accountable to shareholders and structured with appropriate checks and balances to ensure that they operate in shareholders' best interests. Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and there should be one vote for one share. Shareholders should have the right to elect, remove and nominate directors, approve the appointment of the auditor and to amend the corporate charter or by-laws. Shareholders should be able to vote on matters that are material to the protection of their investment, including but not limited to, changes to the purpose of the business, dilution levels and pre-emptive rights, and the distribution of income and capital structure. In order to make informed decisions, we believe that shareholders have the right to sufficient and timely information.

Our primary focus is on the performance of the board of directors. As the agent of shareholders, the board should set the company's strategic aims within a framework of prudent and effective controls, which enables risk to be assessed and managed. The board should provide direction and leadership to management and oversee management's performance. Our starting position is to be supportive of boards in their oversight efforts on shareholders' behalf and we would generally expect to support the items of business they put to a vote at shareholder meetings. Votes cast against or withheld from resolutions proposed by the board are a signal that we are concerned that the directors or management have either not acted in the best interests of shareholders or have not responded adequately to shareholder concerns. We assess voting matters on a case-by-case basis and in light of each company's unique circumstances taking into consideration regional best practices and long-term value creation.

These principles set out our approach to engaging with companies, provide guidance on our position on corporate governance and outline how our views might be reflected in our voting decisions. Corporate governance practices can vary internationally, so our expectations in relation to individual companies are based on the legal and regulatory framework of each local market. However, we believe there are overarching principles of corporate governance that apply globally and provide a framework for more detailed, market-specific assessments.

We believe BlackRock has a responsibility in relation to monitoring and providing feedback to companies, sometimes known as "stewardship." These ownership responsibilities include engaging with management or board members on corporate governance matters, voting proxies in the best long-term economic interests of our clients, and engaging with regulatory bodies to ensure a sound policy framework consistent with promoting long-term shareholder value creation. We also believe in the responsibility to our clients to have appropriate resources and oversight structures. Our approach is set out in the section below titled "BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities" and is further detailed in a <u>team profile on our website</u>.

#### CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING
We recognize that accepted standards of corporate governance differ between markets, but we believe there are sufficient common threads globally to identify an overarching set of principles. The objective of our investment stewardship activities is the protection and enhancement of the value of our clients' investments in public corporations. Thus, these principles focus on practices and structures that we consider to be supportive of long-term value creation. We discuss below the principles under six key themes. In our regional and market-specific voting guidelines we explain how these principles inform our voting decisions in relation to specific resolutions that may appear on the agenda of a shareholder meeting in the relevant market.

The six key themes are:

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• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions

• Compensation and benefits

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections

At a minimum, we expect companies to observe the accepted corporate governance standards in their domestic market or to explain why doing so is not in the interests of shareholders. Where company reporting and disclosure is inadequate or the approach taken is inconsistent with our view of what is in the best interests of shareholders, we will engage with the company and/or use our vote to encourage a change in practice. In making voting decisions, we perform independent research and analysis, such as reviewing relevant information published by the company and apply our voting guidelines to achieve the outcome we believe best protects our clients' long-term economic interests. We also work closely with our active portfolio managers, and may take into account internal and external research.

BlackRock views engagement as an important activity; engagement provides us with the opportunity to improve our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that investee companies are facing and their governance structures. Engagement also allows us to share our philosophy and approach to investment and corporate governance with companies to enhance their understanding of our objectives. Our engagements often focus on providing our feedback on company disclosures, particularly where we believe they could be enhanced. There are a range of approaches we may take in engaging companies depending on the nature of the issue under consideration, the company and the market.

BlackRock's engagements emphasize direct dialogue with corporate leadership on the governance issues identified in these principles that have a material impact on financial performance. These engagements enable us to cast informed votes aligned with clients' long-term economic interests. We generally prefer to engage in the first instance where we have concerns and give management time to address or resolve the issue. As a long-term investor, we are patient and persistent in working with our portfolio companies to have an open dialogue and develop mutual understanding of governance matters, to promote the adoption of best practices and to assess the merits of a company's approach to its governance. We monitor the companies in which we invest and engage with them constructively and privately where we believe doing so helps protect shareholders' interests. We do not try to micro-manage companies, or tell management and boards what to do. We present our views as a long-term shareholder and listen to companies' responses. The materiality and immediacy of a given issue will generally determine the level of our engagement and whom we seek to engage at the company, which could be management representatives or board directors.

#### Boards and directors
The performance of the board is critical to the economic success of the company and to the protection of shareholders' interests. Board members serve as agents of shareholders in overseeing the strategic direction and operation of the company. For this reason, BlackRock focuses on directors in many of our engagements and sees the election of directors as one of our most important responsibilities in the proxy voting context.

We expect the board of directors to promote and protect shareholder interests by:

• establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure

• supporting and overseeing management in setting long-term strategic goals, applicable measures of value-creation and milestones that will demonstrate progress, and steps taken if any obstacles are anticipated or incurred

• ensuring the integrity of financial statements

• making independent decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals

• establishing appropriate executive compensation structures

• addressing business issues, including environmental and social issues, when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance

There should be clear definitions of the role of the board, the committees of the board and senior management such that the responsibilities of each are well understood and accepted. Companies should report publicly the approach taken to

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governance (including in relation to board structure) and why this approach is in the best interest of shareholders. We will seek to engage with the appropriate directors where we have concerns about the performance of the board or the company, the broad strategy of the company, or the performance of individual board members. We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable.

BlackRock believes that directors should stand for re-election on a regular basis. We assess directors nominated for election or re-election in the context of the composition of the board as a whole. There should be detailed disclosure of the relevant credentials of the individual directors in order for shareholders to assess the caliber of an individual nominee. We expect there to be a sufficient number of independent directors on the board to ensure the protection of the interests of all shareholders. Common impediments to independence may include but are not limited to:

• current or former employment at the company or a subsidiary within the past several years

• being, or representing, a shareholder with a substantial shareholding in the company

• interlocking directorships

• having any other interest, business or other relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

BlackRock believes that the operation of the board is enhanced when there is a clearly independent, senior non-executive director to chair it or, where the chairman is also the CEO (or is otherwise not independent), an independent lead director. The role of this director is to enhance the effectiveness of the independent members of the board through shaping the agenda, ensuring adequate information is provided to the board and encouraging independent participation in board deliberations. The lead independent board director should be available to shareholders in those situations where a director is best placed to explain and justify a company's approach.

To ensure that the board remains effective, regular reviews of board performance should be carried out and assessments made of gaps in skills or experience amongst the members. BlackRock believes it is beneficial for new directors to be brought onto the board periodically to refresh the group's thinking and to ensure both continuity and adequate succession planning. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the multiple dimensions of diversity, including personal factors such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. The board should review these dimensions of the current directors and how they might be augmented by incoming directors. We believe that directors are in the best position to assess the optimal size for the board, but we would be concerned if a board seemed too small to have an appropriate balance of directors or too large to be effective.

There are matters for which the board has responsibility that may involve a conflict of interest for executives or for affiliated directors. BlackRock believes that shareholders' interests are best served when the board forms committees of fully independent directors to deal with such matters. In many markets, these committees of the board specialize in audit, director nominations and compensation matters. An ad hoc committee might also be formed to decide on a special transaction, particularly one with a related party or to investigate a significant adverse event.

#### Auditors and audit-related issues
Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements, which should provide a true and fair picture of a company's financial condition. We will hold the members of the audit committee or equivalent responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or ad hoc notifications of material financial weakness.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor being free of any impediments to being an effective check on management. To that end, we believe it is important that auditors are, and are seen to be, independent. Where the audit firm provides services to the company in addition to the audit, the fees earned should be disclosed and explained. Audit committees should have in place a procedure for assessing annually the independence of the auditor.

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#### Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions
The capital structure of a company is critical to its owners, the shareholders, as it impacts the value of their investment and the priority of their interest in the company relative to that of other equity or debt investors. Pre-emptive rights are a key protection for shareholders against the dilution of their interests.

Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and we believe strongly in one vote for one share as a guiding principle that supports good corporate governance. Shareholders, as the residual claimants, have the strongest interest in protecting company value, and voting power should match economic exposure.

We are concerned that the creation of a dual share class may result in an over-concentration of power in the hands of a few shareholders, thus disenfranchising other shareholders and amplifying the potential conflict of interest, which the one share, one vote principle is designed to mitigate. However, we recognize that in certain circumstances, companies may have a valid argument for dual-class listings, at least for a limited period of time. We believe that such companies should review these dual-class structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Additionally, they should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal in the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

In assessing mergers, asset sales or other special transactions, BlackRock's primary consideration is the long-term economic interests of shareholders. Boards proposing a transaction need to clearly explain the economic and strategic rationale behind it. We will review a proposed transaction to determine the degree to which it enhances long-term shareholder value. We would prefer that proposed transactions have the unanimous support of the board and have been negotiated at arm's length. We may seek reassurance from the board that executives' and/or board members' financial interests in a given transaction have not adversely affected their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own. Where the transaction involves related parties, we would expect the recommendation to support it to come from the independent directors and it is good practice to be approved by a separate vote of the non-conflicted shareholders.

BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to dispose of company shares in the open market without unnecessary restriction. In our view, corporate mechanisms designed to limit shareholders' ability to sell their shares are contrary to basic property rights. Such mechanisms can serve to protect and entrench interests other than those of the shareholders. We believe that shareholders are broadly capable of making decisions in their own best interests. We expect any so-called 'shareholder rights plans' proposed by a board to be subject to shareholder approval upon introduction and periodically thereafter for continuation.

#### Compensation and benefits
BlackRock expects a company's board of directors to put in place a compensation structure that incentivizes and rewards executives appropriately and is aligned with shareholder interests, particularly generating sustainable long-term shareholder returns. We would expect the compensation committee to take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the key individuals the board is trying to incentivize. We encourage companies to ensure that their compensation plans incorporate appropriate and challenging performance conditions consistent with corporate strategy and market practice. We use third party research, in addition to our own analysis, to evaluate existing and proposed compensation structures. We hold members of the compensation committee or equivalent board members accountable for poor compensation practices or structures.

BlackRock believes that there should be a clear link between variable pay and company performance that drives shareholder returns. We are not supportive of one-off or special bonuses unrelated to company or individual performance. We acknowledge that the use of peer group evaluation by compensation committees can help ensure competitive pay; however, we are concerned when increases in total compensation at a company are justified solely on peer benchmarking rather than outperformance. We support incentive plans that foster the sustainable achievement of results relative to competitors. The vesting timeframes associated with incentive plans should facilitate a focus on long -term value creation. We believe consideration should be given to building claw back provisions into incentive plans such that executives would be required to forgo rewards when they are not justified by actual performance. Compensation committees should guard against contractual arrangements that would entitle executives to material compensation for early termination of their contract. Finally, pension contributions and other deferred compensation arrangements should be reasonable in light of market practice.

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Non-executive directors should be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the time and effort expended in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. Additionally, these compensation arrangements should not risk compromising their independence or aligning their interests too closely with those of the management, whom they are charged with overseeing.

#### Environmental and social issues
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well -managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses.

Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate -related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry -specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification processes in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors.

In deciding our course of action, we will assess the company's disclosures and the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social or political judgments on behalf of clients. Our consideration of these E&S factors is consistent with protecting the long-term economic interest of our clients' assets. We expect investee companies to comply,

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at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where local laws or regulations that significantly impact the company's operations are contradictory or ambiguous to global norms.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long - term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate -related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections
BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to timely and detailed information on the financial performance and viability of the companies in which they invest. In addition, companies should also publish information on the governance structures in place and the rights of shareholders to influence these. The reporting and disclosure provided by companies help shareholders assess whether their economic interests have been protected and the quality of the board's oversight of management. We believe shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including changes to governance mechanisms, to submit proposals to the shareholders' meeting and to call special meetings of shareholders.

#### BLACKROCK'S OVERSIGHT OF ITS INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES

#### Oversight
We hold ourselves to a very high standard in our investment stewardship activities, including proxy voting. This function is executed by a team called BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") which is comprised of BlackRock employees who do not have other responsibilities other than their roles in BIS. BIS is considered an investment function. The team does not have sales responsibilities.

BlackRock maintains three regional advisory committees ("Stewardship Advisory Committees") for (a) the Americas; (b) Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); and (c) Asia-Pacific, generally consisting of senior BlackRock investment professionals and/or senior employees with practical boardroom experience. The regional Stewardship Advisory Committees review and advise on amendments to the proxy voting guidelines covering markets within each respective region ("Guidelines").

In addition to the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees, the Investment Stewardship Global Oversight Committee ("Global Committee") is a risk-focused committee, comprised of senior representatives from various BlackRock investment teams, BlackRock's Deputy General Counsel, the Global Head of Investment Stewardship ("Global Head"), and other senior executives with relevant experience and team oversight.

The Global Head has primary oversight of the activities of BIS, including voting in accordance with the Guidelines, which require the application of professional judgment and consideration of each company's unique circumstances. The Global Committee reviews and approves amendments to these Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles. The Global

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Committee also reviews and approves amendments to the regional Guidelines, as proposed by the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees.

In addition, the Global Committee receives and reviews periodic reports regarding the votes cast by BIS, as well as regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other risk oversight considerations. The Global Committee reviews these reports in an oversight capacity as informed by the BIS corporate governance engagement program and Guidelines.

BIS carries out engagement with companies, monitors and executes proxy votes, and conducts vote operations (including maintaining records of votes cast) in a manner consistent with the relevant Guidelines. BIS also conducts research on corporate governance issues and participates in industry discussions to keep abreast of important developments in the corporate governance field. BIS may utilize third parties for certain of the foregoing activities and performs oversight of those third parties. BIS may raise complicated or particularly controversial matters for internal discussion with the relevant investment teams and/or refer such matters to the appropriate regional Stewardship Advisory Committees for review, discussion and guidance prior to making a voting decision.

#### Vote execution
We carefully consider proxies submitted to funds and other fiduciary account(s) ("Fund" or "Funds") for which we have voting authority. BlackRock votes (or refrains from voting) proxies for each Fund for which we have voting authority based on our evaluation of the best long-term economic interests of shareholders, in the exercise of our independent business judgment, and without regard to the relationship of the issuer of the proxy (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) to the Fund, the Fund's affiliates (if any), BlackRock or BlackRock's affiliates, or BlackRock employees (see "Conflicts management policies and procedures", below).

When exercising voting rights, BlackRock will normally vote on specific proxy issues in accordance with the Guidelines for the relevant market. The Guidelines are reviewed regularly and are amended consistent with changes in the local market practice, as developments in corporate governance occur, or as otherwise deemed advisable by BlackRock's Stewardship Advisory Committees. BIS may, in the exercise of their professional judgment, conclude that the Guidelines do not cover the specific matter upon which a proxy vote is required or that an exception to the Guidelines would be in the best long - term economic interests of BlackRock's clients.

In the uncommon circumstance of there being a vote with respect to fixed income securities or the securities of privately held issuers, the decision generally will be made by the Fund's portfolio managers and/or BIS based on their assessment of the particular transactions or other matters at issue.

In certain markets, proxy voting involves logistical issues which can affect BlackRock's ability to vote such proxies, as well as the desirability of voting such proxies. These issues include but are not limited to: (i) untimely notice of shareholder meetings; (ii) restrictions on a foreigner's ability to exercise votes; (iii) requirements to vote proxies in person; (iv) "share- blocking" (requirements that investors who exercise their voting rights surrender the right to dispose of their holdings for some specified period in proximity to the shareholder meeting); (v) potential difficulties in translating the proxy; (vi) regulatory constraints; and (vii) requirements to provide local agents with unrestricted powers of attorney to facilitate voting instructions. We are not supportive of impediments to the exercise of voting rights such as share-blocking or overly burdensome administrative requirements.

As a consequence, BlackRock votes proxies on a "best-efforts" basis. In addition, BIS may determine that it is generally in the best interests of BlackRock's clients not to vote proxies if the costs (including but not limited to opportunity costs associated with share-blocking constraints) associated with exercising a vote are expected to outweigh the benefit the client would derive by voting on the proposal.

Portfolio managers have full discretion to vote the shares in the Funds they manage based on their analysis of the economic impact of a particular ballot item. Portfolio managers may from time to time reach differing views on how best to maximize economic value with respect to a particular investment. Therefore, portfolio managers may, and sometimes do, vote shares in the Funds under their management differently from one another. However, because BlackRock's clients are mostly long-term investors with long-term economic goals, ballots are frequently cast in a uniform manner.

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#### Conflicts management policies and procedures
BIS maintains the following policies and procedures that seek to prevent undue influence on BlackRock's proxy voting activity. Such influence might stem from any relationship between the investee company (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) and BlackRock, BlackRock's affiliates, the Fund or the Fund's affiliates, or BlackRock employees. The following are examples of sources of perceived or potential conflicts of interest:

• BlackRock clients who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock business partners or third parties who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock employees who may sit on the boards of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Significant BlackRock, Inc. investors who may be issuers of securities held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Securities of BlackRock, Inc. or BlackRock investment funds held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• BlackRock, Inc. board members who serve as senior executives of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

BlackRock has taken certain steps to mitigate perceived or potential conflicts including, but not limited to, the following:

• Adopted the Guidelines which are designed to protect and enhance the economic value of the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

• Established a reporting structure that separates BIS from employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles. In addition, BlackRock seeks to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers, dissident shareholders or shareholder proponents are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock's relationship with such parties. Clients or business partners are not given special treatment or differentiated access to BIS. BIS prioritizes engagements based on factors including but not limited to our need for additional information to make a voting decision or our view on the likelihood that an engagement could lead to positive outcome(s) over time for the economic value of the company. Within the normal course of business, BIS may engage directly with BlackRock clients, business partners and/or third parties, and/or with employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles, in discussions regarding our approach to stewardship, general corporate governance matters, client reporting needs, and/or to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met.

• Determined to engage, in certain instances, an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, or as may be otherwise required by applicable law. In such circumstances, the independent fiduciary provides BlackRock's proxy voting agent with instructions, in accordance with the Guidelines, as to how to vote such proxies, and BlackRock's proxy voting agent votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary's determination. BlackRock uses an independent fiduciary to vote proxies of (i) any company that is affiliated with BlackRock, Inc., (ii) any public company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors, (iii) The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (iv) any public company of which a BlackRock, Inc. board member serves as a senior executive, and (v) companies when legal or regulatory requirements compel BlackRock to use an independent fiduciary. In selecting an independent fiduciary, we assess several characteristics, including but not limited to: independence, an ability to analyze proxy issues and vote in the best economic interest of our clients, reputation for reliability and integrity, and operational capacity to accurately deliver the assigned votes in a timely manner. We may engage more than one independent fiduciary, in part in order to mitigate potential or perceived conflicts of interest at an independent fiduciary. The Global Committee appoints and reviews the performance of the independent fiduciar(ies), generally on an annual basis.

When so authorized, BlackRock acts as a securities lending agent on behalf of Funds. With regard to the relationship between securities lending and proxy voting, BlackRock's approach is driven by our clients' economic interests. The decision whether to recall securities on loan to vote is based on a formal analysis of the revenue producing value to clients of loans, against the assessed economic value of casting votes. Generally, we expect that the likely economic value to clients of casting votes would be less than the securities lending income, either because, in our assessment, the resolutions being voted on will not have significant economic consequences or because the outcome would not be affected by BlackRock recalling loaned securities in order to vote. BlackRock also may, in our discretion, determine that the value of voting outweighs the cost of recalling shares, and thus recall shares to vote in that instance.

Periodically, BlackRock reviews our process for determining whether to recall securities on loan in order to vote and may modify it as necessary.

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#### Voting guidelines
The issue-specific Guidelines published for each region/country in which we vote are intended to summarize BlackRock's general philosophy and approach to issues that may commonly arise in the proxy voting context in each market where we invest. These Guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. BIS applies the Guidelines on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the individual circumstances of each company and the specific issue under review. As such, these Guidelines do not indicate how BIS will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots.

#### Reporting and vote transparency
We inform clients about our engagement and voting policies and activities through direct communication and through disclosure on our website. Each year we publish an annual report, an annual engagement and voting statistics report, and our full voting record to our website. On a quarterly basis, we publish regional reports which provide an overview of our investment stewardship engagement and voting activities during the quarter, including market developments, speaking engagements, and engagement and voting statistics. Additionally, we make public our market-specific voting guidelines for the benefit of clients and companies with whom we engage.

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## Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Introduction | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Voting guidelines | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Boards and directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Independence | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Responsiveness to shareholders | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Shareholder rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board composition and effectiveness | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board size | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Classified board of directors / staggered terms | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Contested director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Cumulative voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director compensation and equity programs | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Majority vote requirements | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Risk oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Separation of chairman and CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Auditors and audit-related issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Capital structure proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equal voting rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Blank check preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase in authorized common shares | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase or issuance of preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Stock splits | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Poison pill plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Executive Compensation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay") | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Claw back proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Employee stock purchase plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equity compensation plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Golden parachutes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Option exchanges | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Pay-for-Performance plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Supplemental executive retirement plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| Environmental and social issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Climate risk | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Corporate political activities | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| General corporate governance matters | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Bundled proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Exclusive forum provisions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Multi-jurisdictional companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Other business | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reincorporation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- IPO governance | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Shareholder Protections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Proxy access | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to act by written consent | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to call a special meeting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Simple majority voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |

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These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the BlackRock Investment Stewardship Global Corporate Governance Guidelines & Engagement Principles (See Appendix A2 of this SAI).

#### INTRODUCTION
BlackRock, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "BlackRock") seek to make proxy voting decisions in the manner most likely to protect and enhance the economic value of the securities held in client accounts. The following issue-specific proxy voting guidelines (the "Guidelines") are intended to summarize BlackRock Investment Stewardship's general philosophy and approach to corporate governance issues that most commonly arise in proxy voting for U.S. securities. These Guidelines are not intended to limit the analysis of individual issues at specific companies and are not intended to provide a guide to how BlackRock will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots, as well as our expectations of boards of directors. They are applied with discretion, taking into consideration the range of issues and facts specific to the company and the individual ballot item.

#### VOTING GUIDELINES
These guidelines are divided into eight key themes which group together the issues that frequently appear on the agenda of annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders:

• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure

• Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions

• Executive compensation

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters

• Shareholder protections

#### BOARDS AND DIRECTORS

#### Director elections
In general, BlackRock supports the election of directors as recommended by the board in uncontested elections. However, we believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held account able. We may withhold votes from directors or members of particular board committees in certain situations, as indicated below.

#### Independence
We expect a majority of the directors on the board to be independent. In addition, all members of key committees, including audit, compensation, and nominating / governance committees, should be independent. Our view of independence may vary slightly from listing standards.

In particular, common impediments to independence in the U.S. may include:

• Employment as a senior executive by the company or a subsidiary within the past five years

• An equity ownership in the company in excess of 20%

• Having any other interest, business, or relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

We may vote against directors serving on key committees that we do not consider to be independent.

When evaluating controlled companies, as defined by the U.S. stock exchanges, we will only vote against insiders or affiliates who sit on the audit committee, but not other key committees.

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#### Oversight
We expect the board to exercise appropriate oversight over management and business activities of the company. We will consider voting against committee members and / or individual directors in the following circumstances:

• Where the board has failed to exercise oversight with regard to accounting practices or audit oversight, we will consider voting against the current audit committee, and any other members of the board who may be responsible. For example, this may apply to members of the audit committee during a period when the board failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing if substantial accounting irregularities suggest insufficient oversight by that committee

• Members of the compensation committee during a period in which executive compensation appears excessive relative to performance and peers, and where we believe the compensation committee has not already substantially addressed this issue

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where the board is not comprised of a majority of independent directors. However, this would not apply in the case of a controlled company

• Where it appears the director has acted (at the company or at other companies) in a manner that compromises his / her reliability to represent the best long-term economic interests of shareholders

• Where a director has a pattern of poor attendance at combined board and applicable key committee meetings. Excluding exigent circumstances, BlackRock generally considers attendance at less than 75% of the combined board and applicable key committee meetings by a board member to be poor attendance

• Where a director serves on an excess number of boards, which may limit his / her capacity to focus on each board's requirements. The following illustrates the maximum number of boards on which a director may serve, before he / she is considered to be over-committed:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Public<br> Company CEO** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**# Outside<br> Public Boards\*** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total # of<br> Public Boards** |
| Director A | &nbsp;&nbsp;x | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| Director B |  | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |

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\* In addition to the company under review

#### Responsiveness to shareholders
We expect a board to be engaged and responsive to its shareholders. Where we believe a board has not substantially addressed shareholder concerns, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

• The independent chair or lead independent director, members of the nominating / governance committee, and / or the longest tenured director(s), where we observe a lack of board responsiveness to shareholders, evidence of board entrenchment, and / or failure to promote adequate board succession planning

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where board member(s) at the most recent election of directors have received withhold votes from more than 30% of shares voted and the board has not taken appropriate action to respond to shareholder concerns. This may not apply in cases where BlackRock did not support the initial withhold vote

• The independent chair or lead independent director and / or members of the nominating / governance committee, where a board fails to implement shareholder proposals that receive a majority of votes cast at a prior shareholder meeting, and the proposals, in our view, have a direct and substantial impact on shareholders' fundamental rights or long-term economic interests

#### Shareholder rights
We expect a board to act with integrity and to uphold governance best practices. Where we believe a board has not acted in the best interests of its shareholders, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

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• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board implements or renews a poison pill without shareholder approval

• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board amends the charter / articles / bylaws such that the effect may be to entrench directors or to significantly reduce shareholder rights

• Members of the compensation committee where the company has repriced options without shareholder approval

• If a board maintains a classified structure, it is possible that the director(s) with whom we have a particular concern may not be subject to election in the year that the concern arises. In such situations, if we have a concern regarding a committee or committee chair that is not up for re-election, we will generally register our concern by withholding votes from all available members of the relevant committee

#### Board composition and effectiveness
We encourage boards to periodically renew their membership to ensure relevant skills and experience within the boardroom. To this end, regular performance reviews and skills assessments should be conducted by the nominating / governance committee.

Furthermore, we expect boards to be comprised of a diverse selection of individuals who bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in order to create a constructive debate of competing views and opinions in the boardroom. We recognize that diversity has multiple dimensions. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the full breadth of diversity including personal factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. In addition to other elements of diversity, we encourage companies to have at least two women directors on their board. Our publicly available <u>commentary</u> explains our approach to engaging on board diversity.

We encourage boards to disclose their views on:

• The mix of competencies, experience, and other qualities required to effectively oversee and guide management in light of the stated long-term strategy of the company

• The process by which candidates are identified and selected, including whether professional firms or other sources outside of incumbent directors' networks have been engaged to identify and / or assess candidates

• The process by which boards evaluate themselves and any significant outcomes of the evaluation process, without divulging inappropriate and / or sensitive details

• The consideration given to board diversity, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnicity, race, age, experience, geographic location, skills, and perspective in the nomination process

While we support regular board refreshment, we are not opposed in principle to long-tenured directors, nor do we believe that long board tenure is necessarily an impediment to director independence. A variety of director tenures within the boardroom can be beneficial to ensure board quality and continuity of experience.

Our primary concern is that board members are able to contribute effectively as corporate strategy evolves and business conditions change, and that all directors, regardless of tenure, demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to shareholders. We acknowledge that no single person can be expected to bring all relevant skill sets to a board; at the same time, we generally do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to have any particular director on the board solely by virtue of a singular background or specific area of expertise.

Where boards find that age limits or term limits are the most efficient and objective mechanism for ensuring periodic board refreshment, we generally defer to the board's determination in setting such limits.

To the extent that we believe that a company has not adequately accounted for diversity in its board composition within a reasonable timeframe, we may vote against the nominating / governance committee for an apparent lack of commitment to board effectiveness.

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#### Board size
We typically defer to the board in setting the appropriate size and believe directors are generally in the best position to assess the optimal board size to ensure effectiveness. However, we may oppose boards that appear too small to allow for effective shareholder representation or too large to function efficiently.

#### CEO and management succession planning
There should be a robust CEO and senior management succession plan in place at the board level that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. We expect succession planning to cover both long-term planning consistent with the strategic direction of the company and identified leadership needs over time, as well as short-term planning in the event of an unanticipated executive departure. We encourage the company to explain its executive succession planning process, including where accountability lies within the boardroom for this task, without prematurely divulging sensitive information commonly associated with this exercise.

#### Classified board of directors / staggered terms
We believe that directors should be re-elected annually and that classification of the board generally limits shareholders' rights to regularly evaluate a board's performance and select directors. While we will typically support proposals requesting board de-classification, we may make exceptions, should the board articulate an appropriate strategic rationale for a classified board structure, such as when a company needs consistency and stability during a time of transition, e.g. newly public companies or companies undergoing a strategic restructuring. A classified board structure may also be justified at non-operating companies in certain circumstances. We would, however, expect boards with a classified structure to periodically review the rationale for such structure and consider when annual elections might be appropriate.

Without a voting mechanism to immediately address concerns of a specific director, we may choose to vote against or withhold votes from the available slate of directors by default (see "Shareholder rights" for additional detail).

#### Contested director elections
The details of contested elections, or proxy contests, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We evaluate a number of factors, which may include: the qualifications of the dissident and management candidates; the validity of the concerns identified by the dissident; the viability of both the dissident's and management's plans; the likelihood that the dissident's solutions will produce the desired change; and whether the dissident represents the best option for enhancing long-term shareholder value.

#### Cumulative voting
We believe that a majority vote standard is in the best long-term interest of shareholders. It ensures director accountability via the requirement to be elected by more than half of the votes cast. As such, we will generally oppose proposals requesting the adoption of cumulative voting, which may disproportionately aggregate votes on certain issues or director candidates.

#### Director compensation and equity programs
We believe that compensation for directors should be structured to attract and retain the best possible directors, while also aligning their interests with those of shareholders. We believe director compensation packages that are based on the company's long-term value creation and include some form of long-term equity compensation are more likely to meet this goal. In addition, we expect directors to build meaningful share ownership over time.

#### Majority vote requirements
BlackRock believes that directors should generally be elected by a majority of the shares voted and will normally support proposals seeking to introduce bylaws requiring a majority vote standard for director elections. Majority voting standards assist in ensuring that directors who are not broadly supported by shareholders are not elected to serve as their representatives. Some companies with a plurality voting standard have adopted a resignation policy for directors who do not receive support from at least a majority of votes cast. Where we believe that the company already has a sufficiently robust majority voting process in place, we may not support a shareholder proposal seeking an alternative mechanism.

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#### Risk oversight
Companies should have an established process for identifying, monitoring, and managing key risks. Independent directors should have ready access to relevant management information and outside advice, as appropriate, to ensure they can properly oversee risk management. We encourage companies to provide transparency around risk measurement, mitigation, and reporting to the board. We are particularly interested in understanding how risk oversight processes evolve in response to changes in corporate strategy and / or shifts in the business and related risk environment. Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

#### Separation of chairman and CEO
We believe that independent leadership is important in the boardroom. In the U.S. there are two commonly accepted structures for independent board leadership: 1) an independent chairman; or 2) a lead independent director when the roles of chairman and CEO are combined.

In the absence of a significant governance concern, we defer to boards to designate the most appropriate leadership structure to ensure adequate balance and independence.

In the event that the board chooses a combined chair / CEO model, we generally support the designation of a lead independent director if they have the power to: 1) provide formal input into board meeting agendas; 2) call meetings of the independent directors; and 3) preside at meetings of independent directors. Furthermore, while we anticipate that most directors will be elected annually, we believe an element of continuity is important for this role for an extended period of time to provide appropriate leadership balance to the chair / CEO.

The following table illustrates examples of responsibilities under each board leadership model:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Separate<br> Chair Model** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair / CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair |
| Board Meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;Attends full meetings of the board of directors<br> Authority to call meetings of independent directors<br> Briefs CEO on issues arising from executive sessions | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors |
| Agenda | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, consulting with the lead director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Collaborates with chair / CEO to set board agenda and board information | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, in conjunction with CEO |
| Board Communications | &nbsp;&nbsp;Communicates with all directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning |

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#### AUDITORS AND AUDIT-RELATED ISSUES
BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements to provide a complete and accurate portrayal of a company's financial condition. Consistent with our approach to voting on boards of directors, we seek to hold the audit committee of the board responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function at a company, and may withhold votes from the audit committee members where the board has failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing. We look to

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the audit committee report for insight into the scope of the audit committee responsibilities, including an overview of audit committee processes, issues on the audit committee agenda, and key decisions taken by the audit committee. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or material weakness disclosures, and we expect timely disclosure and remediation of accounting irregularities.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor effectively fulfilling its role. To that end, we favor an independent auditor. In addition, to the extent that an auditor fails to reasonably identify and address issues that eventually lead to a significant financial restatement, or the audit firm has violated standards of practice that protect the interests of shareholders, we may also vote against ratification.

From time to time, shareholder proposals may be presented to promote auditor independence or the rotation of audit firms. We may support these proposals when they are consistent with our views as described above.

#### CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROPOSALS

#### Equal voting rights
BlackRock believes that shareholders should be entitled to voting rights in proportion to their economic interests. We believe that companies that look to add or already have dual or multiple class share structures should review these structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Companies should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal on the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

#### Blank check preferred stock
We frequently oppose proposals requesting authorization of a class of preferred stock with unspecified voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights ("blank check" preferred stock) because they may serve as a transfer of authority from shareholders to the board and as a possible entrenchment device. We generally view the board's discretion to establish voting rights on a when-issued basis as a potential anti-takeover device, as it affords the board the ability to place a block of stock with an investor sympathetic to management, thereby foiling a takeover bid without a shareholder vote.

Nonetheless, we may support the proposal where the company:

• Appears to have a legitimate financing motive for requesting blank check authority

• Has committed publicly that blank check preferred shares will not be used for anti-takeover purposes

• Has a history of using blank check preferred stock for financings

• Has blank check preferred stock previously outstanding such that an increase would not necessarily provide further anti-takeover protection but may provide greater financing flexibility

#### Increase in authorized common shares
BlackRock considers industry-specific norms in our analysis of these proposals, as well as a company's history with respect to the use of its common shares. Generally, we are predisposed to support a company if the board believes additional common shares are necessary to carry out the firm's business. The most substantial concern we might have with an increase is the possibility of use of common shares to fund a poison pill plan that is not in the economic interests of shareholders.

#### Increase or issuance of preferred stock
We generally support proposals to increase or issue preferred stock in cases where the company specifies the voting, dividend, conversion, and other rights of such stock where the terms of the preferred stock appear reasonable.

#### Stock splits
We generally support stock splits that are not likely to negatively affect the ability to trade shares or the economic value of a share. We generally support reverse stock splits that are designed to avoid delisting or to facilitate trading in the stock, where the reverse split will not have a negative impact on share value (e.g*.* one class is reduced while others remain at pre- split

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levels). In the event of a proposal for a reverse split that would not also proportionately reduce the company's authorized stock, we apply the same analysis we would use for a proposal to increase authorized stock.

#### MERGERS, ASSET SALES, AND OTHER SPECIAL TRANSACTIONS
BlackRock's primary concern is the best long-term economic interests of shareholders. While merger, asset sales, and other special transaction proposals vary widely in scope and substance, we closely examine certain salient features in our analyses, such as:

• The degree to which the proposed transaction represents a premium to the company's trading price. We consider the share price over multiple time periods prior to the date of the merger announcement. In most cases, business combinations should provide a premium. We may consider comparable transaction analyses provided by the parties' financial advisors and our own valuation assessments. For companies facing insolvency or bankruptcy, a premium may not apply

• There should be clear strategic, operational, and / or financial rationale for the combination

• Unanimous board approval and arm's-length negotiations are preferred. We will consider whether the transaction involves a dissenting board or does not appear to be the result of an arm's-length bidding process. We may also consider whether executive and / or board members' financial interests in a given transaction appear likely to affect their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own

• We prefer transaction proposals that include the fairness opinion of a reputable financial advisor assessing the value of the transaction to shareholders in comparison to recent similar transactions

#### Poison pill plans
Where a poison pill is put to a shareholder vote by management, our policy is to examine these plans individually. Although we oppose most plans, we may support plans that include a reasonable "qualifying offer clause." Such clauses typically require shareholder ratification of the pill and stipulate a sunset provision whereby the pill expires unless it is renewed.

These clauses also tend to specify that an all cash bid for all shares that includes a fairness opinion and evidence of financing does not trigger the pill, but forces either a special meeting at which the offer is put to a shareholder vote, or the board to seek the written consent of shareholders where shareholders could rescind the pill at their discretion. We may also support a pill where it is the only effective method for protecting tax or other economic benefits that may be associated with limiting the ownership changes of individual shareholders.

We generally vote in favor of shareholder proposals to rescind poison pills.

#### Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns
We generally do not support shareholder proposals seeking the reimbursement of proxy contest expenses, even in situations where we support the shareholder campaign. We believe that introducing the possibility of such reimbursement may incentivize disruptive and unnecessary shareholder campaigns.

#### EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
We note that there are both management and shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. We generally vote on these proposals as described below, except that we typically oppose shareholder proposals on issues where the company already has a reasonable policy in place that we believe is sufficient to address the issue. We may also oppose a shareholder proposal regarding executive compensation if the company's history suggests that the issue raised is not likely to present a problem for that company.

#### Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay")
In cases where there is a Say on Pay vote, BlackRock will respond to the proposal as informed by our evaluation of compensation practices at that particular company and in a manner that appropriately addresses the specific question posed to shareholders. In a commentary on our website, entitled "<u>BlackRock Investment Stewardship's approach to executive compensation</u>," we explain our beliefs and expectations related to executive compensation practices, our Say on Pay analysis framework, and our typical approach to engagement and voting on Say on Pay.

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#### Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions
BlackRock will generally support triennial pay frequency votes, but we defer to the board to determine the appropriate timeframe upon which pay should be reviewed. In evaluating pay, we believe that the compensation committee is responsible for constructing a plan that appropriately incentivizes executives for long-term value creation, utilizing relevant metrics and structure to ensure overall pay and performance alignment. In a similar vein, we defer to the board to establish the most appropriate timeframe for review of pay structure, absent a change in strategy that would suggest otherwise.

However, we may support an annual pay frequency vote in some situations, for example, where we conclude that a company has failed to align pay with performance. In these circumstances, we will also consider voting against the compensation committee members.

#### Claw back proposals
We generally favor recoupment from any senior executive whose compensation was based on faulty financial reporting or deceptive business practices. In addition to fraudulent acts, we also favor recoupment from any senior executive whose behavior caused direct financial harm to shareholders, reputational risk to the company, or resulted in a criminal investigation, even if such actions did not ultimately result in a material restatement of past results. This includes, but is not limited to, settlement agreements arising from such behavior and paid for directly by the company. We typically support shareholder proposals on these matters unless the company already has a robust claw back policy that sufficiently addresses our concerns.

#### Employee stock purchase plans
We believe these plans can provide performance incentives and help align employees' interests with those of shareholders. The most common form of employee stock purchase plan ("ESPP") qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. We will typically support qualified ESPP proposals.

#### Equity compensation plans
BlackRock supports equity plans that align the economic interests of directors, managers, and other employees with those of shareholders. We believe that boards should establish policies prohibiting the use of equity awards in a manner that could disrupt the intended alignment with shareholder interests (e.g. the use of stock as collateral for a loan; the use of stock in a margin account; the use of stock or an unvested award in hedging or derivative transactions). We may support shareholder proposals requesting the establishment of such policies.

Our evaluation of equity compensation plans is based on a company's executive pay and performance relative to peers and whether the plan plays a significant role in a pay-for-performance disconnect. We generally oppose plans that contain "evergreen" provisions, which allow for the unlimited increase of shares reserved without requiring further shareholder approval after a reasonable time period. We also generally oppose plans that allow for repricing without shareholder approval. We may also oppose plans that provide for the acceleration of vesting of equity awards even in situations where an actual change of control may not occur. We encourage companies to structure their change of control provisions to require the termination of the covered employee before acceleration or special payments are triggered.

#### Golden parachutes
We generally view golden parachutes as encouragement to management to consider transactions that might be beneficial to shareholders. However, a large potential pay-out under a golden parachute arrangement also presents the risk of motivating a management team to support a sub-optimal sale price for a company. When determining whether to support or oppose an advisory vote on a golden parachute plan, we normally support the plan unless it appears to result in payments that are excessive or detrimental to shareholders. In evaluating golden parachute plans, BlackRock may consider several factors, including:

• Whether we believe that the triggering event is in the best interest of shareholders

• Whether management attempted to maximize shareholder value in the triggering event

• The percentage of total premium or transaction value that will be transferred to the management team, rather than shareholders, as a result of the golden parachute payment

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• Whether excessively large excise tax gross-up payments are part of the pay-out

• Whether the pay package that serves as the basis for calculating the golden parachute payment was reasonable in light of performance and peers

• Whether the golden parachute payment will have the effect of rewarding a management team that has failed to effectively manage the company

It may be difficult to anticipate the results of a plan until after it has been triggered; as a result, BlackRock may vote against a golden parachute proposal even if the golden parachute plan under review was approved by shareholders when it was implemented.

We may support shareholder proposals requesting that implementation of such arrangements require shareholder approval. We generally support proposals requiring shareholder approval of plans that exceed 2.99 times an executive's current salary and bonus, including equity compensation.

#### Option exchanges
We believe that there may be legitimate instances where underwater options create an overhang on a company's capital structure and a repricing or option exchange may be warranted. We will evaluate these instances on a case-by-case basis. BlackRock may support a request to reprice or exchange underwater options under the following circumstances:

• The company has experienced significant stock price decline as a result of macroeconomic trends, not individual company performance

• Directors and executive officers are excluded; the exchange is value neutral or value creative to shareholders; tax, accounting, and other technical considerations have been fully contemplated

• There is clear evidence that absent repricing, the company will suffer serious employee incentive or retention and recruiting problems

BlackRock may also support a request to exchange underwater options in other circumstances, if we determine that the exchange is in the best interest of shareholders.

#### Pay-for-Performance plans
In order for executive compensation exceeding $1 million USD to qualify for federal tax deductions, related to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ("OBRA") requires companies to link compensation for the company's top five executives to disclosed performance goals and submit the plans for shareholder approval. The law further requires that a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors administer these plans. Because the primary objective of these proposals is to preserve the deductibility of such compensation, we generally favor approval in order to preserve net income.

#### Supplemental executive retirement plans
BlackRock may support shareholder proposals requesting to put extraordinary benefits contained in Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans ("SERP") agreements to a shareholder vote unless the company's executive pension plans do not contain excessive benefits beyond what is offered under employee-wide plans.

#### ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well-managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses. Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry-specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an

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overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification process in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

• Publish disclosures in line with industry specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

• Disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors. In deciding our course of action, we will assess the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social, ethical, or political judgments on behalf of clients, but rather, to protect the ir long-term economic interests as shareholders. We expect investee companies to comply, at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where such laws or regulations are contradictory or ambiguous.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long- term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain

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instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### Corporate political activities
Companies may engage in certain political activities, within legal and regulatory limits, in order to influence public policy consistent with the companies' values and strategies, and thus serve shareholders' best long-term economic interests. These activities can create risks, including: the potential for allegations of corruption; the potential for reputational issues associated with a candidate, party, or issue; and risks that arise from the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations associated with corporate political activity. We believe that companies which choose to engage in political activities should develop and maintain robust processes to guide these activities and to mitigate risks, including a level of board oversight.

When presented with shareholder proposals requesting increased disclosure on corporate political activities, we may consider the political activities of that company and its peers, the existing level of disclosure, and our view regarding the associated risks. We generally believe that it is the duty of boards and management to determine the appropriate level of disclosure of all types of corporate activity, and we are generally not supportive of proposals that are overly prescriptive in nature. We may decide to support a shareholder proposal requesting additional reporting of corporate political activities where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or actual harm to shareholders' interests, and where we believe the company has not already provided shareholders with sufficient information to assess the company's management of the risk.

Finally, we believe that it is not the role of shareholders to suggest or approve corporate political activities; therefore we generally do not support proposals requesting a shareholder vote on political activities or expenditures.

#### GENERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MATTERS

#### Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes
We generally support such proposals unless the agenda contains items that we judge to be detrimental to shareholders' best long-term economic interests.

#### Bundled proposals
We believe that shareholders should have the opportunity to review substantial governance changes individually without having to accept bundled proposals. Where several measures are grouped into one proposal, BlackRock may reject certain positive changes when linked with proposals that generally contradict or impede the rights and economic interests of shareholders.

#### Exclusive forum provisions
BlackRock generally supports proposals to seek exclusive forum for certain shareholder litigation. In cases where a board unilaterally adopts exclusive forum provisions that we consider unfavorable to the interests of shareholders, we will vote against the independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee.

#### Multi-jurisdictional companies
Where a company is listed on multiple exchanges or incorporated in a country different from its primary listing, we will seek to apply the most relevant market guideline(s) to our analysis of the company's governance structure and specific proposals on the shareholder meeting agenda. In doing so, we typically consider the governance standards of the company's primary listing, the market standards by which the company governs itself, and the market context of each specific proposal on the agenda. If the relevant standards are silent on the issue under consideration, we will use our professional judgment as to what voting outcome would best protect the long-term economic interests of investors. We expect that companies will disclose the rationale for their selection of primary listing, country of incorporation, and choice of governance structures, in particular where there is conflict between relevant market governance practices.

#### Other business

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We oppose giving companies our proxy to vote on matters where we are not given the opportunity to review and understand those measures and carry out an appropriate level of shareholder oversight.

#### Reincorporation
Proposals to reincorporate from one state or country to another are most frequently motivated by considerations of anti- takeover protections, legal advantages, and / or cost savings. We will evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the economic and strategic rationale behind the company's proposal to reincorporate. In all instances, we will evaluate the changes to shareholder protection under the new charter / articles / bylaws to assess whether the move increases or decreases shareholder protections. Where we find that shareholder protections are diminished, we may support reincorporation if we determine that the overall benefits outweigh the diminished rights.

#### IPO governance
We expect boards to consider and disclose how the corporate governance structures adopted upon initial public offering ("IPO") are in shareholders' best long-term interests. We also expect boards to conduct a regular review of corporate governance and control structures, such that boards might evolve foundational corporate governance structures as company circumstances change, without undue costs and disruption to shareholders. In our <u>letter on unequal voting structures</u>, we articulate our view that "one vote for one share" is the preferred structure for publicly-traded companies. We also recognize the potential benefits of dual class shares to newly public companies as they establish themselves; however, we believe that these structures should have a specific and limited duration. We will generally engage new companies on topics such as classified boards and supermajority vote provisions to amend bylaws, as we believe that such arrangements may not be in the best interest of shareholders in the long-term.

We will typically apply a one-year grace period for the application of certain director-related guidelines (including, but not limited to, director independence and over-boarding considerations), during which we expect boards to take steps to bring corporate governance standards in line with our expectations.

Further, if a company qualifies as an emerging growth company (an "EGC") under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), we will give consideration to the NYSE and NASDAQ governance exemptions granted under the JOBS Act for the duration such a company is categorized as an EGC. We expect an EGC to have a totally independent audit committee by the first anniversary of its IPO, with our standard approach to voting on auditors and audit-related issues applicable in full for an EGC on the first anniversary of its IPO.

#### SHAREHOLDER PROTECTIONS

#### Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws
We believe that shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including on changes to governance mechanisms and amendments to the charter / articles / bylaws. We may vote against certain directors where changes to governing documents are not put to a shareholder vote within a reasonable period of time, in particular if those changes have the potential to impact shareholder rights (see "Director elections" herein). In cases where a board's unilateral adoption of changes to the charter / articles / bylaws promotes cost and operational efficiency benefits for the company and its shareholders, we may support such action if it does not have a negative effect on shareholder rights or the company's corporate governance structure.

When voting on a management or shareholder proposal to make changes to the charter / articles / bylaws, we will consider in part the company's and / or proponent's publicly stated rationale for the changes, the company's governance profile and history, relevant jurisdictional laws, and situational or contextual circumstances which may have motivated the proposed changes, among other factors. We will typically support changes to the charter / articles / bylaws where the benefits to shareholders, including the costs of failing to make those changes, demonstrably outweigh the costs or risks of making such changes.

#### Proxy access
We believe that long-term shareholders should have the opportunity, when necessary and under reasonable conditions, to nominate directors on the company's proxy card.

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In our view, securing the right of shareholders to nominate directors without engaging in a control contest can enhance shareholders' ability to meaningfully participate in the director election process, stimulate board attention to shareholder interests, and provide shareholders an effective means of directing that attention where it is lacking. Proxy access mechanisms should provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to use this right without stipulating overly restrictive or onerous parameters for use, and also provide assurances that the mechanism will not be subject to abuse by short-term investors, investors without a substantial investment in the company, or investors seeking to take control of the board.

In general, we support market-standardized proxy access proposals, which allow a shareholder (or group of up to 20 shareholders) holding three percent of a company's outstanding shares for at least three years the right to nominate the greater of up to two directors or 20% of the board. Where a standardized proxy access provision exists, we will generally oppose shareholder proposals requesting outlier thresholds.

#### Right to act by written consent
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to solicit votes by written consent provided that: 1) there are reasonable requirements to initiate the consent solicitation process (in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests); and 2) shareholders receive a minimum of 50% of outstanding shares to effectuate the action by written consent. We may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others, or if the proposal is written to discourage the board from incorporating appropriate mechanisms to avoid the waste of corporate resources when establishing a right to act by written consent. Additionally, we may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent if the company already provides a shareholder right to call a special meeting that we believe offers shareholders a reasonable opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting.

#### Right to call a special meeting
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to call a special meeting in cases where a reasonably high proportion of shareholders (typically a minimum of 15% but no higher than 25%) are required to agree to such a meeting before it is called, in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests. However, we may oppose this right in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others. We generally believe that a right to act via written consent is not a sufficient alternative to the right to call a special meeting.

#### Simple majority voting
We generally favor a simple majority voting requirement to pass proposals. Therefore, we will support the reduction or the elimination of supermajority voting requirements to the extent that we determine shareholders' ability to protect their economic interests is improved. Nonetheless, in situations where there is a substantial or dominant shareholder, supermajority voting may be protective of public shareholder interests and we may support supermajority requirements in those situations.

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IS-SAI-COMT-0323

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## iShares<sup>®</sup> U.S. ETF Trust
Statement of Additional Information

Dated March 1, 2023

This Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the current prospectuses (each, a "Prospectus" and collectively the "Prospectuses") for the following series of iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust"):

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Ticker** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Listing Exchange** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;LQDI | &nbsp;&nbsp;Cboe BZX |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;HYGI | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;AGIH | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |

---

Each Fund invests its assets in (i) individual securities, including shares of other iShares funds that, in turn, invest in bonds and/or short-term instruments based on an index (each, an "Underlying Fund" and collectively, the "Underlying Funds") as well as (ii) inflation hedging instruments, primarily inflation swap contracts. BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA" or the "Investment Adviser"), an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., serves as investment adviser to the Funds and also serves as investment adviser to each of the Underlying Funds.

The Prospectuses for the above-listed funds (each, a "Fund" and collectively, the "Funds") are dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the applicable Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. The Financial Statements and Notes contained in the applicable [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) and [Semi-Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522187742/d360218dncsrs.htm) of the Trust for the Funds are incorporated by reference into and are deemed to be part of this SAI. A copy of each Fund's Prospectus, Annual Report and Semi-Annual Report may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting *www.iShares.com*. Each Fund's Prospectus is incorporated by reference into this SAI.

References to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act" or the "1940 Act"), or other applicable law, will include any rules promulgated thereunder and any guidance, interpretations or modifications by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), SEC staff or other authority with appropriate jurisdiction, including court interpretations, and exemptive, no action or other relief or permission from the SEC, SEC staff or other authority.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BFA and its affiliates.

------

#### **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| [General Description of the Trust and the Funds](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Exchange Listing and Trading](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Investment Strategies and Risks of the Fund](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Asset-Backed Securities Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Bonds](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Corporate Bonds](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Derivatives](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Diversification Status](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures and Options](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Hedging](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[High Yield Securities](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Inflation Hedging Instruments](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investing in Underlying Funds Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lending Portfolio Securities](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk Management](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Privately Issued Securities](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Ratings](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulation Regarding Derivatives](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreements](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reverse Repurchase Agreements](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities of Investment Companies](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Structured Securities](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S.-Registered and Restricted Securities of Non-U.S. Issuers](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_13) | &nbsp;&nbsp;13 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Zero Coupon Securities](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Future Developments](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| [General Considerations and Risks](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Call Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custody Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Extension Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures Contract Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |

---

i

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_infla_7792e14f-e6fd-4298-aec8-13af84106e54_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Illiquid Investments Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuer Insolvency Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Replacement Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Money Market Instruments Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Operational Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Prepayment Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Derivatives](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Debt Securities](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Swap Agreements](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Valuation Risk](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Asia](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Developed Countries](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Europe](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_22) | &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Middle East](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in North America](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Basic Materials Industry](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Capital Goods Industry](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_25) | &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Communication Services Sector](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_25) | &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Cyclical Industry](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Services Industry](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Staples Sector](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_27) | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Technology Sector](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Transportation Industry](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Utilities Sector](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| [Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_29) | &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_29) | &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |
| [Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Indexes](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_30) | &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| [The BlackRock Indexes](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_30) | &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The BlackRock Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond Index](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_30) | &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The BlackRock Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond Index](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |

---

ii

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_infla_7792e14f-e6fd-4298-aec8-13af84106e54_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The BlackRock Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| [Investment Policies](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| [Continuous Offering](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Management](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Trustees and Officers](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Committees of the Board of Trustees](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_43) | &nbsp;&nbsp;43 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_47) | &nbsp;&nbsp;47 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_48) | &nbsp;&nbsp;48 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Conflicts of Interest](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_49) | &nbsp;&nbsp;49 |
| [Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Adviser](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_57) | &nbsp;&nbsp;57 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Portfolio Managers](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_58) | &nbsp;&nbsp;58 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Codes of Ethics](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Anti-Money Laundering Requirements](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_60) | &nbsp;&nbsp;60 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distributor](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_61) | &nbsp;&nbsp;61 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Payments by BFA and its Affiliates](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_63) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| [Determination of Net Asset Value](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_65) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| [Brokerage Transactions](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| [Additional Information Concerning the Trust](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_70) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shares](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_70) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Funds](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_71) | &nbsp;&nbsp;71 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distribution of Shares](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_72) | &nbsp;&nbsp;72 |
| [Creation and Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_72) | &nbsp;&nbsp;72 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[General](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_72) | &nbsp;&nbsp;72 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fund Deposit](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_73) | &nbsp;&nbsp;73 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Purchase Method](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;74 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Procedures for Creation of Creation Units](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;74 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Role of the Authorized Participant](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;74 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Creation Orders](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;74 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Purchase Orders](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_75) | &nbsp;&nbsp;75 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_75) | &nbsp;&nbsp;75 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_75) | &nbsp;&nbsp;75 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuance of a Creation Unit](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_76) | &nbsp;&nbsp;76 |

---

iii

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_infla_7792e14f-e6fd-4298-aec8-13af84106e54_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Creation Transactions](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_76) | &nbsp;&nbsp;76 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_77) | &nbsp;&nbsp;77 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Redemption Method](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_77) | &nbsp;&nbsp;77 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_78) | &nbsp;&nbsp;78 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Redemption Orders](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_78) | &nbsp;&nbsp;78 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custom Baskets](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_79) | &nbsp;&nbsp;79 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units](#xx_91cc59ed-eebb-40b7-897a-a6e4c62db725_80) | &nbsp;&nbsp;80 |
| [Taxes](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulated Investment Company Qualifications](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of RICs](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Net Capital Loss Carryforwards](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excise Tax](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of U.S. Shareholders](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sales of Shares](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;83 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Backup Withholding](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sections 351 and 362](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Certain Derivatives](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Market Discount](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Investments](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Original Issue Discount](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reporting](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;86 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Other Taxes](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;86 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;86 |
| [Financial Statements](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| [Miscellaneous Information](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Counsel](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shareholder Communications to the Board](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investors' Rights](#xx_54373b2a-1830-498b-b0af-45026ab10a37_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| [Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_479e6a53-120d-42df-8197-45b95f0ac4d5_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-1 |
| [Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_479e6a53-120d-42df-8197-45b95f0ac4d5_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-2 |
| [Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_399139f5-6f80-431b-85d3-35e7a540123d_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-13 |
| [Appendix B – Description of Fixed-Income Ratings](#xx_5cc104ed-976c-4d98-841a-9fc23f4c499f_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;B-1 |

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## General Description of the Trust and the Funds
The Trust currently consists of 16 investment series or portfolios. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on June 21, 2011 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. The offering of the Trust's shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This SAI relates to the following Funds:

• iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

• iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

• iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

Each Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., and generally seeks to track the investment results of the specific index identified in the applicable Prospectus for that Fund (each, an "Underlying Index").

Each Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value per share ("NAV") only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each, a "Creation Unit"), generally in exchange for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) (the "Deposit Securities" or "Creation Basket"), together with the deposit of a specified cash payment (the "Cash Component"). Shares of the Funds are listed for trading on national securities exchanges such as Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("Cboe BZX") or NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca") (each, a "Listing Exchange"). Shares of each Fund are traded in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below each Fund's NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Units by Authorized Participants (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units-Role of the Authorized Participant* section of this SAI) and, generally, in exchange for portfolio securities and other portfolio assets and a Cash Amount (as defined in the *Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI). Creation Units typically are a specified number of shares, generally ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 shares or multiples thereof.

The Trust reserves the right to permit or require that creations and redemptions of shares are effected fully or partially in cash. Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities, subject to various conditions, including a requirement that the Authorized Participant maintain with the Trust collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to purchase Deposit Securities. See the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Transaction fees and other costs associated with creations or redemptions that include a cash portion may be higher than the transaction fees and other costs associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, conditions with respect to creations and redemptions of shares and fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of SEC rules and regulations applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.

## Exchange Listing and Trading
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in each Fund is contained in the *Shareholder Information* section of each Fund's Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, that section of the applicable Prospectus.

Shares of each Fund are listed for trading, and trade throughout the day, on the Listing Exchange and in other secondary markets. Shares of the Funds may also be listed on certain non-U.S. exchanges. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Listing Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of a Fund will continue to be met. The Listing Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of a Fund from listing if, among other things: (i) following the initial 12-month period beginning upon the commencement of trading of Fund shares, there are fewer than 50 record and/or beneficial owners of shares of a Fund; (ii) a Fund is no longer eligible to operate in reliance on Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act; (iii) any of the other listing requirements are not continuously maintained; or (iv) any event shall occur or condition shall exist that, in the opinion of the Listing Exchange, makes further dealings on the Listing Exchange inadvisable. The Listing Exchange will also remove shares of a Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Fund.

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As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares of a Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker, as well as other charges.

The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Funds in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Funds or an investor's equity interest in the Funds.

## Investment Strategies and Risks of the Fund
Each Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily by investing in (i) each Fund's Underlying Fund, which are the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (for the iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF), the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (for the iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF) and the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (for the iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF), that is included in its applicable Underlying Index and (ii) the hedging component of the applicable Underlying Index by entering into inflation swap contracts and other instruments. Each Fund operates as an index fund and is not actively managed. Adverse performance of an instrument in a Fund's portfolio will ordinarily not result in the elimination of the instrument from the Fund's portfolio.

Each Fund engages in representative sampling, which is investing in a sample of securities and/or other instruments selected by BFA to have a collective investment profile similar to that of the Fund's Underlying Index. Securities and/or other instruments selected have aggregate investment characteristics (based on market capitalization value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as yield, credit rating, maturity and duration) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Fund's Underlying Index. A fund that uses representative sampling generally does not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments that are in its underlying index.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Funds' potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, each is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

Although the Funds do not seek leveraged returns, certain instruments used by the Funds or Underlying Funds may have a leveraging effect as described below.

**Asset-Backed Securities Risk. Asset-backed securities ("ABS") represent interests in "pools" of assets, including consumer loans or receivables held in trust. ABS are "pass-through" securities, meaning that principal and interest payments, net of expenses, made by the borrower on the underlying assets are passed through to a Fund. ABS, like traditional fixed-income securities, are subject to credit, interest rate, call, prepayment, extension, valuation and illiquidity risk. Because of call, prepayment, and extension risk, however, ABS react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain ABS. The price paid by a Fund for its ABS, the yield a Fund expects to receive from such securities and the average life of such securities are based on a number of factors, including the anticipated rate of prepayment of the underlying assets. During periods of difficulty in the credit markets, ABS may decline in value and become less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to value.**

The nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets may subject ABS to additional risks in comparison to mortgage-backed securities. For instance, certain ABS generally do not have the benefit of a security interest in collateral that is comparable in quality to mortgage-backed assets. The value of the collateral may also be insufficient to cover the principal amount of the obligation. Other ABS, such as those backed by credit card receivables, do not have the benefit of a security interest in collateral at all. Moreover, the values of ABS may be substantially dependent on the servicing of the underlying asset pools, and are therefore subject to risks associated with the negligence or malfeasance by their servicers and to the credit risk of their servicers.

ABS are often not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and are subject to risk of default on the underlying asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

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**Bonds. Each Fund, either directly or through its investments in the Underlying Fund, invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security issued by a U.S. or non-U.S. company or governmental unit. The issuer of a bond has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond's face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by issuers to borrow money from investors.**

An issuer may have the right to redeem or "call" a bond before maturity, in which case a fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, a fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a "coupon" rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Accordingly, a fixed-rate bond's yield (income as a percent of the bond's current value) may differ from its coupon rate as its value rises or falls. When an investor purchases a fixed-rate bond at a price that is greater than its face value, the investor is purchasing the bond at a premium. Conversely, when an investor purchases a fixed-rate bond at a price that is less than its face value, the investor is purchasing the bond at a discount. Fixed-rate bonds that are purchased at a discount pay less current income than securities with comparable yields that are purchased at face value, with the result that prices for such fixed-rate securities can be more volatile than prices for such securities that are purchased at face value. Other types of bonds bear interest at an interest rate that is adjusted periodically. Interest rates on "floating rate" or "variable rate" bonds may be higher or lower than current market rates for fixed-rate bonds of comparable quality with similar final maturities. Because of their adjustable interest rates, the value of "floating rate" or "variable rate" bonds fluctuates much less in response to market interest rate movements than the value of fixed-rate bonds, but their value may decline if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general. Each Fund or an Underlying Fund may treat some of these bonds as having a shorter maturity for purposes of calculating the weighted average maturity of its investment portfolio. Generally, prices of higher quality issues tend to fluctuate less with changes in market interest rates than prices of lower quality issues and prices of longer maturity issues tend to fluctuate more than prices of shorter maturity issues. Bonds may be senior or subordinated obligations. Senior obligations generally have the first claim on an issuer's earnings and assets and, in the event of liquidation, are paid before subordinated obligations. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer's general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).

**Borrowing. Each Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet payments due from redemptions or to facilitate the settlement of securities or other transactions.**

The purchase of securities while borrowings are outstanding may have the effect of leveraging a Fund or Underlying Fund. The incurrence of leverage increases a Fund's or Underlying Fund's exposure to risk, and borrowed funds are subject to interest costs that will reduce net income. Purchasing securities while borrowings are outstanding creates special risks, such as the potential for greater volatility in the NAV of Fund or Underlying Fund shares and in the yield on a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio. In addition, the interest expenses from borrowings may exceed the income generated by a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio and, therefore, the amount available (if any) for distribution to shareholders as dividends may be reduced. BFA may determine to maintain outstanding borrowings if it expects that the benefits to a Fund's shareholders will outweigh the current reduced return.

Certain types of borrowings by a Fund or Underlying Fund must be made from a bank or may result in a Fund or Underlying Fund being subject to covenants in credit agreements relating to asset coverage, portfolio composition requirements and other matters. It is not anticipated that observance of such covenants would impede BFA's management of a Fund's portfolio in accordance with a Fund's investment objectives and policies. However, a breach of any such covenants not cured within the specified cure period may result in acceleration of outstanding indebtedness and require a Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

**Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. The commercial mortgage-backed securities ("CMBS") in which a Fund invests may be issued by entities, such as banks, mortgage lenders or other institutions. These entities are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and there can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities where it is not obligated to do so.**

CMBS depend on cash flows generated by underlying commercial real-estate loans, receivables or other assets, and can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, the availability of information concerning the underlying assets and their structure, and the creditworthiness of the originators of the underlying assets.

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Due to the nature of the loans they represent, CMBS are subject to a greater degree of prepayment and extension risk than many other forms of fixed-income securities. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain CMBS. Certain CMBS are issued in several classes with different levels of yield and credit protection. A Fund's investments in CMBS with several classes may be in the lower classes that have greater risks than the higher classes, including greater interest rate, credit, prepayment and extension risks.

In addition, the value of CMBS may be adversely affected by regulatory or tax changes. CMBS issued by non-government entities may offer higher yields than those issued by government entities, but also may be subject to greater volatility than government issues. In the recent past, the market for CMBS has experienced volatility and reduced liquidity.

**Corporate Bonds. The Funds and their Underlying Funds invest a substantial portion of their assets in investment-grade and/or high yield corporate bonds. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the issuer, the issuer's performance and perceptions of the issuer in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.**

**Derivatives. Certain of the Funds or Underlying Funds may use instruments referred to as derivatives. Derivatives are financial instruments the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity (such as gold or oil), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500 Index or the prime lending rate). Derivatives allow a Fund or Underlying Fund to increase or decrease the level of risk to which a Fund or Underlying Fund is exposed more quickly and efficiently than transactions in other types of instruments. The Funds may use derivatives for hedging purposes. The Fund or Underlying Fund may also use derivatives for speculative purposes to seek to enhance returns. The use of a derivative is speculative if a Fund or Underlying Fund is primarily seeking to achieve gains, rather than to offset the risk of other positions. When a Fund or Underlying Fund invests in a derivative for speculative purposes, a Fund or Underlying Fund will be fully exposed to the risks of loss of that derivative, which may sometimes be greater than the derivative's cost. Unless otherwise permitted, a Fund or Underlying Fund may not use any derivatives to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly.**

#### Diversification Status. The following table sets forth the diversification status of each Fund:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Diversified Funds** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Non-Diversified Funds** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF |

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A fund classified as "diversified" under the 1940 Act may not purchase securities of an issuer (other than (i) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities and (ii) securities of other investment companies) if, with respect to 75% of its total assets, (a) more than 5% of the fund's total assets would be invested in securities of that issuer or (b) the fund would hold more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of that issuer. With respect to the remaining 25% of its total assets, the fund may invest more than 5% of its assets in one issuer. Under the 1940 Act, a fund cannot change its classification from diversified to non-diversified without shareholder approval.

A non-diversified fund is a fund that is not limited by the 1940 Act with regard to the percentage of its assets that may be invested in the securities of a single issuer. The securities of a particular issuer (or securities of issuers in particular industries) may constitute a significant percentage of the underlying index of such a fund and, consequently, the fund's investment portfolio. This may adversely affect a fund's performance or subject the fund's shares to greater price volatility than that experienced by more diversified investment companies.

Each Fund (whether diversified or non-diversified) intends to maintain the required level of diversification and otherwise conduct its operations so as to qualify as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for purposes of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), and to relieve the Fund of any liability for U.S. federal income tax to the extent that its earnings are distributed to shareholders, provided that the Fund satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. Compliance with the diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code may limit the investment flexibility of the Funds and may make it less likely that the Funds will meet their respective investment objectives.

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**Futures and Options. Futures contracts and options may be used by a Fund or Underlying Fund to implement the hedging strategy. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may enter into futures contracts and options that are traded on a U.S. or non-U.S. exchange.**

Futures contracts provide for the future sale by one party and purchase by another party of a specified amount of a specific instrument or index at a specified future time and at a specified price. Upon entering into a futures contract, a Fund or Underlying Fund will be required to deposit with the broker an amount of cash or cash equivalents known as "initial margin," which is in the nature of a performance bond or good faith deposit on the contract and is returned to a Fund or Underlying Fund upon termination of the futures contract if all contractual obligations have been satisfied. Subsequent payments, known as "variation margin," to and from the broker will be made daily as the price of the instrument or index underlying the futures contract fluctuates, making the long and short positions in the futures contract more or less valuable, a process known as "marking-to-market." At any time prior to the expiration of a futures contract, a Fund or Underlying Fund may elect to close the position by taking an opposite position, which will operate to terminate a Fund's or Underlying Fund's existing position in the contract.

A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security at a specified price ("exercise price") within a specified period of time. A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security at a specified exercise price within a specified period of time. The initial purchaser of a call option pays the "writer" a premium, which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may purchase put options to hedge its portfolio against the risk of a decline in the market value of securities held and may purchase call options to hedge against an increase in the price of securities it is committed to purchase. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may write put and call options along with a long position in options to increase its ability to hedge against a change in the market value of the securities it holds or is committed to purchase.

**Hedging. Hedging is a strategy in which a derivative is used to offset particular risks associated with other Fund holdings. Losses on the other investment may be substantially reduced by gains on a derivative that reacts in an opposite manner to market movements. While hedging can reduce losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains or cause losses if the market moves in a manner different from that anticipated by a Fund or if the cost of the derivative outweighs the benefit of the hedge. Establishment of hedges, if not tailored properly or timed in accordance with market changes, may not be effective in meeting a Fund's intended objectives. This is due to the fact that hedging also involves correlation risk, *i.e.*, the risk that changes in the value of the derivative will not match those of the holdings being hedged as expected by a Fund, in which case any losses on the holdings being hedged may not be reduced or may be increased. The inability to close options and futures positions also could have an adverse impact on each Fund's ability to hedge effectively its portfolio. There is also a risk of loss by a Fund of margin deposits or collateral in the event of bankruptcy of a broker or other intermediary with whom a Fund has an open position in a currency forward or non-deliverable forward ("NDF"), a swap, an option, a futures contract, a related option or another hedging instrument. There is no guarantee that the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising inflation rates in which the Fund's futures and swap positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. An inflation swap is a contract in which one party pays a floating rate linked to an inflation index on a notional amount and the other party pays a fixed rate. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into swap positions. There can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging strategies will be effective.**

**High Yield Securities. The iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF invests in high yield debt securities, sometimes referred to as "junk bonds." High yield securities are debt securities rated below investment-grade. Investments in high yield securities generally provide greater potential income and increased opportunity for capital appreciation than investments in higher quality securities, but they also typically entail greater price volatility and credit risk. These high yield securities are regarded as predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer's continuing ability to meet principal and interest payments. Analysis of the creditworthiness of issuers of debt securities that are high yield may be more complex than for issuers of higher quality debt securities. In addition, high yield securities are often issued by smaller, less creditworthy issuers or by highly leveraged (indebted) firms, which are generally less able than more financially stable firms to make scheduled payments of interest and principal. The risks posed by securities issued under such circumstances are substantial.**

Investing in high yield debt securities involves risks that are greater than the risks of investing in higher quality debt securities. These risks include: (i) changes in credit status, including weaker overall credit conditions of issuers and risks of default; (ii) industry, market and economic risk; and (iii) greater price variability and credit risks of certain high yield securities such as

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zero coupon and payment-in-kind securities. While these risks provide the opportunity for maximizing return over time, they may result in greater volatility of the value of the Fund or the Underlying Fund than a fund that invests in higher-rated securities.

Furthermore, the value of high yield securities may be more susceptible to real or perceived adverse economic, company or industry conditions than is the case for higher quality securities. The market values of certain of these lower-rated and unrated debt securities tend to reflect individual corporate developments to a greater extent than do higher-rated securities which react primarily to fluctuations in the general level of interest rates, and tend to be more sensitive to economic conditions than are higher-rated securities. Adverse market, credit or economic conditions could make it difficult at certain times to sell certain high yield securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

The secondary market on which high yield securities are traded, if any, may be less liquid than the market for higher grade securities. Less liquidity in the secondary trading market could adversely affect the price at which the Fund or the Underlying Fund could sell a high yield security, and could adversely affect the daily NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund. When secondary markets for high yield securities are less liquid than the market for higher grade securities, it may be more difficult to value the securities because there is less reliable, objective data available.

The use of credit ratings as a principal method of selecting high yield securities can involve certain risks. For example, credit ratings evaluate the safety of principal and interest payments, not the market value risk of high yield securities. Also, credit rating agencies may fail to change credit ratings in a timely fashion to reflect events since the security was last rated.

**Inflation Hedging Instruments. In order to mitigate the risk of inflation inherent in the corporate bonds held by the Funds and their issuers, the Fund intends to invest in inflation swaps and to manage the portfolio of inflation swaps on an active basis. Inflation swaps are contracts traded primarily in the over-the-counter ("OTC") market under which the Funds would agree to make fixed-rate payments on a notional amount in exchange for floating-rate payments from a counterparty calculated based on an inflation index. Inflation swaps typically are indexed to the Consumer Price Index (the "CPI") but may reference other inflation indexes. The CPI is a measure that examines the weighted average of prices of a basket of consumer goods and services and measures changes in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation. Like other over-the-counter derivatives, inflation swaps expose the Funds to counterparty risk, liquidity risk and other risks described below. In addition to inflation swaps, the Funds may also invest in other inflation hedging instruments, such as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities ("TIPS"), total return swaps, credit default swaps, interest rate swaps and U.S. Treasury futures.**

**Investing in Underlying Funds Risk. Because each Fund invests in one or more underlying funds that are ETFs that seek investment results corresponding to their own underlying indexes, the Fund is indirectly exposed to index-related risk and tracking error risk. Index-related risk is the risk that there may be errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data included in an underlying index for an underlying fund that may not be identified and corrected for a period of time. Gains, losses or costs associated with such errors will be borne directly by the underlying fund tracking such an index and its shareholders and indirectly by the Fund and its shareholders. An index provider for an underlying fund may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to an underlying index in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. Where such an index rebalance occurs and an underlying fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to bring it in line with its underlying index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the underlying fund and indirectly by the Fund. Tracking error risk is the risk that the performance of an underlying fund will diverge from that of its underlying index, which may reduce each Fund's returns and have an adverse impact on each Fund's strategy. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions.**

**Lending Portfolio Securities. Each Fund and Underlying Fund may lend portfolio securities to certain borrowers that BFA determines to be creditworthy, including borrowers affiliated with BFA. The borrowers provide collateral that is maintained in an amount at least equal to the current market value of the securities loaned. No securities loan shall be made on behalf of a Fund or an Underlying Fund if, as a result, the aggregate value of all securities loans of a Fund or an Underlying Fund exceeds one-third of the value of a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received). A Fund or Underlying Fund may terminate a loan at any time and obtain the return of the securities loaned. Each Fund or Underlying Fund receives, by way of substitute payment, the value of any interest or cash or non-cash distributions paid on the loaned securities that it would have otherwise received if the securities were not on loan.**

With respect to loans that are collateralized by cash, the borrower may be entitled to receive a fee based on the amount of cash collateral. The Funds or the Underlying Funds are compensated by any positive difference between the amount earned

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on the reinvestment of cash collateral and the fee paid to the borrower. In the case of collateral other than cash, a Fund or Underlying Fund is compensated by a fee paid by the borrower equal to a percentage of the market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral received by the Fund or Underlying Fund for such loans, and uninvested cash, may be reinvested in certain short-term instruments either directly on behalf of each Fund or Underlying Fund or through one or more joint accounts or money market funds, including those affiliated with BFA; such investments are subject to investment risk. Other investment companies in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests can be expected to incur fees and expenses for operations, such as investment advisory and administration fees, that would be in addition to those incurred by a Fund or an Underlying Fund.

Each Fund and Underlying Fund conduct their securities lending pursuant to an exemptive order from the SEC permitting them to lend portfolio securities to borrowers affiliated with the Fund or Underlying Fund and to retain an affiliate of the Fund or Underlying Fund to act as securities lending agent. To the extent that a Fund or Underlying Fund engages in securities lending, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") acts as securities lending agent for the Fund or Underlying Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA. BTC administers the lending program in accordance with guidelines approved by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board," the trustees of which are the "Trustees"). JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan") serves as custodian for the Funds in connection with certain securities lending activities.

Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including operational risk (i.e., the risk of losses resulting from problems in the settlement and accounting process), "gap" risk (i.e., the risk of a mismatch between the return on cash collateral reinvestments and the fees a Fund or Underlying Fund has agreed to pay a borrower), foreign exchange risk (i.e., the risk of a shortfall at default when a cash collateral investment is denominated in a currency other than the currency of the assets being loaned due to movements in foreign exchange rates), and credit, legal, counterparty and market risks (including the risk that market events could lead the Fund or Underlying Fund to recall loaned securities or to lend less or not at all, which could lead to reduced securities lending revenue). If a securities lending counterparty were to default, a Fund or Underlying Fund would be subject to the risk of a possible delay in receiving collateral or in recovering the loaned securities, or to a possible loss of rights in the collateral. In the event a borrower does not return a Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities as agreed, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's ability to participate in a corporate action event may be impacted, or the Fund or Underlying Fund may experience losses if the proceeds received from liquidating the collateral do not at least equal the value of the loaned security at the time the collateral is liquidated, plus the transaction costs incurred in purchasing replacement securities. This latter event could trigger adverse tax consequences for a Fund or Underlying Fund. A Fund or Underlying Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan. Substitute payments received by a Fund or Underlying Fund representing dividends paid on securities loaned out by the Fund or Underlying Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. BTC will take into account the tax effects on shareholders caused by this difference in connection with a Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities lending program. Substitute payments received on tax-exempt securities loaned out will not be tax-exempt income. There could also be changes in the status of issuers under applicable laws and regulations, including tax regulations, that may impact the regulatory or tax treatment of loaned securities and could, for example, result in a delay in the payment of dividend equivalent payments owed to a Fund or Underlying Fund (as permitted by applicable law).

Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Fund or Underlying Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these requirements, as well as potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect the Fund's or Underlying Fund's ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

**Liquidity Risk Management. Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act (the "Liquidity Rule") requires open-end funds, including ETFs such as the Funds, to establish a liquidity risk management program (the "Liquidity Program") and enhance disclosures regarding fund liquidity. As required by the Liquidity Rule, the Funds has implemented a Liquidity Program, and the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust, has appointed BFA as the administrator of the Liquidity Program. Under the Liquidity Program, BFA assesses, manages, and periodically reviews each Fund's liquidity risk and classifies each investment held by a Fund as a "highly liquid investment," "moderately liquid investment," "less liquid investment" or "illiquid investment." The Liquidity Rule defines "liquidity risk" as the risk that a Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by a Fund without significant dilution of the remaining investors' interest in a Fund. The liquidity of a**

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Fund's portfolio investments is determined based on relevant market, trading and investment-specific considerations under the Liquidity Program. There are exclusions from certain portions of the liquidity risk management program requirements for "in-kind" ETFs, as defined in the Liquidity Rule. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, a Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.

**Privately Issued Securities. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that may be resold only in accordance with Rule 144A or Regulation S under the 1933 Act ("Restricted Securities"). Restricted Securities are not publicly-traded and are subject to a variety of restrictions, which limit a purchaser's ability to acquire or resell such securities. Accordingly, the liquidity of the market for specific Restricted Securities may vary. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to a Fund.**

**Ratings. An investment-grade rating generally means the security or issuer is rated investment-grade by one or more of Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's"), Standard & Poor's<sup>®</sup> Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. ("S&P Global Ratings"), Fitch, Inc. ("Fitch"), or another credit rating agency designated as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization ("NRSRO") by the SEC, or is unrated but considered to be of equivalent quality by BFA. Generally, bonds rated Baa3 or above by Moody's or BBB- or above by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch are considered "investment-grade" securities, bonds rated Baa are considered medium grade obligations subject to moderate credit risk and may possess certain speculative characteristics, while bonds rated BBB are regarded as having adequate capacity to meet financial commitments. In recent years, the U.S. and certain other countries experienced a credit rating downgrade; these downgrades or additional downgrades in the future may result in the deterioration of investor confidence.**

Subsequent to purchase by a Fund or an Underlying Fund, a rated security may cease to be rated or its rating may be reduced below an investment-grade rating. Bonds rated below Baa3 by Moody's or below BBB- by S&P Global Ratings or Fitch are generally considered below investment-grade quality and are obligations of issuers that are generally considered predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer's capacity to pay interest and repay principal according to the terms of the obligation and, therefore, carry greater investment risk, including the possibility of issuer default and bankruptcy and increased market price volatility. Such lower-rated securities are commonly referred to as "junk bonds" and are subject to a substantial degree of credit risk. Please see Appendix B of this SAI for a description of each rating category of Moody's, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch and BFA's treatment of investments that are not rated by any of the rating agencies.

**Regulation Regarding Derivatives. The CFTC subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if a fund that is advised by the investment adviser either (i) invests, directly or indirectly, more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps ("CFTC Derivatives") or (ii) markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. The CFTC also subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests in one or more commodity pools. NDFs and cash-settled currency forwards as well as futures, options on futures, currency options and swaps entered into by a Fund will be treated as CFTC Derivatives for these purposes. Physically-settled foreign currency forward contracts will generally be treated as CFTC Derivatives, however these contracts are not treated as CFTC regulated-swaps and are not subject to certain of the CFTC's rules with respect to swaps. Due to the Funds' potential use of CFTC Derivatives above the prescribed levels, each Fund will be considered a "commodity pool" under the CEA. Accordingly, BFA, each Fund's investment adviser, has registered as a commodity pool operator and is subject to CFTC regulation with respect to each Fund. BFA is also subject to regulation by the National Futures Association.**

Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards, and NDFs, are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Swaps, NDFs and certain other derivatives traded in the OTC market are subject to variation margin and initial margin requirements. Implementation of the margining and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading, reporting and documentation of swaps and other derivatives have impacted and may continue to impact the costs to a Fund of trading these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in a Fund.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits a Fund to enter into Derivatives Transactions (as defined below) and certain other transactions notwithstanding the restrictions on the issuance of "senior securities" under Section 18 of the Investment Company Act. Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, among other things, prohibits open-end funds, including the Funds, from issuing or selling any "senior security," other than borrowing from a bank (subject to a requirement to maintain 300% "asset coverage").

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Under Rule 18f-4, "Derivatives Transactions" include the following: (1) any swap, security-based swap (including a contract for differences), futures contract, forward contract, option (excluding purchased options), any combination of the foregoing, or any similar instrument, under which a Fund is or may be required to make any payment or delivery of cash or other assets during the life of the instrument or at maturity or early termination, whether as margin or settlement payment or otherwise; (2) any short sale borrowing; (3) reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g*., recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, and borrowed bonds), if a Fund elects to treat these transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4; and (4) when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g.,* firm and standby commitments, including to-be-announced ("TBA") commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities, unless the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision").

Unless a Fund is relying on the Limited Derivatives User Exception (as defined below), the Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to its Derivatives Transactions. Rule 18f-4, among other things, requires a Fund to adopt and implement a comprehensive written derivatives risk management program ("DRMP") and comply with a relative or absolute limit on Fund leverage risk calculated based on value-at-risk ("VaR"). The DRMP is administered by a "derivatives risk manager," who is appointed by the Board, including a majority of Independent Directors/Trustees, and periodically reviews the DRMP and reports to the Board.

Rule 18f-4 provides an exception from the DRMP, VaR limit and certain other requirements if a Fund's "derivatives exposure" (as defined in Rule 18f-4) is limited to 10% of its net assets (as calculated in accordance with Rule 18f-4) and the Fund adopts and implements written policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks (the "Limited Derivatives User Exception").

**Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, a Fund or an Underlying Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price, thereby determining the yield during the purchaser's holding period. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by a Fund or an Underlying Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price, and, in the event of a default by the seller, the Fund and its Underlying Fund may suffer time delays and incur costs or losses in connection with the disposition of the collateral.**

In any repurchase transaction, the collateral for a repurchase agreement may include: (i) cash items; (ii) obligations issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; or (iii) obligations that, at the time the repurchase agreement is entered into, are determined to (A) have exceptionally strong capacity to meet their financial obligations and (B) are sufficiently liquid such that they can be sold at approximately their carrying value in the ordinary course of business within seven days.

Repurchase agreements pose certain risks for a Fund or an Underlying Fund, should it decide to utilize them. Such risks are not unique to the Fund and its Underlying Fund, but are inherent in repurchase agreements. Each Fund and its Underlying Fund seek to minimize such risks, but because of the inherent legal uncertainties involved in repurchase agreements, such risks cannot be eliminated. Lower quality collateral and collateral with a longer maturity may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality collateral and collateral with a shorter maturity. If the repurchase agreement counterparty were to default, lower quality collateral may be more difficult to liquidate than higher quality collateral. Should the counterparty default and the amount of collateral not be sufficient to cover the counterparty's repurchase obligation, a Fund or an Underlying Fund would likely retain the status of an unsecured creditor of the counterparty (*i.e.*, the position a Fund or an Underlying Fund would normally be in if it were to hold, pursuant to its investment policies, other unsecured debt securities of the defaulting counterparty) with respect to the amount of the shortfall. As an unsecured creditor, a Fund or an Underlying Fund would be at risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.

**Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. Generally, the effect of such transactions is that each Fund or an Underlying Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund or an Underlying Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are advantageous only if each Fund or an Underlying Fund has an opportunity to earn a rate of interest on the cash derived**

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from these transactions that is greater than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required to be paid may not always be available, and each Fund or an Underlying Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique only when BFA believes it will be advantageous to the Fund or an Underlying Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any increase or decrease in the value of the Fund's or its Underlying Fund's assets. The use of reverse repurchase agreements is a form of leverage, and the proceeds obtained through reverse repurchase agreements may be invested in additional securities.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits each Fund or an Underlying Fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.,* recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, borrowed bonds) notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that each Fund or an Underlying Fund either (i) complies with the 300% asset coverage ratio with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treats such transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4. (See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.)

**Securities of Investment Companies. Each Fund and the Underlying Funds may invest in the securities of other investment companies (including money market funds) to the extent allowed by law, regulation, exemptive order or SEC staff guidance. Pursuant to the 1940 Act, the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' investment in investment companies is limited to, subject to certain exceptions, (i) 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of any one investment company, (ii) 5% of the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' total assets with respect to any one investment company, and (iii) 10% of the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' total assets with respect to investment companies in the aggregate. To the extent allowed by law or regulation, the Funds or Underlying Funds intend from time to time to invest its assets in securities of investment companies, including but not limited to, money market funds, in excess of the limits discussed above. Such investment companies may be advised by or otherwise affiliated with BFA. Other investment companies in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests can be expected to incur fees and expenses for operations, such as investment advisory and administration fees, that would be in addition to those incurred by a Fund and the Underlying Funds.**

The Funds or the Underlying Funds may purchase shares of ETFs for the same reason it would purchase (and as an alternative to purchasing) futures contracts – to obtain relatively low-cost exposure to the stock market while maintaining flexibility to meet the liquidity needs of the Funds or Underlying Funds. ETF shares enjoy several advantages over futures contracts. Depending on the market, the holding period, and other factors, ETF shares can be less costly than futures contracts. In addition, ETF shares can be purchased for smaller sums and offer exposure to market sectors and styles for which there is no suitable or liquid futures contract. The Funds and the Underlying Funds may also purchase ETF shares for other purposes, including improving its ability to track their underlying index (in the case of the Underlying Funds). The Funds and the Underlying Funds may invest in shares of ETFs that are advised by BFA.

**Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments. Each Fund and the Underlying Funds may invest in short-term instruments, including money market instruments, on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity or for other reasons. Money market instruments are generally short-term investments that may include, but are not limited to: (i) shares of money market funds (including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA); (ii) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (including government-sponsored enterprises); (iii) negotiable certificates of deposit ("CDs"), bankers' acceptances, fixed-time deposits and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks (including non-U.S. branches) and similar institutions; (iv) commercial paper rated, at the date of purchase, "Prime-1" by Moody's, "F-1" by Fitch, or "A-1" by S&P Global Ratings, or if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by BFA; (v) non-convertible corporate debt securities (*e.g.*, bonds and debentures) with remaining maturities at the date of purchase of not more than 397 days and that have been determined to present minimal credit risks, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act; (vi) repurchase agreements; and (vii) short-term U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of non-U.S. banks (including U.S. branches) that, in the opinion of BFA, are of comparable quality to obligations of U.S. banks that may be purchased by a Fund. Any of these instruments may be purchased on a current or forward-settled basis. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Bankers' acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.**

**Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations. Certain of the Funds and Underlying Funds may invest in sovereign and quasi-sovereign obligations. An investment in sovereign debt obligations involves special risks not present in corporate debt obligations. Sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by a foreign sovereign government. Quasi-sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by an entity affiliated with or backed by a sovereign government. The issuer of**

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the sovereign debt that controls the repayment of the debt may be unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due, and a Fund and an Underlying Fund may have limited recourse in the event of a default. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a non-U.S. government may cause the value of a sovereign debt to decline. During periods of economic uncertainty, the market prices of sovereign debt obligations may be more volatile than prices of U.S. debt obligations, which may affect a Fund's or the Underlying Fund's NAV. In the past, certain emerging market countries have encountered difficulties in servicing their debt obligations, withheld payments of principal and interest and declared moratoria on the payment of principal and interest on their sovereign debts. Several sovereign issuers have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about rising government debt levels, including Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

A sovereign debtor's willingness or ability to repay principal and pay interest in a timely manner may be affected by, among other factors, its cash flow situation, the extent of its non-U.S. currency reserves, the availability of sufficient foreign exchange, the relative size of the debt service burden, the sovereign debtor's policy toward principal international lenders and local political constraints. Sovereign debtors may also be dependent on expected disbursements from foreign governments, multilateral agencies and other entities to reduce principal and interest arrears on their debt. The failure of a sovereign debtor to implement economic reforms, achieve specified levels of economic performance or repay principal or interest when due may result in the cancellation of third-party commitments to lend funds to the sovereign debtor, which may further impair such debtor's ability or willingness to service its debts.

**Structured Securities. Structured products are privately negotiated debt obligations where the principal and/or interest is determined by reference to the performance of an underlying investment, index or reference obligation. Structured products may be issued by corporations, including banks, as well as by governmental agencies. The terms of structured products normally provide that their principal and/or interest payments are to be adjusted upwards or downwards (but ordinarily not below zero) to reflect changes in the index while the instruments are outstanding. As a result, the interest and/or principal payments that may be made on a structured product may vary widely, depending on a variety of factors, including the volatility of the index and the effect of changes in the index on principal and/or interest payments. The rate of return on structured products may be determined by applying a multiplier to the performance or differential performance of the referenced index or other assets. Application of a multiplier involves leverage that will serve to magnify the potential for gain and the risk of loss.**

Holders of structured products bear risks of the underlying investments, index or reference obligation and are subject to counterparty risk. The Funds or the Underlying Funds may have the right to receive payments only from the structured product, and generally does not have direct rights against the issuer or the entity that sold the assets to be securitized. Certain structured products may be thinly traded or have a limited trading market. In addition to the general risks associated with debt securities, structured products carry additional risks, including, but not limited to: the possibility that distributions from collateral securities will not be adequate to make interest or other payments; the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; and the possibility that the structured products are subordinate to other instruments. Structured notes are based upon the movement of one or more factors, including currency exchange rates, interest rates, referenced bonds and stock indexes, and changes in interest rates and impact of these factors may cause significant price fluctuations. Additionally, changes in the reference instrument or security may cause the interest rate on the structured note to be reduced to zero.

**U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. Certain of the Funds invest in securities backed by pools of mortgages issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, including Government National Mortgage Association ("Ginnie Mae"), Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac"). The market for mortgage-backed securities ("MBS") has been adversely affected by the value of those MBS held and/or issued by these agencies and sponsored entities. If a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity issues securities in which certain of the Funds invests and such issuer is unable to meet its obligations or ceases to exist, and no plan is made for the repayment of securities, the performance of certain of the Funds will be adversely impacted.**

*Ginnie Mae. Established in 1968, Ginnie Mae is a wholly owned U.S. government corporation within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ginnie Mae is authorized to guarantee, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, the timely payment of principal and interest on securities issued by the institutions approved by Ginnie Mae (such as savings and loan institutions, commercial banks and mortgage banks), and backed by pools of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Ginnie Mae securities also are supported by the authority of Ginnie Mae to borrow funds from the U.S. Treasury Department to make payments under*

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its guarantee. Any actual or potential disruption to Ginnie Mae, or the financial condition or credit of the U.S. government, could cause the value of Ginnie Mae securities to decline. In 2011, S&P Global Ratings downgraded U.S. Treasury securities from AAA rating to AA+ rating. A further downgrade of the ratings of U.S. government debt obligations, which are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, could result in higher interest rates for individual and corporate borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial negative effect on the U.S. economy. A downgrade of U.S. Treasury securities from another ratings agency or a further downgrade below AA+ rating by S&P Global Ratings may cause the value of Ginnie Mae securities to decline.

*Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae was established as a federal agency in 1938 and in 1968 was chartered by Congress as a private shareholder-owned company. Securities issued by Fannie Mae are guaranteed as to timely payment of principal and interest by Fannie Mae. The securities are not backed by or entitled to the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, but are supported by the right of Fannie Mae to borrow from the U.S. Treasury Department.*

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970. Securities issued by Freddie Mac entitle the holder to timely payment of interests, which is guaranteed by Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac also guarantees either ultimate collection or timely payment of all principal payments. While Freddie Mac generally does not guarantee timely payment of principal, Freddie Mac may remit the amount due on account of its guarantee of ultimate payment of principal at any time after default on an underlying mortgage, but in no event later than one year after it becomes payable. The securities are not backed by or entitled to the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or by any Federal Home Loan Banks, but are supported by the right of Freddie Mac to borrow from the U.S. Treasury Department.

In 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency placed each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into government conservatorship in an effort to provide stability in the financial markets and put the government-sponsored entities in sound and solvent condition. In addition, the U.S. Treasury Department agreed to provide Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up to $100 billion of capital each on an as needed basis to ensure that they continue to provide liquidity to the housing and mortgage markets.

*Mortgage-Backed Securities. MBS issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac, represent interests in pools of mortgages in which payments of both principal and interest on the securities are generally made monthly, in effect "passing through" the payments made by borrowers on the mortgage loans that underlie the securities (net of any fees paid to the issuer or guarantor of the securities). MBS differ from other forms of debt securities, which normally provide for periodic payment of interest in fixed amounts with principal payments at maturity or specified call dates, while a MBS payments provide a combination of interest and principal throughout the a bond's term. As further described below, MBS may be structured as pass-through securities or collateralized mortgage obligations ("CMOs").*

MBS are subject to the general risks associated with investing in real estate securities; that is, they may lose value if the value of the underlying real estate to which a pool of mortgages relates declines. In addition, investments in MBS involve certain specific risks. These risks include the failure of a party to meet its commitments under the related operative documents, adverse interest rate changes and the effects of prepayments on mortgage cash flows. The value of MBS, like that of traditional fixed-income securities, typically increases when interest rates fall and decreases when interest rates rise. However, MBS differ from traditional fixed-income securities because of their potential for prepayment without penalty. The price paid by a Fund for its MBS, the yield a Fund expects to receive from such securities and the weighted average life of the securities are based on a number of factors, including the anticipated rate of prepayment of the underlying mortgages. In a period of declining interest rates, borrowers may prepay the underlying mortgages more quickly than anticipated, thereby reducing the yield to maturity and the average life of the MBS. Moreover, when a Fund reinvests the proceeds of a prepayment in these circumstances, it will likely receive a rate of interest that is lower than the rate on the security that was prepaid.

To the extent that a Fund purchases MBS at a premium, mortgage foreclosures and principal prepayments may result in a loss to the extent of the premium paid. If a Fund buys such securities at a discount, both scheduled payments of principal and unscheduled prepayments will increase current and total returns and will accelerate the recognition of income, which, when distributed to shareholders, will be taxable as ordinary income. In a period of rising interest rates, prepayments of the underlying mortgages may occur at a slower than expected rate, creating maturity extension risk. This particular risk may effectively change a security that was considered short- or intermediate-term at the time of purchase into a long-term security. Since the value of long-term securities generally fluctuates more widely in response to changes in interest rates than that of shorter-term securities, maturity extension risk could increase the inherent volatility of a Fund. Under certain interest

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rate and prepayment scenarios, a Fund may fail to recoup fully its investment in MBS notwithstanding any direct or indirect U.S. governmental or agency guarantee.

*Mortgage Pass-Through Securities. Some MBS, such as U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities, represent a right to receive principal and interest payments collected on a pool of mortgages, which are passed through to security holders. In the basic mortgage pass-through structure, mortgages with similar issuer, term and coupon characteristics are collected and aggregated into a "pool" consisting of multiple mortgage loans. The pool is assigned a CUSIP number and undivided interests in the pool are traded and sold as pass-through securities. The holder of the security is entitled to a pro rata share of principal and interest payments (including unscheduled prepayments) from the pool of mortgage loans.*

An investment in a specific pool of mortgage pass-through securities requires an analysis of the specific prepayment risk of mortgages within the covered pool (since mortgagors typically have the option to prepay their loans). The level of prepayments on a pool of MBS is difficult to predict and can impact the subsequent cash flows, value and yield of the mortgage pool. In addition, when trading specific mortgage pools, precise execution, delivery and settlement arrangements must be negotiated for each transaction.

*To-Be-Announced Securities. A Fund may seek to gain exposure to U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities by investing in to-be-announced ("TBA") securities. "TBAs" refer to a commonly used mechanism for the forward settlement of U.S. agency MBS, and not to a separate type of MBS. Most transactions in fixed-rate MBS occur through the use of TBA transactions. TBA transactions generally are conducted in accordance with widely-accepted guidelines which establish commonly observed terms and conditions for execution, settlement, and delivery. In a TBA transaction, the buyer and seller decide on general trade parameters, such as the issuing agency, settlement date, par amount, and price. The actual mortgage pools delivered generally are determined two days prior to settlement date. Certain of the Funds may regularly enter into TBA agreements and "roll over" such agreements prior to the settlement date stipulated in such agreements. This type of TBA transaction is sometimes known as a "TBA roll." In a TBA roll, such Funds generally will sell the obligation to purchase the pools stipulated in the TBA agreement prior to the stipulated settlement date and will enter into a new TBA agreement for future delivery of pools of MBS. In addition, certain of the Funds may enter into TBA agreements and settle such transactions on the stipulated settlement date by accepting actual receipt or delivery of the pools of MBS stipulated in the TBA agreement.*

Certain of the Funds may invest cash pending settlement of TBA transactions in money market instruments, repurchase agreements, or other high quality, liquid short-term instruments, including money market funds advised by BFA. Each such Fund will pay its *pro rata* share of fees and expenses of any money market fund that it may invest in, in addition to such Fund's own fees and expenses.

**U.S.-Registered and Restricted Securities of Non-U.S. Issuers. Each Fund or the Underlying Funds may invest in U.S.-registered, U.S. dollar-denominated bonds of non-U.S. governments, agencies, supranational entities and corporate issuers. Investing in U.S.-registered, U.S. dollar-denominated bonds or Restricted Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers involves some risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards; the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation; adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations; political instability, which could affect U.S. investments in foreign countries; and potential restrictions of the flow of international capital. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. In addition, the risk that the issuer may fail to meet its obligations on these securities may be affected by**

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fluctuations in non-U.S. currency exchange rates between the issuer's local currency and the U.S. dollar. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product ("GDP"), rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions.

**Zero Coupon Securities. Zero coupon securities are securities that are sold at a discount to par value and do not pay interest during the life of the security. The discount approximates the total amount of interest the security will accrue and compound over the period until maturity at a rate of interest reflecting the market rate of the security at the time of issuance. Upon maturity, the holder of a zero coupon security is entitled to receive the par value of the security.**

While interest payments are not made on such securities, holders of such securities are deemed to have received income (phantom income) annually, notwithstanding that cash may not be received currently. The effect of owning instruments that do not make current interest payments is that a fixed yield is earned not only on the original investment but also, in effect, on all discount accretion during the life of the obligations. This implicit reinvestment of earnings at a fixed rate eliminates the risk of being unable to invest distributions at a rate as high as the implicit yield on the zero coupon bond, but at the same time eliminates the holder's ability to reinvest at higher rates in the future. For this reason, some of these securities may be subject to substantially greater price fluctuations during periods of changing market interest rates than are comparable securities that pay interest currently. Longer term zero coupon bonds are more exposed to interest rate risk than shorter term zero coupon bonds. These investments benefit the issuer by mitigating its need for cash to meet debt service, but also require a higher rate of return to attract investors who are willing to defer receipt of cash.

Each Fund or Underlying Fund accrues income with respect to these securities for federal income tax and accounting purposes prior to the receipt of cash payments. Zero coupon securities may be subject to greater fluctuation in value and less liquidity in the event of adverse market conditions than comparably rated securities that pay cash interest at regular intervals. Further, to maintain its qualification for pass-through treatment under the federal tax laws, the Fund or Underlying Fund is required to distribute income to its shareholders and, consequently, may have to dispose of other, more liquid portfolio securities under disadvantageous circumstances or may have to leverage itself by borrowing in order to generate the cash to satisfy these distributions. The required distributions may result in an increase in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's exposure to zero coupon securities.

In addition to the above-described risks, there are certain other risks related to investing in zero coupon securities. During a period of severe market conditions, the market for such securities may become even less liquid. In addition, as these securities do not pay cash interest, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment exposure to these securities and their risks, including credit risk, will increase during the time these securities are held in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio.

**Future Developments. The Board or the Board of Trustees of the Underlying Funds may, in the future, authorize each Fund and an Underlying Fund to invest in securities contracts and investments other than those listed in this SAI and in the respective prospectuses, provided they are consistent with each Fund's and/or an Underlying Fund's investment objective and do not violate any of their investment restrictions or policies.**

## General Considerations and Risks
A discussion of some of the principal risks associated with an investment in a Fund is contained in the applicable Prospectus. Because each Fund expects to obtain its exposure substantially through its investment in the Underlying Funds, shareholders should be aware that the risks of investment in particular types of securities, economic sectors and geographic locations discussed below may be borne by the Fund through its investment in the Underlying Funds. Through its investment in the Underlying Funds, each Fund will also bear the risks described below associated with the Underlying Funds' use of portfolio management techniques, such as borrowing arrangements and use of derivatives, in addition to the risks associated with those activities if the Funds engage in them directly.

An investment in a Fund should be made with an understanding that the value of the Fund's portfolio securities, including its investment in the Underlying Funds, may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of bonds in general, and other factors that affect the market. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

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**Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the NAV of Fund or Underlying Fund shares and in the return on a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cause a Fund or Underlying Fund to incur interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce a Fund's or Underlying Fund's return. Borrowing may cause a Fund or Underlying Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Funds or Underlying Funds may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and a Fund or an Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields or interest rates that would not benefit from the hedging strategies used by the Fund. This might result in a decline in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Custody Risk. Custody risk refers to the risks inherent in the process of clearing and settling trades and to the holding of securities, cash and other assets by local banks, agents and depositories. Low trading volumes and volatile prices in less developed markets make trades harder to complete and settle, and governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that may not be subject to independent evaluation. Local agents are held only to the standards of care of their local markets, and thus may be subject to limited or no government oversight. Communications between the U.S. and emerging market countries may be unreliable, increasing the risk of delayed settlements or losses of security certificates. In general, the less developed a country's securities market is, the greater the likelihood of custody problems. Practices in relation to the settlement of securities transactions in emerging markets involve higher risks than those in developed markets, in part because of the use of brokers and counterparties that are often less well capitalized, and custody and registration of assets in some countries may be unreliable. The possibility of fraud, negligence or undue influence being exerted by the issuer or refusal to recognize ownership exists in some emerging markets, and, along with other factors, could result in ownership registration being lost. In addition, the laws of certain countries may put limits on a Fund's or its Underlying Fund's ability to recover its assets if a foreign bank or depository or issuer of a security or an agent of any of the foregoing goes bankrupt. A Fund would absorb any loss resulting from such custody problems and may have no successful claim for compensation.**

**Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's income and potentially in the value of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.**

**Futures Contract Risk. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts that obligate a purchaser to take delivery, and a seller to make delivery, of a specific amount of an asset at a specified future date at a specified price. Unlike equities, which typically entitle the holder to a continuing ownership stake in a corporation, futures contracts normally specify a certain date for settlement in cash based on the level of the reference rate. The primary risks associated with the use of futures contracts are: (a) the imperfect correlation between the change in market value of the instruments held by a Fund or Underlying Fund and the price of the futures contract; (b) possible lack of a liquid secondary market for a futures contract and the resulting inability to close a futures contract when desired; (c) losses caused by unanticipated market movements, which are potentially unlimited; (d) BFA's inability to predict correctly the direction of prices and other economic factors; and (e) the possibility that the counterparty will default in the performance of its obligations.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. Each Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that a Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The liquidity of an investment will be determined based on relevant market, trading and investment specific considerations as set out in the Liquidity Program as required by the Liquidity Rule. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount to comparable, more liquid investments and a Fund may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments in a timely fashion or at their expected prices. If illiquid investments exceed 15% of a Fund's net assets, the Liquidity Rule and the Liquidity Program will require that certain remedial actions be taken.**

**Inflation-Linked Instruments Risk. The returns of CPI swaps and other inflation-linked instruments that may be used by a Fund to hedge inflation risk reflect a specified index of inflation measured by the CPI. There can be no assurance that the CPI or other inflation index used will accurately measure either the actual rate of inflation experienced in the U.S. or the rate of expected future inflation reflected in the prices and yields of bonds held by a Fund. As a result, a Fund's inflation-hedging strategy may not perform as expected. CPI swaps may be riskier than other types of investments because they may be more sensitive to changes in economic or market conditions. CPI swaps create leverage because they rely on future payments,**

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which may cause a Fund's NAV and returns to be more volatile than they would be if the Fund had not used swaps. CPI swaps also expose a Fund to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the swap counterparty will not fulfill its contractual obligations. A Fund's hedging strategy is not customized to particular bonds or investment instruments. As a result, there may be a mismatch between the CPI swaps (and other inflation-linked instruments) and the bonds held by a Fund that are being hedged. If this were the case, a Fund could lose money on both the inflation hedging instruments and the bonds, and the present value of the Fund's portfolio investments could decrease if inflation increases.

**Issuer Insolvency Risk. Each Fund's and Underlying Fund's potential exposure to financially or operationally troubled issuers involves a high degree of credit and market risk, which may be heightened during an economic downturn or recession. Should an issuer of securities held by a Fund or Underlying Fund become involved in a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, a wide variety of considerations make an evaluation of the outcome of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's exposure to the issuer uncertain.**

During the period of a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, it is unlikely that each Fund or an Underlying Fund will receive any interest payments on the securities of the issuer. Each Fund or an Underlying Fund will be subject to significant uncertainty as to whether the reorganization or restructuring will be completed, and each Fund or an Underlying Fund may bear certain extraordinary expenses to protect and recover its investment. Each Fund or an Underlying Fund will also be subject to significant uncertainty as to when and in what manner and for what value the obligations evidenced by the securities of the issuer held by a Fund or Underlying Fund will eventually be satisfied. Even if a plan of reorganization or restructuring is adopted with respect to the securities of the issuer held by each Fund or Underlying Fund, there can be no assurance that the securities or other assets received by a Fund or Underlying Fund in connection with such plan of reorganization or restructuring will not have a lower value or income potential than may have been anticipated or no value. A Fund or an Underlying Fund may be unable to enforce their claims or rights in any collateral or may have its claims or security interest in any collateral challenged, disallowed or subordinated to the claims or security interests of other creditors. In addition, amendments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code or other relevant laws could alter the expected outcome or introduce greater uncertainty regarding the outcome of each Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities holdings in the issuer. In a bankruptcy proceeding, a reorganization or restructuring, the securities of the issuer held by a Fund or Underlying Fund could be re-characterized, or each Fund or an Underlying Fund may receive different securities or other assets, including equity securities. These types of equity securities include, but are not limited to: common stock; preferred stock (including convertible preferred stock); bonds, notes and debentures convertible into common or preferred stock; stock purchase warrants and rights; equity interests in trusts; and depositary receipts. Equity securities are subject to changes in value, and their value may be more volatile than those of other asset classes. Holders of equity securities are subject to more risk than holders of debt securities because the status of equity holders is subordinate to debtholders in an issuer's capital structure. The value of equity securities received by each Fund or an Underlying Fund could decline if the financial condition of the issuer deteriorates or if overall market and economic conditions, or conditions within the issuer's region or industry, deteriorate.

To the extent that a Fund or Underlying Fund receives other assets in connection with a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, a Fund or Underlying Fund may also be subject to additional risks associated with the assets received. One example of assets that a Fund or Underlying Fund could receive is an interest in one or more loans made to the issuer as part of a workout agreed to by a consortium of lienholders and creditors of the issuer. A Fund or Underlying Fund may receive such interests in loans to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act.

Securities or other assets received in a reorganization or restructuring typically entail a higher degree of risk than investments in securities of issuers that have not undergone a reorganization or restructuring and may be subject to heavy selling or downward pricing pressure after completion of the reorganization or restructuring. The post-reorganization/restructuring assets and securities may also be illiquid and difficult to sell or value. If a Fund or Underlying Fund participates in negotiations with respect to a plan of reorganization or restructuring with respect to securities of the issuer held by a Fund or Underlying Fund, each Fund or Underlying Fund also may be restricted from disposing such securities for a period of time. If a Fund or Underlying Fund becomes involved in such proceedings, each Fund or an Underlying Fund may have more active participation in the affairs of the issuer than that assumed generally by an investor.

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**LIBOR Risk. A Fund or Underlying Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. A Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. A Fund or Underlying Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by a Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. All other LIBOR settings and certain other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA") ceased to be published after December 31, 2021. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement ("repo") market and has been used increasingly on a voluntary basis in new instruments and transactions. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate Act was signed into law in the U.S., providing a statutory fallback mechanism to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Federal Reserve Board and based on SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR without adequate fallback provisions. On December 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve Board adopted regulations implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate Act by identifying benchmark rates based on SOFR that will replace LIBOR in different categories of financial contracts after June 30, 2023.**

The regulations include provisions that (i) provide a safe harbor for selection or use of a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; (ii) clarify who may choose the replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; and (iii) ensure that contracts adopting a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board will not be interrupted or terminated following the replacement of LIBOR. These regulations apply only contracts governed by U.S. law, among other limitations. Similar legislation and regulations have been and may be further adopted in other jurisdictions.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Parties to contracts, securities or other instruments using LIBOR may disagree on transition rates or the application of applicable transition regulations, potentially resulting in uncertainty of performance and the possibility of litigation. A Fund may have instruments linked to other interbank offered rates and currencies that may also cease to be published in the future.

The effect of these changes on a Fund or Underlying Fund will vary based on, among other things, existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and the potential renegotiation of existing contracts. In many cases, if an instrument falls back to an alternative reference rate, including SOFR, the alternative reference rate will not perform the same as LIBOR because the alternative reference rate does not include a credit-sensitive component in the rate calculation. In the event of a credit crisis, floating rate instruments using certain alternative reference rates could perform differently than those instruments using a rate indexed to the interbank lending market.

**Money Market Instruments Risk. A Fund may hold money market instruments. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changes in interest rates or in the credit ratings of the investments, among other things. If a significant amount of a Fund's assets is invested in money market instruments, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than U.S. government money market funds and retail money market funds "float" their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.**

**Operational Risk. BFA and a Fund's or Underlying Fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors such as processing errors or human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, or systems or technology failures, that could negatively impact the Funds or Underlying Funds. While service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, their methods of operational risk management may differ from a Fund's or Underlying Fund's in the setting of priorities, the personnel and resources available or the effectiveness of relevant controls. BFA, through its monitoring and oversight of service providers, seeks to ensure that service providers take**

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appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors. However, it is not possible for BFA or the other Fund or Underlying Fund service providers to identify all of the operational risks that may affect a Fund or Underlying Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause a Fund or an Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Risk of Derivatives. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, such as a security, a commodity (such as gold or silver), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500<sup>®</sup> or the prime lending rate). A Fund or Underlying Fund may invest in futures contracts, securities options and other derivatives. Compared to securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations. Derivatives generally involve the incurrence of leverage.**

When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that a Fund or Underlying Fund holds or is committed to purchase, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and in some cases, hedging can cause losses that are not offset by gains, and a Fund or Underlying Fund will recognize losses on both the investment and the hedge. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that a Fund's or Underlying Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.

**Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. A position in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be closed only on the exchange on which the contract was made (or a linked exchange). While each Fund or Underlying Fund plans to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time. Futures contracts, by definition, project price levels in the future and not current levels of valuation; therefore, market circumstances may result in a discrepancy between the price of the future and the movement in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio. In the event of adverse price movements, a Fund or Underlying Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if a Fund or Underlying Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, a Fund or Underlying Fund may be required to deliver the instruments underlying the futures contracts it has sold.**

The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (*e.g.*, selling uncovered stock index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Funds do not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor relative to the size of a required margin deposit. The Funds, however, intend to utilize futures and options contracts in a manner designed to limit the risk exposure to levels comparable to a direct investment in the types of stocks in which it invests.

Utilization of futures and options on futures by a Fund or Underlying Fund involves the risk of loss of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom a Fund or Underlying Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option. The purchase of put or call options will be based upon predictions by BFA as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect.

Because the futures market generally imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the

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previous day's settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and subjecting each Fund or Underlying Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, each Fund or Underlying Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.

**Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Debt Securities. Non-U.S. debt securities are traded on foreign exchanges and OTC in the respective countries covered by a Fund or an Underlying Fund. The risks of investing in non-U.S. debt securities typically include market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic and political developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in bond prices. Investing in a fund whose portfolio contains securities of non-U.S. issuers involves certain risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in the securities of U.S. issuers. These risks include securities markets that may lack sufficient liquidity or may be less efficient; generally greater price volatility; less publicly available information about issuers; the imposition of withholding or other taxes; the imposition of restrictions on the expatriation of funds or other assets of a Fund or an Underlying Fund; higher transaction and custody costs; delays and risks attendant in settlement procedures; difficulties in enforcing contractual obligations; lower liquidity and significantly smaller market capitalization of most non-U.S. securities markets; different accounting and disclosure standards; lower levels of regulation of the securities markets; more substantial government interference with the economy; higher rates of inflation; greater social, economic, and political uncertainty; the risk of nationalization or expropriation of assets; and different bankruptcy and insolvency regimes which may stay or prevent recovery in the event of an issuer's default.**

**Risk of Swap Agreements. The risk of loss with respect to swaps is generally limited to the net amount of payments that a Fund or Underlying Fund is contractually obligated to make. Swap agreements are subject to the risk that the swap counterparty will default on its obligations. If such a default occurs, a Fund or Underlying Fund will have contractual remedies pursuant to the agreements related to the transaction. However, such remedies may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could affect the Fund's or Underlying Fund's rights as a creditor (*e.g.*, a Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it is contractually entitled to receive).**

A Fund is required to post and collect variation margin and initial margin (comprised of specified liquid securities subject to haircuts) in connection with trading of OTC swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for a Fund's investment in swaps.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of a Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. Treasury securities may cause the value of a Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Because U.S. government debt obligations are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, a downgrade could also result in higher interest rates for a range of borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial adverse effect on the U.S. and global economy.**

A high national debt level may increase market pressures to meet government funding needs, which may drive debt cost higher and lead the government to issue additional debt, thereby increasing refinancing risk. A high national debt also raises concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. If market participants determine that U.S. sovereign debt levels have become unsustainable, the value of the U.S. dollar could decline, thus increasing inflationary pressures, particularly with respect to services outsourced to non-U.S. providers and imported goods and constrain or prevent the U.S. government from implementing effective countercyclical fiscal policy in economic downturns. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period that shareholders own shares of a Fund. Notwithstanding that U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S., circumstances could arise that would prevent the timely payment of interest or principal, which would result in losses to a Fund.

**Valuation Risk. In certain circumstances, a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's securities may be valued using techniques other than market quotations. The value established for a security may be different from what would be produced through the use of another methodology or if the value had been priced using market quotations. Securities that are valued using methods other than market quotations, including "fair valued" securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their value from one**

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day to the next than would be the case if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that a Fund and an Underlying Fund could sell a security for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that a Fund or the Underlying Fund could incur a loss if a security is sold for less than its established value.

**Risk of Investing in Asia. Investments in securities of issuers in certain Asian countries involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in other regions. Such heightened risks include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, piracy of intellectual property, data and other security breaches (especially of data stored electronically), political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision-making, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socio-economic unrest. Certain Asian economies have experienced rapid rates of economic growth and industrialization in recent years, and there is no assurance that these rates of economic growth and industrialization will be maintained.**

Certain Asian countries have democracies with relatively short histories, which may increase the risk of political instability. These countries have faced political and military unrest, and further unrest could present a risk to their local economies and securities markets. Indonesia and the Philippines have each experienced violence and terrorism, which has negatively impacted their economies. North Korea and South Korea each have substantial military capabilities, and historical tensions between the two countries present the risk of war. Escalated tensions involving the two countries and any outbreak of hostilities between the two countries, or even the threat of an outbreak of hostilities, could have a severe adverse effect on the entire Asian region. Certain Asian countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect Asian issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. Political, religious, and border disputes persist in India. India has recently experienced and may continue to experience civil unrest and hostilities with certain of its neighboring countries. Increased political and social unrest in these geographic areas could adversely affect the performance of investments in this region.

Certain governments in this region administer prices on several basic goods, including fuel and electricity, within their respective countries. Certain governments may exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector in their respective countries and may own or control many companies. Future government actions could have a significant effect on the economic conditions in this region, which in turn could have a negative impact on private sector companies. There is also the possibility of diplomatic developments adversely affecting investments in the region.

Corruption and the perceived lack of a rule of law in dealings with international companies in certain Asian countries may discourage foreign investment and could negatively impact the long-term growth of certain economies in this region. In addition, certain countries in the region are experiencing high unemployment and corruption, and have fragile banking sectors.

Some economies in this region are dependent on a range of commodities, including oil, natural gas and coal. Accordingly, they are strongly affected by international commodity prices and particularly vulnerable to any weakening in global demand for these products. The market for securities in this region may also be directly influenced by the flow of international capital, and by the economic and market conditions of neighboring countries. China is a key trading partner of many Asian countries and any changes in trading relationships between China and other Asian countries may affect the region as a whole. Adverse economic conditions or developments in neighboring countries may increase investors' perception of the risk of investing in the region as a whole, which may adversely impact the market value of the securities issued by companies in the region.

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Many countries with developed markets have recently experienced significant economic pressures. These countries generally tend to rely on the services sectors (*e.g.*, the financial services sector) as the primary source of economic growth and may be susceptible to the risks of individual service sectors. For example, companies in the financial services sector are subject to governmental regulation and, recently, government intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and amount of capital they must maintain. Dislocations in the financial sector and perceived or actual governmental influence over certain financial companies may lead to credit rating downgrades and, as a result, impact, among other things, revenue growth for such companies. If financial companies experience a prolonged decline in revenue growth, certain developed countries that rely heavily on financial companies as an economic driver may experience a correlative slowdown. Concerns have emerged with respect to the economic health of certain developed countries. These concerns primarily stem from heavy indebtedness of many developed countries and their perceived inability to continue to service high debt loads without simultaneously implementing stringent austerity measures. Such concerns have led to tremendous downward pressure on the economies of these countries. As a result, it is possible that interest rates on debt of certain developed countries may rise to levels that make it difficult for such**

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countries to service such debt. Spending on health care and retirement pensions in most developed countries has risen dramatically. Medical innovation, extended life expectancy and higher public expectations are likely to continue the increase in health care and pension costs. Any increase in health care and pension costs will likely have a negative impact on the economic growth of many developed countries. Certain developed countries rely on imports of certain key items, such as crude oil, natural gas, and other commodities. As a result, an increase in demand for, or price fluctuations of, certain commodities may negatively affect developed country economies. Developed market countries generally are dependent on the economies of certain key trading partners. Changes in any one economy may cause an adverse impact on several developed countries. In addition, heavy regulation of, among others, labor and product markets may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of a Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments.

**Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets. Investments in emerging market countries may be subject to greater risks than investments in developed countries. These risks include: (i) less social, political, and economic stability; (ii) greater illiquidity and price volatility due to smaller or limited local capital markets for such securities, or low or non-existent trading volumes; (iii) companies, custodians, clearinghouses, foreign exchanges and broker-dealers may be subject to less scrutiny and regulation by local authorities; (iv) local governments may decide to seize or confiscate securities held by foreign investors and/or local governments may decide to suspend or limit an issuer's ability to make dividend or interest payments; (v) local governments may limit or entirely restrict repatriation of invested capital, profits, and dividends; (vi) capital gains may be subject to local taxation, including on a retroactive basis; (vii) issuers facing restrictions on dollar or euro payments imposed by local governments may attempt to make dividend or interest payments to foreign investors in the local currency; (viii) there may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against companies and investors may experience difficulty in enforcing legal claims related to the securities and/or local judges may favor the interests of the issuer over those of foreign parties; (ix) bankruptcy judgments may only be permitted to be paid in the local currency; (x) limited public information regarding the issuer may result in greater difficulty in determining market valuations of the securities; and (xi) lack of financial reporting on a regular basis, substandard disclosure and differences in accounting standards may make it difficult to ascertain the financial health of an issuer. The Funds are not actively managed and do not select investments based on investor protection considerations.**

Emerging market securities markets are typically marked by a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of ownership of such securities by a limited number of investors. In addition, brokerage and other costs associated with transactions in emerging market securities can be higher, sometimes significantly, than similar costs incurred in securities markets in developed countries. Although some emerging markets have become more established and tend to issue securities of higher credit quality, the markets for securities in other emerging market countries are in the earliest stages of their development, and these countries issue securities across the credit spectrum. Even the markets for relatively widely traded securities in emerging market countries may not be able to absorb, without price disruptions, a significant increase in trading volume or trades of a size customarily undertaken by institutional investors in the securities markets of developed countries. The limited size of many of these securities markets can cause prices to be erratic for reasons apart from factors that affect the soundness and competitiveness of the securities issuers. For example, prices may be unduly influenced by traders who control large positions in these markets. Additionally, market making and arbitrage activities are generally less extensive in such markets, which may contribute to increased volatility and reduced liquidity of such markets. The limited liquidity of emerging market country securities may also affect a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's ability to accurately value its portfolio securities or to acquire or dispose of securities at the price and time it wishes to do so or in order to meet redemption requests.

Many emerging market countries suffer from uncertainty and corruption in their legal frameworks. Legislation may be difficult to interpret and laws may be too new to provide any precedential value. Laws regarding foreign investment and private property may be weak or non-existent. Sudden changes in governments may result in policies which are less favorable to investors such as policies designed to expropriate or nationalize "sovereign" assets. Certain emerging market countries in the past have expropriated large amounts of private property, in many cases with little or no compensation, and there can be no assurance that such expropriation will not occur in the future.

Investment in the securities markets of certain emerging market countries is restricted or controlled to varying degrees. These restrictions may limit a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investment in certain emerging market countries and may increase the expenses of the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Certain emerging market countries require governmental approval prior to investments by foreign persons or limit investment by foreign persons to only a specified percentage of an issuer's

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outstanding securities or a specific class of securities which may have less advantageous terms (including price) than securities of the company available for purchase by nationals.

Many emerging market countries lack the social, political, and economic stability characteristic of the U.S. Political instability among emerging market countries can be common and may be caused by an uneven distribution of wealth, social unrest, labor strikes, civil wars, and religious oppression. Economic instability in emerging market countries may take the form of: (i) high interest rates; (ii) high levels of inflation, including hyperinflation; (iii) high levels of unemployment or underemployment; (iv) changes in government economic and tax policies, including confiscatory taxation; and (v) imposition of trade barriers.

A Fund's or an Underlying Fund's income and, in some cases, capital gains from foreign securities will be subject to applicable taxation in certain of the emerging market countries in which it invests, and treaties between the U.S. and such countries may not be available in some cases to reduce the otherwise applicable tax rates.

Emerging markets also have different clearance and settlement procedures, and in certain of these emerging markets there have been times when settlements have been unable to keep pace with the volume of securities transactions, making it difficult to conduct such transactions.

In the past, certain governments in emerging market countries have become overly reliant on the international capital markets and other forms of foreign credit to finance large public spending programs, which in the past have caused huge budget deficits. Often, interest payments have become too overwhelming for a government to meet, representing a large percentage of total GDP. These foreign obligations have become the subject of political debate and served as fuel for political parties of the opposition, which pressure the government not to make payments to foreign creditors, but instead to use these funds for, among other things, social programs. Either due to an inability to pay or submission to political pressure, foreign governments have been forced to seek a restructuring of their loan and/or bond obligations, have declared a temporary suspension of interest payments or have defaulted. These events have adversely affected the values of securities issued by foreign governments and corporations domiciled in those countries and have negatively affected not only their cost of borrowing, but their ability to borrow in the future as well.

**Risk of Investing in Europe. Investing in European countries may expose a Fund or Underlying Fund to the economic and political risks associated with Europe in general and the specific European countries in which it invests. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one European country can have an adverse impact on other European countries. A Fund or Underlying Fund may make investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, have significant operations in, or that are listed on at least one securities exchange within member states of the European Union (the "EU"). A number of countries within the EU are also members of the Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") and have adopted the euro as their currency. Eurozone membership requires member states to comply with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Changes in import or export tariffs, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro and other currencies of certain EU countries which are not in the eurozone, the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. Although certain European countries are not in the eurozone, many of these countries are obliged to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone.**

Consequently, these countries must comply with many of the restrictions noted above. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns, government debt levels and the possible default of government debt in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. In order to prevent further economic deterioration, certain countries, without prior warning, can institute "capital controls." Countries may use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering and exiting their country. Such controls may negatively affect a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments. A default or debt restructuring by any European country would adversely impact holders of that country's debt and sellers of credit default swaps linked to that country's creditworthiness, which may be located in countries other than those listed above. In addition, the credit ratings of certain European countries were downgraded in the past. These events have adversely affected the value and exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect the economies of every country in Europe, including countries that do not use the euro and non-EU member states. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce

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the desired results, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly fashion, is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely impact the value of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments in the region.

The United Kingdom (the "U.K.") left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.

Certain European countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect European issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region also could impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which a Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.*

**Risk of Investing in the Middle East. Many Middle Eastern countries have little or no democratic tradition, and the political and legal systems in such countries may have an adverse impact on a Fund or Underlying Fund. Many economies in the Middle East are highly reliant on income from the sale of oil and natural gas or trade with countries involved in the sale of oil and natural gas, and their economies are therefore vulnerable to changes in the market for oil and natural gas and foreign currency values. As global demand for oil and natural gas fluctuates, many Middle Eastern economies may be significantly impacted.**

In addition, many Middle Eastern governments have exercised and continue to exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. In certain cases, a Middle Eastern country's government may own or control many companies, including some of the largest companies in the country. Accordingly, governmental actions in the future could have a significant effect on economic conditions in Middle Eastern countries. This could affect private sector companies and a Fund or Underlying Fund, as well as the value of securities in such Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolios.

Certain Middle Eastern markets are in the earliest stages of development. As a result, there may be a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of investors and financial intermediaries. Brokers in Middle Eastern countries typically are fewer in number and less capitalized than brokers in the U.S.

The legal systems in certain Middle Eastern countries also may have an adverse impact on a Fund or an Underlying Fund. For example, the potential liability of a shareholder in a U.S. corporation with respect to acts of the corporation generally is limited to the amount of the shareholder's investment. However, the notion of limited liability is less clear in certain Middle Eastern countries. A Fund or Underlying Fund therefore may be liable in certain Middle Eastern countries for the acts of a corporation in which it invests for an amount greater than their actual investment in that corporation. Similarly, the rights of investors in Middle Eastern issuers may be more limited than those of shareholders of a U.S. corporation. It may be difficult or impossible to obtain or enforce a legal judgment in a Middle Eastern country. Some Middle Eastern countries prohibit or impose substantial restrictions on investments in their capital markets, particularly their equity markets, by foreign entities

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such as a Fund or Underlying Fund. For example, certain countries may require governmental approval prior to investment by foreign persons or limit the amount of investment by foreign persons in a particular issuer. Certain Middle Eastern countries may also limit investment by foreign persons to only a specific class of securities of an issuer that may have less advantageous terms (including price) than securities of the issuer available for purchase by nationals of the relevant Middle Eastern country.

The manner in which foreign investors may invest in companies in certain Middle Eastern countries, as well as limitations on those investments, may have an adverse impact on the operations of a Fund or Underlying Fund. For example, in certain of these countries, a Fund or Underlying Fund may be required to invest initially through a local broker or other entity and then have the shares that were purchased re-registered in the name of a Fund or Underlying Fund. Re-registration in some instances may not be possible on a timely basis. This may result in a delay during which a Fund or Underlying Fund may be denied certain of its rights as an investor, including rights as to dividends or to be made aware of certain corporate actions. There also may be instances where a Fund or Underlying Fund places a purchase order but is subsequently informed, at the time of re-registration, that the permissible allocation of the investment to foreign investors has already been filled and, consequently, a Fund or Underlying Fund may not be able to invest in the relevant company.

Substantial limitations may exist in certain Middle Eastern countries with respect to a Fund's or Underlying Fund's ability to repatriate investment income or capital gains. A Fund or Underlying Fund could be adversely affected by delays in, or a refusal to grant, any required governmental approval for repatriation of capital, as well as by the application to a Fund or Underlying Fund of any restrictions on investment.

Certain Middle Eastern countries may be heavily dependent upon international trade and, consequently, have been and may continue to be negatively affected by trade barriers, exchange controls, managed adjustments in relative currency values and other protectionist measures imposed or negotiated by the countries with which they trade. These countries also have been and may continue to be adversely impacted by economic conditions in the countries with which they trade. In addition, certain issuers located in Middle Eastern countries in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests may operate in, or have dealings with, countries subject to sanctions and/or embargoes imposed by the U.S. government and the United Nations, and/or countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism. As a result, an issuer may sustain damage to its reputation if it is identified as an issuer which operates in, or has dealings with, such countries. A Fund or Underlying Fund, as an investor in such issuers, will be indirectly subject to those risks.

Certain Middle Eastern countries have strained relations with other Middle Eastern countries due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, international alliances, defense concerns or other reasons, which may adversely affect the economies of these Middle Eastern countries. Certain Middle Eastern countries experience significant unemployment, as well as widespread underemployment. There has also been a recent increase in recruitment efforts and an aggressive push for territorial control by terrorist groups in the region, which has led to an outbreak of warfare and hostilities. Warfare in Syria has spread to surrounding areas, including many portions of Iraq and Turkey. Such hostilities may continue into the future or may escalate at any time due to ethnic, racial, political, religious or ideological tensions between groups in the region or foreign intervention or lack of intervention, among other factors.

**Risk of Investing in North America. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests.**

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S., and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities held by a Fund or Underlying Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by a Fund or Underlying Fund.

**Risk of Investing in the Basic Materials Industry. Issuers in the basic materials industry could be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, exchange rate fluctuations, social and political unrest, import controls and increased competition. Companies in the basic materials industry may be subject to swift fluctuations in supply and demand. Fluctuations may be caused by events relating to political and economic developments, the environmental impact of basic materials operations,**

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and the success of exploration projects. Production of industrial materials often exceeds demand as a result of over-building or economic downturns, leading to poor investment returns. Issuers in the basic materials industry are at risk for environmental damage and product liability claims and may be adversely affected by depletion of resources, delays in technical progress, labor relations, tax and government regulations related to changes to, among other things, energy and environmental policies.

**Risk of Investing in the Capital Goods Industry. Companies in the capital goods industry may be affected by fluctuations in the business cycle and by other factors affecting manufacturing demands. Companies in the capital goods industry depend heavily on corporate spending. Companies in the capital goods industry may perform well during times of economic expansion, and as economic conditions worsen, the demand for capital goods may decrease due to weakening demand, worsening business cash flows, tighter credit controls and deteriorating profitability. During times of economic volatility, corporate spending may fall and adversely affect the capital goods industry. This industry may also be affected by changes in interest rates, corporate tax rates and other government policies. Many capital goods are sold internationally and such companies are subject to market conditions in other countries and regions.**

**Risk of Investing in the Communication Services Sector. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.** 

The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

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**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Cyclical Industry. A Fund or Underlying Fund may invest in consumer cyclical companies, which rely heavily on business cycles and economic conditions. Consumer cyclical companies include automotive manufacturers, retail companies, and housing-related companies. The consumer cyclical industry can be significantly affected by several factors, including, without limitation, the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, changing consumer tastes and trends, marketing campaigns, cyclical revenue generation, consumer confidence, commodity price volatility, labor relations, interest rates, import and export controls, intense competition, technological developments and government regulation.**

**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Services Industry. The success of firms in the consumer services industry and certain retailers (including food and beverage, general retailers, media, and travel and leisure) is tied closely to the performance of the domestic and international economy, interest rates, exchange rates, competition and consumer confidence. The consumer services industry depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Companies in the consumer services industry may be subject to severe competition, which may also have an adverse impact on their profitability. Companies in the consumer services industry are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. Changes in demographics and consumer preferences may affect the success of consumer service providers.**

**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Staples Sector. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be adversely affected by changes in the global economy, consumer spending, competition, demographics and consumer preferences, and production spending. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be affected by changes in global economic, environmental and political events, economic conditions, the depletion of resources, and government regulation. For instance, government regulations may affect the permissibility of using various food additives and production methods of companies that make food products, which could affect company profitability. In addition, tobacco companies may be adversely affected by the adoption of proposed legislation and/or by litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector also may be subject to risks pertaining to the supply of, demand for and prices of raw materials. The prices of raw materials fluctuate in response to a number of factors, including, without limitation, changes in government agricultural support programs, exchange rates, import and export controls, changes in international agricultural and trading policies, and seasonal and weather conditions. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be subject to severe competition, which may also have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector. Companies in the energy sector are strongly affected by the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, government regulations and policies, energy production and conservation efforts, technological change, development of alternative energy sources, and other factors that they cannot control. These companies may also lack resources and have limited business lines. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in certain energy markets or in the global economy. If an energy company in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio becomes distressed, a Fund or Underlying Fund could lose all or a substantial portion of its investment.**

The energy sector is cyclical and is highly dependent on commodity prices; prices and supplies of energy may fluctuate significantly over short and long periods of time due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") policies, changes in relationships among OPEC members and between OPEC and oil-importing nations, the regulatory environment, taxation policies, the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions, war or other geopolitical conflicts, and the economies of the key energy-consuming countries. Commodity prices have recently been subject to increased volatility, which may negatively affect companies in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests. For example, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of certain crude oil futures contracts falling below zero for a period of time.

Companies in the energy sector may be adversely affected by terrorism, war, cyber incidents, natural disasters or other catastrophes. Companies in the energy sector are at risk of civil liability from accidents resulting in injury, loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental damage claims. Disruptions in the oil industry or shifts in fuel consumption may significantly impact companies in this sector. Significant oil and gas deposits are located in emerging markets countries where corruption and security may raise significant risks, in addition to the other risks of investing in emerging markets. Additionally, the Middle East, where many companies in the energy sector may operate, has historically and recently experienced widespread social unrest.

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Companies in the energy sector may also be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, government regulation and intervention, negative perception, efforts at energy conservation and world events in the regions in which the companies operate (*e.g.,* expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and repatriation of capital, military coups, social unrest, violence or labor unrest). Because a significant portion of revenues of companies in this sector is derived from a relatively small number of customers that are largely composed of governmental entities and utilities, governmental budget constraints may have a significant impact on the stock prices of companies in this sector. The energy sector is highly regulated. Entities operating in the energy sector are subject to significant regulation of nearly every aspect of their operations by governmental agencies. Such regulation can change rapidly or over time in both scope and intensity. Stricter laws, regulations or enforcement policies could be enacted in the future which would likely increase compliance costs and may materially adversely affect the financial performance of companies in the energy sector. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than companies in other sectors to restructure their businesses during economic downturns or adversity in global energy markets.

Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. The U.S. and certain European countries have announced bans or restrictions on imports of hydrocarbon commodities from Russia. The effect of such bans and any similar restrictions by other countries, as well as the extent, scope and duration of the conflict, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of a Fund.

**Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector. Companies in the financials sector include regional and money center banks, securities brokerage firms, asset management companies, savings banks and thrift institutions, specialty finance companies (*e.g.*, credit card, mortgage providers), insurance and insurance brokerage firms, consumer finance firms, financial conglomerates and foreign banking and financial companies.**

Most financial companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which limits their activities and may affect their ability to earn a profit from a given line of business. Government regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by the regulation. Direct governmental intervention in the operations of financial companies and financial markets may materially and adversely affect the companies in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests, including legislation in many countries that may increase government regulation, repatriation and other intervention. The impact of governmental intervention and legislative changes on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted. The valuation of financial companies has been and continues to be subject to unprecedented volatility and may be influenced by unpredictable factors, including interest rate risk and sovereign debt default. Certain financial businesses are subject to intense competitive pressures, including market share and price competition. Financial companies in foreign countries are subject to market specific and general regulatory and interest rate concerns. In particular, government regulation in certain foreign countries may include taxes and controls on interest rates, credit availability, minimum capital requirements, bans on short sales, limits on prices and restrictions on currency transfers. In addition, companies in the financials sector may be the targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or customer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.

The profitability of banks, savings and loan associations and financial companies is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates change; for instance, when interest rates go up, the value of securities issued by many types of companies in the financials sector generally goes down. In other words, financial companies may be adversely affected in certain market cycles, including, without limitation, during periods of rising interest rates, which may restrict the availability and increase the cost of capital, and during periods of declining economic conditions, which may cause, among other things, credit losses due to financial difficulties of borrowers.

In addition, general economic conditions are important to the operations of these companies, and financial difficulties of borrowers may have an adverse effect on the profitability of financial companies. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products, and who at times may be unable to meet their obligations to the financial services companies. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect

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other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk, including cross-default risk, may result in significant negative impacts to the financial condition and reputation of companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Financial companies can be highly dependent upon access to capital markets, and any impediments to such access, such as adverse overall economic conditions or a negative perception in the capital markets of a financial company's financial condition or prospects, could adversely affect its business. Deterioration of credit markets can have an adverse impact on a broad range of financial markets, causing certain financial companies to incur large losses. In these conditions, companies in the financials sector may experience significant declines in the valuation of their assets, take actions to raise capital and even cease operations. Some financial companies may also be required to accept or borrow significant amounts of capital from government sources and may face future government-imposed restrictions on their businesses or increased government intervention. In addition, there is no guarantee that governments will provide any such relief in the future. These actions may cause the securities of many companies in the financials sector to decline in value.

**Risk of Investing in the Technology Sector. Technology companies are characterized by periodic new product introductions, innovations and evolving industry standards, and, as a result, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins. Companies in the technology sector are often smaller and less experienced companies and may be subject to greater risks than larger companies; these risks may be heightened for technology companies in foreign markets. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face product obsolescence due to rapid technological developments and frequent new product introduction, changes in consumer and business purchasing patterns, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. In addition, a rising interest rate environment tends to negatively affect companies in the technology sector because, in such an environment, those companies with high market valuations may appear less attractive to investors, which may cause sharp decreases in the companies' market prices. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors. Finally, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the technology sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.**

**Risk of Investing in the Transportation Industry. Companies in the transportation industry may be adversely affected by changes in the economy, increases in fuel and operating costs, labor relations, technology developments, exchange rates, insurance costs, industry competition and government regulation. Companies in the transportation industry are also affected by severe weather events, mass casualty accidents or environmental catastrophes, acts of terrorism and other similar events that target or damage transportation infrastructure or vessels, war or risk of war, widespread disruption of technology systems and increasing equipment and operational costs. Such global or regional events and conditions may adversely affect the operations, financial condition and liquidity of companies in the transportation industry and cause insurance premiums to increase dramatically or result in insurance coverage becoming unavailable for certain business lines or assets. Securities of companies in the transportation industry are generally cyclical and occasionally subject to sharp price movements.**

**Risk of Investing in the Utilities Sector. The utilities sector may be adversely affected by changing commodity prices, government regulation stipulating rates charged by utilities, increased tariffs, changes in tax laws, interest rate fluctuations and changes in the cost of providing specific utility services. The utilities industry is also subject to potential terrorist attacks, natural disasters and severe weather conditions, as well as regulatory and operational burdens associated with the operation and maintenance of nuclear facilities. Government regulators monitor and control utility revenues and costs, and therefore may limit utility profits. In certain countries, regulatory authorities may also restrict a company's access to new markets, thereby diminishing the company's long-term prospects.**

There are substantial differences among the regulatory practices and policies of various jurisdictions, and any regulatory agency may make major shifts in policy from time to time. There is no assurance that regulatory authorities will, in the future, grant rate increases. Additionally, existing and possible future regulatory legislation may make it even more difficult for utilities to obtain adequate relief. Certain of the issuers of securities held in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio may own or operate nuclear generating facilities. Governmental authorities may from time to time review existing policies and impose additional requirements governing the licensing, construction and operation of nuclear power plants. Prolonged changes in

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climate conditions can also have a significant impact on both the revenues of an electric and gas utility as well as the expenses of a utility, particularly a hydro-based electric utility.

The rates that traditional regulated utility companies may charge their customers generally are subject to review and limitation by governmental regulatory commissions. Rate changes may occur only after a prolonged approval period or may not occur at all, which could adversely affect utility companies when costs are rising. The value of regulated utility debt securities (and, to a lesser extent, equity securities) tends to have an inverse relationship to the movement of interest rates. Certain utility companies have experienced full or partial deregulation in recent years. These utility companies are frequently more similar to industrial companies in that they are subject to greater competition and have been permitted by regulators to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business. As a result, some companies may be forced to defend their core business and may be less profitable. Deregulation may also permit a utility company to expand outside of its traditional lines of business and engage in riskier ventures.

## Proxy Voting Policy
For the Funds, the Board has delegated the voting of proxies for each Fund's securities to BFA pursuant to the Funds' Proxy Voting Policy (the "iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy"), and BFA has adopted policies and procedures (the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BFA, including the Funds.

Under the BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies, BFA will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of a Fund and its shareholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of a Fund's shareholders, on the one hand, and those of BFA, or any affiliated person of a Fund or BFA, on the other. BFA maintains policies and procedures that are designed to prevent undue influence on BFA's proxy voting activity that might stem from any relationship between the issuer of a proxy (or any dissident shareholder) and BFA, BFA's affiliates, a Fund or a Fund's affiliates. Most conflicts are managed through a structural separation of BFA's Corporate Governance Group from BFA's employees with sales and client responsibilities. In addition, BFA maintains procedures to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BFA's relationship with the issuer of the proxy or the dissident shareholder. In certain instances, BFA may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copies of the iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy, the BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies and the BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies are attached as Appendices A1, A2 and A3, respectively.

Information with respect to how proxies relating to the Funds' portfolio securities were voted during the 12-month period ended June 30 is available: (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or through the Funds' website at *www.iShares.com*; and (ii) on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

## Portfolio Holdings Information
On each Business Day (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI), prior to the opening of regular trading on the Fund's primary listing exchange, a Fund discloses on its website (<u>www.iShares.com</u>) certain information relating to the portfolio holdings that will form the basis of a Fund's next net asset value per share calculation.

In addition, certain information may also be made available to certain parties:

• **Communications of Data Files: A Fund may make available through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") or through posting on the <u>www.iShares.com</u>, prior to the opening of trading on each business day, a list of a Fund's holdings (generally pro-rata) that Authorized Participants could deliver to a Fund to settle purchases of a Fund (*i.e.* Deposit Securities) or that Authorized Participants would receive from a Fund to settle redemptions of a Fund (*i.e.* Fund Securities). These files are known as the Portfolio Composition File and the Fund Data File (collectively, "Files"). The Files are applicable for the next trading day and are provided to the NSCC and/or posted on <u>www.iShares.com</u> after the close of markets in the U.S.** 

• **Communications with Authorized Participants and Liquidity Providers: Certain employees of BFA are responsible for interacting with Authorized Participants and liquidity providers with respect to discussing custom basket proposals as described in the *Custom Baskets* section of this SAI. As part of these discussions, these employees may discuss with an** 

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Authorized Participant or liquidity provider the securities a Fund is willing to accept for a creation, and securities that a Fund will provide on a redemption.

BFA employees may also discuss portfolio holdings-related information with broker/dealers, in connection with settling a Fund's transactions, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with the disclosure in the Fund's current registration statements.

• **Communications with Listing Exchanges: From time to time, employees of BFA may discuss portfolio holdings information with the applicable primary listing exchange for a Fund as needed to meet the exchange listing standards.** 

• **Communications with Other Portfolio Managers: Certain information may be provided to employees of BFA who manage funds that invest a significant percentage of their assets in shares of an underlying fund as necessary to manage the fund's investment objective and strategy.** 

• **Communication of Other Information: Certain explanatory information regarding the Files is released to Authorized Participants and liquidity providers on a daily basis, but is only done so after the Files are posted to <u>www.iShares.com</u>.** 

• **Third-Party Service Providers: Certain portfolio holdings information may be disclosed to Fund Trustees and their counsel, outside counsel for the Funds, auditors and to certain third-party service providers (*i.e.*, fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure, confidentiality agreement or other obligation is in place with such service providers, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with applicable policies, agreements with the Funds, the terms of the current registration statements and federal securities laws and regulations thereunder.** 

• **Liquidity Metrics: "Liquidity Metrics," which seek to ascertain a Fund's liquidity profile under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology, include but are not limited to: (a) disclosure regarding the number of days needed to liquidate a portfolio or the portfolio's underlying investments; and (b) the percentage of a Fund's NAV invested in a particular liquidity tier under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology. The dissemination of position-level liquidity metrics data and any non-public regulatory data pursuant to the Liquidity Rule (including SEC liquidity tiering) is not permitted unless pre-approved. Disclosure of portfolio-level liquidity metrics prior to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and approval of the Trust's Chief Compliance Officer. Portfolio-level liquidity metrics disclosure subsequent to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires the approval of portfolio management and must be disclosed to all parties requesting the information if disclosed to any party.** 

The Trust's Chief Compliance Officer or his delegate may authorize disclosure of portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures, subject to restrictions on selective disclosure imposed by applicable law. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of portfolio holdings information at least annually.

## Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Indexes
Descriptions of the Underlying Indexes are provided below.

The BlackRock Indexes

#### The BlackRock Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond Index
The Underlying Index is maintained by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider"). The Index Provider will also calculate the Underlying Index. The Fund will use the Underlying Index pursuant to a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. The license states that the Index Provider must provide the use of the Underlying Index and related intellectual property at no cost to the Fund.

#### Number of Components: approximately 12
**Index Description. The BlackRock Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund. Through a rules-based approach, the Underlying Index will hold up to 10 Interest Rate or Inflation Swaps, whose weights are adjusted by the Index Provider on a daily basis.**

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**Index Methodology. The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 inflation swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by the Index Provider). The different maturities of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure (*i.e*., sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.**

#### The BlackRock Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond Index
The Underlying Index is maintained by the Index Provider. The Index Provider will also calculate the Underlying Index. The Fund will use the Underlying Index pursuant to a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. The license states that the Index Provider must provide the use of the Underlying Index and related intellectual property at no cost to the Fund.

#### Number of Components: approximately 12
**Index Description. The BlackRock Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund. Through a rules-based approach, the Underlying Index will hold up to 10 inflation swaps, whose weights are adjusted by the Index Provider on a daily basis.**

**Index Methodology. The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 inflation swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by the Index Provider). The different maturities of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's inflation risk at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.**

#### The BlackRock Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
The Underlying Index is maintained by the Index Provider. The Index Provider will also calculate the Underlying Index. The Fund will use the Underlying Index pursuant to a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. The license states that the Index Provider must provide the use of the Underlying Index and related intellectual property at no cost to the Fund.

#### Number of Components: approximately 12
**Index Description. The BlackRock Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund. Through a rules-based approach, the Underlying Index will hold up to 10 inflation swaps, whose weights are adjusted by the Index Provider on a daily basis.**

**Index Methodology. The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the inflation risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 inflation swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by the Index Provider). The different maturities of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's inflation risk at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.**

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## Investment Policies
The Board has adopted as fundamental policies the following numbered investment policies, which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the applicable Fund's outstanding voting securities. A vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of each Fund is defined in the Investment Company Act as the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a shareholder meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of each Fund are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of each Fund. Each Fund has also adopted certain non-fundamental investment policies, including its investment objective. Non-fundamental investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval. Therefore, each Fund may change its investment objective without shareholder approval.

#### Fundamental Investment Policies

#### The iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF may not:
1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act, except that the Fund will concentrate to approximately the same extent that an underlying fund concentrates in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts ("REITs"), mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

#### The iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF and iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF may not :
1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act, except that the Fund will concentrate to approximately the same extent that its Underlying Index concentrates in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of REITs, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

#### Notations Regarding the Fund's Fundamental Investment Policies
The following notations are not considered to be part of each Fund's fundamental investment policies and are subject to change without shareholder approval.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to concentration set forth in (1) above, the Investment Company Act does not define what constitutes "concentration" in an industry. The SEC staff has taken the position that investment of 25% or more of a fund's total assets in one or more issuers conducting their principal activities in the same industry or group of industries constitutes concentration. It is possible that interpretations of concentration could change in the future. The policy

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in (1) above will be interpreted to refer to concentration as that term may be interpreted from time to time. The policy also will be interpreted to permit investment without limit in the following: securities of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities; securities of state, territory, possession or municipal governments and their authorities, agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and repurchase agreements collateralized by any such obligations. Accordingly, issuers of the foregoing securities will not be considered to be members of any industry. There also will be no limit on investment in issuers domiciled in a single jurisdiction or country. Finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Each foreign government will be considered to be a member of a separate industry. With respect to each Fund's industry classifications, each Fund currently utilizes any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. The policy also will be interpreted to give broad authority to each Fund as to how to classify issuers within or among industries.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to borrowing money set forth in (2) above, the Investment Company Act permits each Fund to borrow money in amounts of up to one-third of the Fund's total assets from banks for any purpose, and to borrow up to 5% of the Fund's total assets from banks or other lenders for temporary purposes. (The Fund's total assets include the amounts being borrowed.) To limit the risks attendant to borrowing, the Investment Company Act requires each Fund to maintain at all times an "asset coverage" of at least 300% of the amount of its borrowings. Asset coverage means the ratio that the value of each Fund's total assets (including amounts borrowed), minus liabilities other than borrowings, bears to the aggregate amount of all borrowings. Borrowing money to increase portfolio holdings is known as "leveraging." Certain trading practices and investments, such as reverse repurchase agreements, may be considered to be borrowings or involve leverage and thus are subject to the Investment Company Act restrictions. In accordance with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act, when each Fund engages in reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, the Fund may either (i) maintain asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treat such transactions as "derivatives transactions" and comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to such transactions. Short-term credits necessary for the settlement of securities transactions and arrangements with respect to securities lending will not be considered to be borrowings under the policy. Practices and investments that may involve leverage but are not considered to be borrowings are not subject to the policy.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to underwriting set forth in (5) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit a fund from engaging in the underwriting business or from underwriting the securities of other issuers; in fact, in the case of diversified funds, the Investment Company Act permits a fund to have underwriting commitments of up to 25% of its assets under certain circumstances. Those circumstances currently are that the amount of a fund's underwriting commitments, when added to the value of a fund's investments in issuers where a fund owns more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of those issuers, cannot exceed the 25% cap. A fund engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act. Although it is not believed that the application of the 1933 Act provisions described above would cause a fund to be engaged in the business of underwriting, the policy in (5) above will be interpreted not to prevent a fund from engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities, regardless of whether a fund may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act or is otherwise engaged in the underwriting business to the extent permitted by applicable law.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to lending set forth in (7) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit each Fund from making loans (including lending its securities); however, SEC staff interpretations currently prohibit funds from lending more than one-third of their total assets (including lending its securities), except through the purchase of debt obligations or the use of repurchase agreements. In addition, collateral arrangements with respect to options, forward currency and futures transactions and other derivative instruments (as applicable), as well as delays in the settlement of securities transactions, will not be considered loans.

#### Non-Fundamental Investment Policies
Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except to the extent permitted by each Fund's Prospectus and SAI, as amended from time to time, and applicable law.

Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental investment policy in accordance with Rule 35d-1 under the 1940 Act to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in each Fund's Underlying Index. Each Fund also has adopted a policy to

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provide its shareholders with at least 60 days' prior written notice of any change in such policy. If, subsequent to an investment, an 80% requirement is no longer met, a Fund's future investments will be made in a manner that will bring the Fund into compliance with this policy.

Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to purchase securities of other investment companies, except to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act. As a matter of policy, however, each Fund will not purchase shares of any registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust, in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or (G) (the "fund of funds" provisions) of the Investment Company Act, at any time each Fund has knowledge that its shares are purchased by another investment company investor in reliance on the provisions of subparagraph (G) of Section 12(d)(1).

Each Fund (except the iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF) has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to invest in the securities of a company for the purpose of exercising management or control, or purchase or otherwise acquire any illiquid investment, except as permitted under the 1940 Act, which currently limits each Fund's holdings in illiquid investments to 15% of a Fund's net assets. BFA monitors Fund holdings in illiquid investments pursuant to the Liquidity Program. Except with regard to the fundamental policy relating to senior securities set forth in (3) above, if any percentage restriction described above is complied with at the time of an investment, a later increase or decrease in percentage resulting from a change in values of assets will not constitute a violation of such restriction.

Unless otherwise indicated, all limitations under each Fund's fundamental or non-fundamental investment policies apply only at the time that a transaction is undertaken. Any change in the percentage of each Fund's assets invested in certain securities or other instruments resulting from market fluctuations or other changes in each Fund's total assets will not require each Fund to dispose of an investment until BFA determines that it is practicable to sell or close out the investment without undue market or tax consequences.

## Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Funds on an ongoing basis, at any point a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the 1933 Act must take into account all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, generally are required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Funds are reminded that, pursuant to Rule 153 under the 1933 Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the 1933 Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Listing Exchange generally is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Listing Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available only with respect to transactions on an exchange.

## Management
**Trustees and Officers. The Board has responsibility for the overall management and operations of the Funds, including general supervision of the duties performed by BFA and other service providers. Each Trustee serves until he or she resigns, is removed, dies, retires or becomes incapacitated. The President, Chief Compliance Officer, Treasurer and Secretary shall each**

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hold office until their successors are chosen and qualify, and all other officers shall hold office until he or she resigns or is removed. Trustees who are not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust are referred to as independent trustees ("Independent Trustees").

The registered investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates (the "BlackRock-advised Funds") are organized into one complex of open-end equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds and ETFs (the "BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex"), one complex of closed-end funds and open-end non-index fixed-income funds (including ETFs) (the "BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex") and one complex of ETFs ("Exchange-Traded Fund Complex") (each, a "BlackRock Fund Complex"). Each Fund is included in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex. Each Trustee also serves as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust, and, as a result, oversees all of the funds within the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, which consists of 381 funds as of March 1, 2023. With the exception of Robert S. Kapito, Salim Ramji and Charles Park, the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of Mr. Kapito, Mr. Ramji and Mr. Park is c/o BlackRock, Inc., Park Avenue Plaza, 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055. The Board has designated John E. Kerrigan as its Independent Board Chair. Additional information about the Funds' Trustees and officers may be found in this SAI, which is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

#### Interested Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Robert S. Kapito<sup>1</sup><br> (1957) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;President, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (since its formation in 1998) and BlackRock, Inc.'s predecessor entities (since 1988); Trustee, University of Pennsylvania (since 2009); President of Board of Directors, Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2009); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2009). |
| Salim Ramji<sup>2</sup><br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2014); Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments Business (since 2019); Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business (2015-2019); Global Head of Corporate Strategy, BlackRock, Inc. (2014-2015); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (2010-2014). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2019); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2019). |

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<sup>1</sup> Robert S. Kapito is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

<sup>2</sup> Salim Ramji is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

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#### Independent Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Kerrigan<br> (1955) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Independent Board Chair<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Investment Officer, Santa Clara University (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005); Independent Board Chair of iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. (since 2022). |
| Jane D. Carlin<br> (1956) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2015); Risk Committee Chair (since 2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Consultant (since 2012); Member of the Audit Committee (2012-2018), Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee (2017-2018) and Director of PHH Corporation (mortgage solutions) (2012-2018); Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley (2006-2012). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2015); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2015); Member of the Audit Committee (since 2016), Chair of the Audit Committee (since 2020) and Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (since 2016). |
| Richard L. Fagnani<br> (1954) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); Audit Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Partner, KPMG LLP (2002-2016); Director of One Generation Away (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Cecilia H. Herbert<br> (1949) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Nominating and Governance and Equity Plus Committee Chairs<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair of the Finance Committee (since 2019) and Trustee and Member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees of Stanford Health Care (since 2016); Trustee of WNET, New York's public media company (since 2011) and Member of the Audit Committee (since 2018), Investment Committee (since 2011) and Personnel Committee (since 2022); Chair (1994-2005) and Member (1992-2021) of the Investment Committee, Archdiocese of San Francisco; Trustee of Forward Funds (14 portfolios) (2009-2018); Trustee of Salient MF Trust (4 portfolios) (2015-2018); Director (1998-2013) and President (2007-2011) of the Board of Directors, Catholic Charities CYO; Trustee (2002-2011) and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (2006-2010) of the Thacher School; Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole (since 2020); Director of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts (since 2021); Member of the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005). |
| Drew E. Lawton<br> (1959) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); 15(c) Committee Chair (since 2017). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director of New York Life Insurance Company (2010-2015). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017); Director of Jackson Financial Inc. (since 2021). |
| John E. Martinez<br> (1961) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011);<br> Securities Lending Committee Chair<br> (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc. (since 2005); Director of Cloudera Foundation (2017-2020); and Director of Reading Partners (2012-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2003); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2003). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Madhav V. Rajan<br> (1964) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Fixed Income Plus Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Dean, and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (since 2017); Advisory Board Member (since 2016) and Director (since 2020) of C.M. Capital Corporation; Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (since 2020); Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2001-2017); Professor of Law (by courtesy), Stanford Law School (2005-2017); Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA Program, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2010-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2011);<br> Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2011). |

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#### Officers

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Armando Senra<br> (1971) | &nbsp;&nbsp;President (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2007); Head of U.S., Canada and Latin America iShares, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2019); Head of Latin America Region, BlackRock, Inc. (2006-2019); Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (1994-2006). |
| Trent Walker<br> (1974) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer<br> (since 2020). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since September 2019); Chief Financial Officer of iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, BlackRock Funds, BlackRock Funds II, BlackRock Funds IV, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Funds VI (since 2021); Executive Vice President of PIMCO (2016-2019); Senior Vice President of PIMCO (2008-2015); Treasurer (2013-2019) and Assistant Treasurer (2007-2017) of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds. |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Charles Park<br> (1967) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex (since 2014); Chief Compliance Officer of BFA (since 2006). |
| Marisa Rolland<br> (1980) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Secretary (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2023); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2018-2022); Vice President, BlackRock, Inc. (2010-2017). |
| Rachel Aguirre<br> (1982) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2018); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2009-2018); Head of U.S. iShares Product (since 2022); Head of EII U.S. Product Engineering (since 2021); Co-Head of EII's Americas Portfolio Engineering (2020-2021); Head of Developed Markets Portfolio Engineering (2016-2019). |
| Jennifer Hsui<br> (1976) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2009); Co-Head of Index Equity (since 2022). |
| James Mauro<br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2010); Head of Fixed Income Index Investments in the Americas and Head of San Francisco Core Portfolio Management (since 2020). |

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The Board has concluded that, based on each Trustee's experience, qualifications, attributes or skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees, each Trustee should serve as a Trustee of the Board. Among the attributes common to all Trustees are their ability to review critically, evaluate, question and discuss information provided to them, to interact effectively with the Funds' investment adviser, other service providers, counsel and the independent registered public accounting firm, and to exercise effective business judgment in the performance of their duties as Trustees. A Trustee's ability to perform his or her duties effectively may have been attained through the Trustee's educational background or professional training; business, consulting, public service or academic positions; experience from service as a Board member of the Funds and the other funds in the Trust (and any predecessor funds), other investment funds, public companies, or non-profit entities or other organizations; and/or other life experiences. Also, set forth below is a brief discussion of the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of each Trustee that led the Board to conclude that he or she should serve (or continue to serve) as a Trustee.

Robert S. Kapito has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011. Mr. Kapito has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2009 and a Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. Mr. Kapito served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. In addition, he has over 20 years of experience as part of BlackRock, Inc. and BlackRock's predecessor entities. Mr. Kapito serves as President of BlackRock, Inc., and is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Chairman of the Global Operating Committee. He is responsible for day-to-day oversight of BlackRock's key operating units, including Investment Strategies, Client Businesses, Technology & Operations, and Risk & Quantitative Analysis. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2007, Mr. Kapito served as Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all portfolio management within BlackRock, including the Fixed Income, Equity, Liquidity, and Alternative Investment Groups. Mr. Kapito serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's

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Advisors. He has also been President of the Board of Directors for the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund since 2002. Mr. Kapito earned a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Salim Ramji has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji is the Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments business. In addition, he is a member of BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors. Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the Asset and Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London and Hong Kong. He has served as a Trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency, since 2007. Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

John E. Kerrigan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Trust's Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board from 2019 to 2021, and as Chair of each Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Kerrigan has served as Chief Investment Officer of Santa Clara University since 2002. Mr. Kerrigan was formerly a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., including the following responsibilities: Managing Director, Institutional Client Division, Western United States. Mr. Kerrigan has been a Director, since 1999, of The BASIC Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner City Children). Mr. Kerrigan has a BA degree from Boston College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder.

Jane D. Carlin has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2015 and Chair of the Risk Committee since 2016. Ms. Carlin has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2015, and Chair of the Risk Committee of each Board since 2016. Ms. Carlin has served as a consultant since 2012 and formerly served as Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012. In addition, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Global Head of the Bank Operational Risk Oversight Department of Credit Suisse Group from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Carlin has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector and has served in a number of legal, regulatory, and risk management positions. Ms. Carlin has served as a member of the Audit Committee and as a Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., each since 2016, and as Chair of the Audit Committee since 2020. Ms. Carlin served as a member of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2018, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2017 to 2018 and as an Independent Director on the Board of PHH Corporation from 2012 to 2018. She previously served as a Director on the Boards of Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank. Ms. Carlin was appointed by the United States Treasury to the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, where she served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2012 and Vice Chair and Chair of the Cyber Security Committee from 2009 to 2010. Ms. Carlin has a BA degree in political science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Richard L. Fagnani has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2017, and Chair of the Audit Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Fagnani served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. from April 2017 to June 2017. Mr. Fagnani served as a Senior Audit Partner at KPMG LLP from 2002 to 2016, most recently as the U.S. asset management audit practice leader responsible for setting strategic direction and execution of the operating plan for the asset management audit practice. In addition, from 1977 to 2002, Mr. Fagnani served as an Audit Partner at Andersen LLP, where he developed and managed the asset management audit practice in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fagnani served as a Trustee on the Board of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2014 and as a member of the School of Business Advisory Board at LaSalle University from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of One Generation Away, a non-profit which works to bring healthy food directly to people in need, since 2021. Mr. Fagnani has a BS degree in Accounting from LaSalle University.

Cecilia H. Herbert has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of the Trust since 2022. Ms. Herbert has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust

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since 2005, Chair of the Trust's Board from 2016 to 2021, and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board since 2022. Ms. Herbert served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Ms. Herbert served as Trustee of the Montgomery Funds from 1992 to 2003, the Pacific Select Funds from 2004 to 2005, the Forward Funds from 2009 to 2018, the Salient Funds from 2015 to 2018 and the Thrivent Church Loan and Income Fund from 2019 to 2022. She has served as a member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees and Trustee of Stanford Health Care since 2016 and became Chair of the Finance Committee of Stanford Health Care in 2019. She has served as a Trustee of WNET, New York's public media station, since 2011 and a Member of its Audit Committee since 2018. She was appointed to the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee in 2022. She became a member of the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Forum in 2018. She has served as a Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole since 2020 and of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts since 2021. She was President of the Board of Catholic Charities CYO, the largest social services agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 2007 to 2011 and a member of that board from 1992 to 2013. She worked from 1973 to 1990 at J.P. Morgan/Morgan Guaranty Trust doing international corporate finance and corporate lending, retiring as Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Office. Ms. Herbert has been on numerous non-profit boards, chairing investment and finance committees. She holds a double major in economics and communications from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Drew E. Lawton has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of the Trust since 2017. Mr. Lawton has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust, and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of each Board since 2017. Mr. Lawton also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares, Inc. and iShares Trust from 2016 to 2017. Mr. Lawton served as Director of Principal Funds, Inc., Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc. and Principal Exchange-Traded Funds from March 2016 to October 2016. Mr. Lawton has also served as a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk Committees and Director of Jackson Financial Inc. since 2021. Mr. Lawton served in various capacities at New York Life Insurance Company from 2010 to 2015, most recently as a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life Investment Management. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Lawton was the President of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC. Mr. Lawton previously held multiple roles at Fidelity Investments from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Lawton has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas since 2021. Mr. Lawton has a BA degree in Administrative Science from Yale University and an MBA from University of North Texas.

John E. Martinez has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Martinez has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2003, and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Martinez served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Martinez is a Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., providing governance oversight and consulting services to this privately held firm that develops products and strategies for homeowners in managing the equity in their homes. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Martinez served as a Board member for the Cloudera Foundation. Mr. Martinez previously served as Director of Barclays Global Investors ("BGI") UK Holdings, where he provided governance oversight representing BGI's shareholders (Barclays PLC, BGI management shareholders) through oversight of BGI's worldwide activities. Mr. Martinez also previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Index and Markets Group of BGI, Chairman of Barclays Global Investor Services and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Group of BGI. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Director and Executive Committee Member for Larkin Street Youth Services. He now serves on the Larkin Street Honorary Board. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Martinez served as a Director for Reading Partners. Mr. Martinez has an AB degree in economics from The University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA degree in finance and statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Madhav V. Rajan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Rajan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2011, and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Rajan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Rajan is the Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also serves as Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, since 2020. He has served on the Advisory Board of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2016 and as a Director of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2020. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Rajan was the Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In April 2017, he received the school's Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service. He has taught accounting for over 25 years to undergraduate, MBA and law students, as well as to senior executives. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Rajan served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and head of the MBA Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rajan served as editor of "The Accounting Review" from 2002 to 2008 and is co-author of "Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis," a

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leading cost accounting textbook. From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Rajan served on the Board of Directors of Cavium Inc., a semiconductor company. Mr. Rajan holds MS and PhD degrees in Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University.

<u>Board – Leadership Structure and Oversight Responsibilities</u>

Overall responsibility for oversight of the Funds rests with the Board. The Board has engaged BFA to manage the Funds on a day-to-day basis. The Board is responsible for overseeing BFA and other service providers in the operations of the Funds in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act, applicable provisions of state and other laws and the Trust's charter. The Board is currently composed of nine members, seven of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board currently conducts regular in person meetings four times a year. In addition, the Board frequently holds special in person or telephonic meetings or informal conference calls to discuss specific matters that may arise or require action between regular meetings. The Independent Trustees meet regularly outside the presence of management, in executive session or with other service providers to the Trust.

The Board has appointed an Independent Trustee to serve in the role of Board Chair. The Board Chair's role is to preside at all meetings of the Board and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys, and other Trustees generally between meetings. The Board Chair may also perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Board from time to time. The Board has established seven standing Committees: a Nominating and Governance Committee, an Audit Committee, a 15(c) Committee, a Securities Lending Committee, a Risk Committee, an Equity Plus Committee and a Fixed Income Plus Committee to assist the Board in the oversight and direction of the business and affairs of the Funds, and from time to time the Board may establish ad hoc committees or informal working groups to review and address the policies and practices of the Funds with respect to certain specified matters. The Chair of each standing Committee is an Independent Trustee. The role of the Chair of each Committee is to preside at all meetings of the Committee and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys and other Trustees between meetings. Each standing Committee meets regularly to conduct the oversight functions delegated to the Committee by the Board and reports its finding to the Board. The Board and each standing Committee conduct annual assessments of their oversight function and structure. The Board has determined that the Board's leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise independent judgment over management and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees of Independent Trustees and the full Board to enhance effective oversight.

Day-to-day risk management with respect to the Funds is the responsibility of BFA or other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk), subject to the supervision of BFA. Each Fund is subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, reputational, counterparty and valuation risks, among others. While there are a number of risk management functions performed by BFA and other service providers, as applicable, it is not possible to identify and eliminate all of the risks applicable to the Funds. The Trustees have an oversight role in this area, satisfying themselves that risk management processes and controls are in place and operating effectively. Risk oversight forms part of the Board's general oversight of each Fund and is addressed as part of various Board and committee activities. In some cases, risk management issues are specifically addressed in presentations and discussions. For example, BFA has an independent dedicated Risk and Quantitative Analysis Group ("RQA") that assists BFA in managing fiduciary and corporate risks, including investment, operational, counterparty credit and enterprise risk. Representatives of RQA meet with the Board to discuss their analysis and methodologies, as well as specific risk topics such as operational and counterparty risks relating to the Funds. The Board, directly or through a committee, also reviews reports from, among others, management and the independent registered public accounting firm for the Trust, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by each Fund and management's risk functions. The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer who oversees the implementation and testing of the Trust's compliance program, including assessments by independent third parties, and reports to the Board regarding compliance matters for the Trust and its principal service providers. In testing and maintaining the compliance program, the Chief Compliance Officer (and his or her delegates) assesses key compliance risks affecting each Fund, and addresses them in periodic reports to the Board. In addition, the Audit Committee meets with both the Funds' independent registered public accounting firm and BFA's internal audit group to review risk controls in place that support each Fund as well as test results. Board oversight of risk is also performed as needed between meetings through communications between BFA and the Board. The Independent Trustees have engaged independent legal counsel to assist them in performing their oversight responsibilities. From time to time, the Board may modify the manner in which it conducts risk oversight. The Board's oversight role does not make it a guarantor of the Funds' investment performance or other activities.

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**Committees of the Board of Trustees. The members of the Audit Committee are Richard L. Fagnani (Chair), Cecilia H. Herbert and Madhav V. Rajan, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The purposes of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board (i) in its oversight of the Trust's accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and related controls and procedures maintained by or on behalf of the Trust; (ii) in its oversight of the Trust's financial statements and the independent audit thereof; (iii) in selecting, evaluating and, where deemed appropriate, replacing the independent accountants (or nominating the independent accountants to be proposed for shareholder approval in any proxy statement); (iv) in evaluating the independence of the independent accountants; (v) in complying with legal and regulatory requirements that relate to the Trust's accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, compliance controls and independent audits; and (vi) to assume such other responsibilities as may be delegated by the Board. The Audit Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.**

The members of the Nominating and Governance Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), Madhav V. Rajan and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The Nominating and Governance Committee nominates individuals for Independent Trustee membership on the Board and recommends appointments to the Advisory Board. The Nominating and Governance Committee functions include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) reviewing the qualifications of any person properly identified or nominated to serve as an Independent Trustee; (ii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the nominee(s) for appointment as an Independent Trustee by the Board and current Independent Trustees and/or for election as Independent Trustees by shareholders to fill any vacancy for a position of Independent Trustee(s) on the Board; (iii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the size and composition of the Board and Board committees and whether they comply with applicable laws and regulations; (iv) recommending a current Independent Trustee to the Board and current Independent Trustees to serve as Board Chair; (v) periodic review of the Board's retirement policy; and (vi) recommending an appropriate level of compensation for the Independent Trustees for their services as Trustees, members or chairpersons of committees of the Board, Board Chair and any other positions as the Nominating and Governance Committee considers appropriate. The Nominating and Governance Committee does not consider Board nominations recommended by shareholders (acting solely in their capacity as a shareholder and not in any other capacity). The Nominating and Governance Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Each Independent Trustee serves on the 15(c) Committee. The Chair of the 15(c) Committee is Drew E. Lawton. The principal responsibilities of the 15(c) Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for the annual review and renewal of the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements. These responsibilities include: (i) meeting with BlackRock, Inc. in advance of the Board meeting at which the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements are to be considered to discuss generally the process for providing requested information to the Board and the format in which information will be provided; and (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to evaluate the investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements of the Trust. The 15(c) Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Securities Lending Committee are John E. Martinez (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Securities Lending Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of the Trust's securities lending activities. These responsibilities include: (i) requesting that certain information be provided to the Committee for its review and consideration prior to such information being provided to the Board; (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to oversee the Trust's securities lending activities and make required findings and approvals; and (iii) providing a recommendation to the Board regarding the annual approval of the Trust's Securities Lending Guidelines and the required findings with respect to, and annual approval of, the Trust's agreement with the securities lending agent. The Securities Lending Committee met five times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Equity Plus Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), John E. Martinez and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Equity Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for equity funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Equity Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

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The members of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are Madhav V. Rajan (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Richard L. Fagnani, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for fixed-income or multi-asset funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Fixed Income Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Risk Committee are Jane D. Carlin (Chair), Richard L. Fagnani and John E. Martinez, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibility of the Risk Committee is to consider and organize on behalf of the Board risk related matters of the Funds so the Board may most effectively structure itself to oversee them. The Risk Committee commenced on January 1, 2016. The Risk Committee met seven times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

As the Chair of the Board, John E. Kerrigan may serve as an ex-officio member of each Committee.

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2022, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by each Trustee in the Funds and in other registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee within the same family of investment companies as the Trust. If a fund is not listed below, the Trustee did not own any securities in that fund as of the date indicated above:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
| Robert S. Kapito |  |  |  |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares High Yield Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares TIPS Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Technology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Select Dividend ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares California Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares National Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Biotechnology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 2000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

---

As of December 31, 2022, none of the Independent Trustees or their immediate family members owned beneficially or of record any securities of BFA (the Funds' investment adviser), the Distributor or any person controlling, controlled by or under common control with BFA or the Distributor.

**Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members. Effective January 1, 2023, each current Independent Trustee is paid an annual retainer of $440,000 for his or her services as a Board member to the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, together with out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with the Board's policy on travel and other business expenses relating to attendance at meetings. The annual retainer for services as an Advisory Board Member is the same as the annual retainer for services as a Board member. The Independent Chair of the Board is paid an additional annual retainer of $125,000. The Chair of each of the Equity Plus Committee, Fixed Income Plus Committee, Securities Lending Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and 15(c) Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $30,000. The Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $45,000. Each Independent Trustee that served as a director of subsidiaries of the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex is paid an additional annual retainer of $10,000 (plus an additional $1,765 paid annually to compensate for taxes due in the Republic of Mauritius in connection with such Trustee's service on the boards of certain Mauritius-based subsidiaries).**

The tables below set forth the compensation earned by each Independent Trustee and Interested Trustee for services to each Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the aggregate compensation paid to them for services to the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022.

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> Corporate Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> High Yield Bond ETF<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF<sup>1</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;$13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Pension or<br> Retirement Benefits<br> Accrued As Part of<br> Trust<br> Expenses<sup>2</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Estimated Annual<br> Benefits Upon<br> Retirement<sup>2</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total<br> Compensation<br> From the Funds<br> and Fund Complex<sup>3</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;465000 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;476764 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;475000 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;505000 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;461764 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

---

------

<sup>1</sup> Compensation reported is from the Fund's inception to October 31, 2022.

<sup>2</sup> No Trustee or Officer is entitled to any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust.

<sup>3</sup> Also includes compensation for service on the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc.

#### Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities.
The Trustees and officers of the Trust collectively owned less than 1% of each Fund's outstanding shares as of January 31, 2023.

Although the Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants (as defined below), as of January 31, 2023, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of a Fund were as follows:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;28.66% |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Name and Address** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;17.99% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;UMB Bank-National Association<br> 928 Grand Boulevard<br> Kansas City, MO 64106 | &nbsp;&nbsp;12.70% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.06% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Pershing LLC<br> One Pershing Plaza<br> Jersey City, NJ 07399 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.25% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC/JPMC<br> 383 Madison Avenue<br> New York, NY 10179 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.83% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.65% |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;State Street Bank and Trust Company<br> 1776 Heritage Drive<br> North Quincy, MA 02171 | &nbsp;&nbsp;92.00% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;J.P. Morgan Securities, LLC/JPMC<br> 383 Madison Avenue<br> New York, NY 10179 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.40% |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;State Street Bank and Trust Company<br> 1776 Heritage Drive<br> North Quincy, MA 02171 | &nbsp;&nbsp;93.00% |

---

**Conflicts of Interest. Certain activities of BFA, BlackRock, Inc. and the other subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. (collectively referred to in this section as "BlackRock") and their respective directors, officers and employees, with respect to the Funds and/or other accounts managed by BlackRock, may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest such as those described below.**

BlackRock is one of the world's largest asset management firms. BlackRock, its subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers and employees, including the business units or entities and personnel who may be involved in the investment activities and business operations of a Fund, are engaged worldwide in businesses, including managing equities, fixed-income securities, cash and alternative investments, and have interests other than that of managing the Funds. These are considerations of which investors in a Fund should be aware, and which may cause conflicts of interest that could disadvantage a Fund and its shareholders. These businesses and interests include potential multiple advisory, financial and other relationships with, or interests in, companies and interests in securities or other instruments that may be purchased or sold by a Fund.

BlackRock has proprietary interests in, and may manage or advise with respect to, accounts or funds (including separate accounts and other funds and collective investment vehicles) that have investment objectives similar to those of a Fund and/or that engage in transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and instruments as the Funds. BlackRock is also a major participant in the global currency, equities, swap and fixed income markets, in each case, for the accounts of clients and, in some cases, on a proprietary basis. As such, BlackRock is or may be actively engaged in transactions in the same securities, currencies, and instruments in which a Fund invests. Such activities could affect the prices and availability of

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the securities, currencies, and instruments in which a Fund invests, which could have an adverse impact on a Fund's performance. Such transactions, particularly in respect of most proprietary accounts or client accounts, will be executed independently of a Fund's transactions and thus at prices or rates that may be more or less favorable than those obtained by the Funds.

When BlackRock seeks to purchase or sell the same assets for managed accounts, including a Fund, the assets actually purchased or sold may be allocated among the accounts on a basis determined in its good faith discretion to be equitable. In some cases, this system may adversely affect the size or price of the assets purchased or sold for a Fund. In addition, transactions in investments by one or more other accounts managed by BlackRock may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of a Fund, particularly, but not limited to, with respect to small-capitalization, emerging market or less liquid strategies. This may occur with respect to BlackRock-advised accounts when investment decisions regarding a Fund are based on research or other information that is also used to support decisions for other accounts. When BlackRock implements a portfolio decision or strategy on behalf of another account ahead of, or contemporaneously with, similar decisions or strategies for a Fund, market impact, liquidity constraints, or other factors could result in the Fund receiving less favorable trading results and the costs of implementing such decisions or strategies could be increased or the Fund could otherwise be disadvantaged. BlackRock may, in certain cases, elect to implement internal policies and procedures designed to limit such consequences, which may cause a Fund to be unable to engage in certain activities, including purchasing or disposing of securities, when it might otherwise be desirable for it to do so.

Conflicts may also arise because portfolio decisions regarding a Fund may benefit other accounts managed by BlackRock. For example, the sale of a long position or establishment of a short position by a Fund may impair the price of the same security sold short by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds, and the purchase of a security or covering of a short position in a security by a Fund may increase the price of the same security held by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds. In addition, to the extent permitted by applicable law, certain Funds may invest their assets in other funds advised by BlackRock, including funds that are managed by one or more of the same portfolio managers, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of Fund purchases and sales, and increased remuneration and profitability for BlackRock, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.

In certain circumstances, BlackRock, on behalf of the Funds, may seek to buy from or sell securities to another fund or account advised by BlackRock. BlackRock may (but is not required to) effect purchases and sales between BlackRock clients ("cross trades"), including the Funds, if BlackRock believes such transactions are appropriate based on each party's investment objectives and guidelines, subject to applicable law and regulation. There may be potential conflicts of interest or regulatory issues relating to these transactions which could limit BlackRock's decision to engage in these transactions for the Funds. BlackRock may have a potentially conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the parties in such transactions. On any occasion when a Fund participates in a cross trade, BlackRock will comply with procedures adopted under applicable rules and SEC guidance.

BlackRock and its clients may pursue or enforce rights with respect to an issuer in which a Fund has invested, and those activities may have an adverse effect on the Fund. As a result, prices, availability, liquidity and terms of a Fund's investments may be negatively impacted by the activities of BlackRock or its clients, and transactions for the Fund may be impaired or effected at prices or terms that may be less favorable than would otherwise have been the case.

The results of a Fund's investment activities may differ significantly from the results achieved by BlackRock for its proprietary accounts or other accounts (including investment companies or collective investment vehicles) which it manages or advises. It is possible that one or more accounts managed or advised by BlackRock and such other accounts will achieve investment results that are substantially more or less favorable than the results achieved by a Fund. Moreover, it is possible that a Fund will sustain losses during periods in which one or more proprietary or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock achieve significant profits. The opposite result is also possible.

From time to time, a Fund may be restricted from purchasing or selling securities, or from engaging in other investment activities because of regulatory, legal or contractual requirements applicable to BlackRock or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock, and/or the internal policies of BlackRock designed to comply with such requirements. As a result, there may be periods, for example, when BlackRock will not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions in certain securities or instruments with respect to which BlackRock is performing services or when position limits have been reached. For example, the investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and accounts under its management may

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limit the investment opportunities for a Fund in certain emerging and other markets in which limitations are imposed upon the amount of investment, in the aggregate or in individual issuers, by affiliated foreign investors.

In connection with its management of a Fund, BlackRock may have access to certain fundamental analysis and proprietary technical models developed by BlackRock. BlackRock will not be under any obligation, however, to effect transactions on behalf of a Fund in accordance with such analysis and models. In addition, BlackRock will not have any obligation to make available any information regarding its proprietary activities or strategies, or the activities or strategies used for other accounts managed by them, for the benefit of the management of a Fund and it is not anticipated that BlackRock will have access to such information for the purpose of managing the Fund. The proprietary activities or portfolio strategies of BlackRock, or the activities or strategies used for accounts managed by BlackRock or other client accounts could conflict with the transactions and strategies employed by BlackRock in managing a Fund.

The Funds may be included in investment models developed by BlackRock for use by clients and financial advisors. To the extent clients invest in these investment models and increase the assets under management of the Funds, the investment management fee amounts paid by the Funds to BlackRock may also increase. The price, availability and liquidity of a Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by model-driven investment portfolios, as well as by BlackRock itself and by its advisory clients.

In addition, certain principals and certain employees of a Fund's investment adviser are also principals or employees of other business units or entities within BlackRock. As a result, these principals and employees may have obligations to such other business units or entities or their clients and such obligations to other business units or entities or their clients may be a consideration of which investors in a Fund should be aware.

BlackRock may enter into transactions and invest in securities, instruments and currencies on behalf of a Fund in which clients of BlackRock or, to the extent permitted by the SEC and applicable law, BlackRock serves as the counterparty, principal or issuer. In such cases, such party's interests in the transaction will be adverse to the interests of the Fund, and such party may have no incentive to assure that the Fund obtains the best possible prices or terms in connection with the transactions. In addition, the purchase, holding and sale of such investments by a Fund may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock may also create, write or issue derivatives for clients based on the underlying securities, currencies or instruments in which a Fund may invest or on the performance of the Fund. An entity in which BlackRock has a significant minority interest will create, write or issue options which may be based on the performance of certain Funds. BlackRock has the right to receive a portion of the gross revenue earned by such entity. Options writing by such entity on a Fund could potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to the Fund and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

BlackRock has entered into an arrangement with Markit Indices Limited, the index provider for underlying fixed-income indexes used by certain iShares funds, related to derivative fixed-income products that are based on such iShares funds. BlackRock may receive certain payments for licensing intellectual property belonging to BlackRock and for facilitating the provision of data in connection with such derivative products, which may include payments based on the trading volumes of, or revenues generated by, the derivative products. However, BlackRock will not receive any such payments on those derivative products utilized by the Funds or other BlackRock funds or accounts. Other funds and accounts managed by BlackRock may from time to time transact in such derivative products, which could contribute to the viability or success of such derivative products by making them more appealing to funds and accounts managed by third parties, and in turn lead to increased payments to BlackRock. Trading activity in such derivative products could also potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to these iShares funds and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

A Fund may, subject to applicable law, purchase investments that are the subject of an underwriting or other distribution by BlackRock and may also enter into transactions with other clients of BlackRock where such other clients have interests adverse to those of the Fund.

At times, these activities may cause business units or entities within BlackRock to give advice to clients that may cause these clients to take actions adverse to the interests of a Fund. To the extent such transactions are permitted, a Fund will deal with BlackRock on an arm's-length basis.

To the extent authorized by applicable law, BlackRock may act as broker, dealer, agent, lender or adviser or in other commercial capacities for a Fund. It is anticipated that the commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs, financial advisory fees, underwriting and placement fees, sales fees, financing and commitment fees, brokerage fees, other fees, compensation or

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profits, rates, terms and conditions charged by BlackRock will be in its view commercially reasonable, although BlackRock, including its sales personnel, will have an interest in obtaining fees and other amounts that are favorable to BlackRock and such sales personnel, which may have an adverse effect on the Funds. Index based funds may use an index provider that is affiliated with another service provider of a Fund or BlackRock that acts as a broker, dealer, agent, lender or in other commercial capacities for a Fund or BlackRock.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock (and its personnel and other distributors) will be entitled to retain fees and other amounts that they receive in connection with their service to the Funds as broker, dealer, agent, lender, adviser or in other commercial capacities. No accounting to the Funds or their shareholders will be required, and no fees or other compensation payable by the Funds or their shareholders will be reduced by reason of receipt by BlackRock of any such fees or other amounts.

When BlackRock acts as broker, dealer, agent, adviser or in other commercial capacities in relation to the Funds, BlackRock may take commercial steps in its own interests, which may have an adverse effect on the Funds. A Fund will be required to establish business relationships with its counterparties based on the Fund's own credit standing. BlackRock will not have any obligation to allow its credit to be used in connection with a Fund's establishment of its business relationships, nor is it expected that the Fund's counterparties will rely on the credit of BlackRock in evaluating the Fund's creditworthiness.

BTC, an affiliate of BFA pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, acts as securities lending agent to, and receives a share of securities lending revenues from, the Funds. BlackRock will also receive compensation for managing the reinvestment of the cash collateral from securities lending. There are potential conflicts of interests in managing a securities lending program, including but not limited to: (i) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to increase or decrease the amount of securities on loan or to lend particular securities in order to generate additional risk-adjusted revenue for BlackRock and its affiliates; and (ii) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to allocate loans to clients that would provide more revenue to BlackRock. As described further below, BlackRock seeks to mitigate this conflict by providing its securities lending clients with equal lending opportunities over time in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation.

As part of its securities lending program, BlackRock indemnifies the Funds and certain other clients and/or funds against a shortfall in collateral in the event of borrower default. On a regular basis, BlackRock calculates the potential dollar exposure of collateral shortfall resulting from a borrower default ("shortfall risk") in the securities lending program. BlackRock establishes program-wide borrower limits ("credit limits") to actively manage borrower-specific credit exposure. BlackRock oversees the risk model that calculates projected collateral shortfall values using loan-level factors such as loan and collateral type and market value as well as specific borrower credit characteristics. When necessary, BlackRock may adjust securities lending program attributes by restricting eligible collateral or reducing borrower credit limits. As a result, the management of program-wide exposure as well as BlackRock-specific indemnification exposure may affect the amount of securities lending activity BlackRock may conduct at any given point in time by reducing the volume of lending opportunities for certain loans (including by asset type, collateral type and/or revenue profile).

BlackRock uses a predetermined systematic process in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation over time. In order to allocate a loan to a portfolio: (i) BlackRock as a whole must have sufficient lending capacity pursuant to the various program limits (*i.e.,* indemnification exposure limit and borrower credit limits); (ii) the lending portfolio must hold the asset at the time a loan opportunity arrives; and (iii) the lending portfolio must also have enough inventory, either on its own or when aggregated with other portfolios into one single market delivery, to satisfy the loan request. In doing so, BlackRock seeks to provide equal lending opportunities for all portfolios, independent of whether BlackRock indemnifies the portfolio. Equal opportunities for lending portfolios does not guarantee equal outcomes. Specifically, short and long-term outcomes for individual clients may vary due to asset mix, asset/liability spreads on different securities, and the overall limits imposed by the firm.

BlackRock may decline to make a securities loan on behalf of a Fund, discontinue lending on behalf of a Fund or terminate a securities loan on behalf of a Fund for any reason, including but not limited to regulatory requirements and/or market rules, liquidity considerations, or credit considerations, which may impact Funds by reducing or eliminating the volume of lending opportunities for certain types of loans, loans in particular markets, loans of particular securities or types of securities, or for loans overall.

Purchases and sales of securities and other assets for a Fund may be bunched or aggregated with orders for other BlackRock client accounts, including with accounts that pay different transaction costs solely due to the fact that they have different research payment arrangements. BlackRock, however, is not required to bunch or aggregate orders if portfolio management

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decisions for different accounts are made separately, or if they determine that bunching or aggregating is not practicable or required, or in cases involving client direction.

Prevailing trading activity frequently may make impossible the receipt of the same price or execution on the entire volume of securities purchased or sold. When this occurs, the various prices may be averaged, and the Funds will be charged or credited with the average price. Thus, the effect of the aggregation may operate on some occasions to the disadvantage of the Funds. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Funds will not be charged the same commission or commission equivalent rates in connection with a bunched or aggregated order.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock may select brokers that furnish BlackRock, the Funds, other BlackRock client accounts or personnel, directly or through correspondent relationships, with research or other appropriate services which provide, in BlackRock's view, appropriate assistance to BlackRock in the investment decision-making process (including with respect to futures, fixed-price offerings and OTC transactions). Such research or other services may include, to the extent permitted by law, research reports on companies, industries and securities; economic and financial data; financial publications; proxy analysis; trade industry seminars; computer data bases; research-oriented software and other services and products. Research or other services obtained in this manner may be used in servicing any or all of the Funds and other BlackRock client accounts, including in connection with BlackRock client accounts other than those that pay commissions to the broker relating to the research or other service arrangements. Such products and services may disproportionately benefit other BlackRock client accounts relative to the Funds based on the amount of brokerage commissions paid by the Funds and such other BlackRock client accounts. For example, research or other services that are paid for through one client's commissions may not be used in managing that client's account. In addition, other BlackRock client accounts may receive the benefit, including disproportionate benefits, of economies of scale or price discounts in connection with products and services that may be provided to the Funds and to such other BlackRock client accounts. To the extent that BlackRock uses soft dollars, it will not have to pay for those products and services itself.

BlackRock does not currently enter into arrangements to use the Funds' assets for, or participate in, soft dollars, although BlackRock may receive research that is bundled with the trade execution, clearing, and/or settlement services provided by a particular broker-dealer. To the extent that BlackRock receives research on this basis, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist. For example, the research effectively will be paid by client commissions that also will be used to pay for the execution, clearing, and settlement services provided by the broker-dealer and will not be paid by BlackRock. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may endeavor to execute trades through brokers who, pursuant to such arrangements, provide research or other services in order to ensure the continued receipt of research or other services BlackRock believes are useful in its investment decision-making process. BlackRock may from time to time choose not to engage in the above described arrangements to varying degrees. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may also enter into commission sharing arrangements under which BlackRock may execute transactions through a broker-dealer, and request that the broker-dealer allocate a portion of the commissions or commission credits to another firm that provides research to BlackRock. To the extent that BlackRock engages in commission sharing arrangements, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist.

BlackRock may utilize certain electronic crossing networks ("ECNs") (including, without limitation, ECNs in which BlackRock has an investment or other interest, to the extent permitted by applicable law) in executing client securities transactions for certain types of securities. These ECNs may charge fees for their services, including access fees and transaction fees. The transaction fees, which are similar to commissions or markups/markdowns, will generally be charged to clients and, like commissions and markups/markdowns, would generally be included in the cost of the securities purchased. Access fees may be paid by BlackRock even though incurred in connection with executing transactions on behalf of clients, including the Funds. In certain circumstances, ECNs may offer volume discounts that will reduce the access fees typically paid by BlackRock. BlackRock will only utilize ECNs consistent with its obligation to seek to obtain best execution in client transactions.

BlackRock owns a minority interest in, and is a member of, Members Exchange ("MEMX"), a newly created U.S. stock exchange. Transactions for a Fund may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for execution of orders placed by BlackRock traders on behalf of such Funds. In addition, transactions in Fund shares may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for the execution of such orders.

BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing proxy voting decisions that it makes on behalf of advisory clients, including the Funds, and to help ensure that such decisions are made in

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accordance with BlackRock's fiduciary obligations to its clients. Nevertheless, notwithstanding such proxy voting policies and procedures, actual proxy voting decisions of BlackRock may have the effect of favoring the interests of other clients or businesses of other divisions or units of BlackRock, provided that BlackRock believes such voting decisions to be in accordance with its fiduciary obligations. For a more detailed discussion of these policies and procedures, see the *Proxy Voting Policy* section of this SAI.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of a Fund. Increasing a Fund's assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification and may contribute to economies of scale that tend to reduce the Fund's expense ratio. BlackRock reserves the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell into the market or redeem in Creation Units through an Authorized Participant at any time some or all of the shares of a Fund acquired for its own accounts or the account of a BlackRock advisory client. A large sale or redemption of shares of a Fund by BlackRock itself or a BlackRock advisory client could significantly reduce the asset size of the Fund, which might have an adverse effect on the Fund's liquidity, investment flexibility, portfolio diversification, expense ratio or ability to comply with the listing requirements for the Fund.

It is possible that a Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in transactions with, companies in which BlackRock has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. A Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which BlackRock provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. In making investment decisions for a Fund, BlackRock is not permitted to obtain or use material non-public information acquired by any unit of BlackRock in the course of these activities. In addition, from time to time, the activities of BlackRock may limit a Fund's flexibility in purchases and sales of securities. As indicated below, BlackRock may engage in transactions with companies in which BlackRock-advised funds or other clients of BlackRock have an investment.

BlackRock, its personnel and other financial service providers may have interests in promoting sales of the Funds. With respect to BlackRock and its personnel, the remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of the Funds or other products may be greater than remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of certain funds or other products that might be provided or offered. BlackRock and its sales personnel may directly or indirectly receive a portion of the fees and commissions charged to the Funds or their shareholders. BlackRock and its advisory or other personnel may also benefit from increased amounts of assets under management. Fees and commissions may also be higher than for other products or services, and the remuneration and profitability to BlackRock and such personnel resulting from transactions on behalf of or management of the Funds may be greater than the remuneration and profitability resulting from other funds or products.

Third parties, including service providers to BlackRock or a Fund, may sponsor events (including, but not limited to, marketing and promotional activities and presentations, educational training programs and conferences) for registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors. There is a potential conflict of interest as such sponsorships may defray the costs of such activities to BlackRock, and may provide an incentive to BlackRock to retain such third parties to provide services to a Fund.

BlackRock may provide valuation assistance to certain clients with respect to certain securities or other investments and the valuation recommendations made for such clients' accounts may differ from the valuations for the same securities or investments assigned by a Fund's pricing vendors, especially if such valuations are based on broker-dealer quotes or other data sources unavailable to the Fund's pricing vendors. While BlackRock will generally communicate its valuation information or determinations to a Fund's pricing vendors and/or fund accountants, there may be instances where the Fund's pricing vendors or fund accountants assign a different valuation to a security or other investment than the valuation for such security or investment determined or recommended by BlackRock.

As disclosed in more detail in the *Determination of Net Asset Value* section in this SAI, when market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, each Fund's investments are valued at fair value by BFA. BFA has been designated as each Fund's valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act and acts through BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee (the "2a-5 Committee"), with assistance from other BFA pricing committees and in accordance with BFA's policies and procedures (the "Valuation Procedures"). When determining a "fair value price," the 2a-5 Committee seeks to determine the price that a Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction. The price generally may not be determined based on what a Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. While fair value

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determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models, fair value represents only a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining a Fund's NAV. As a result, a Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued by the 2a-5 Committee at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders and may affect the amount of revenue received by BFA with respect to services for which it receives an asset-based fee.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, a Fund may invest all or some of its short-term cash investments in any money market fund or similarly-managed private fund advised or managed by BlackRock. In connection with any such investments, a Fund, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, may pay its share of expenses of a money market fund or other similarly-managed private fund in which it invests, which may result in a Fund bearing some additional expenses.

BlackRock and its directors, officers and employees, may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on behalf of a Fund. As a result of differing trading and investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by directors, officers and employees that are the same, different from or made at different times than positions taken for a Fund. To lessen the possibility that a Fund will be adversely affected by this personal trading, each Fund, BFA and BlackRock have each adopted a code of ethics in compliance with Section 17(j) of the 1940 Act that restricts securities trading in the personal accounts of investment professionals and others who normally come into possession of information regarding a Fund's portfolio transactions. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of each Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.

BlackRock will not purchase securities or other property from, or sell securities or other property to, a Fund, except that a Fund may in accordance with rules or guidance adopted under the 1940 Act engage in transactions with another Fund or accounts that are affiliated with a Fund as a result of common officers, directors, or investment advisers or pursuant to exemptive orders granted to the Funds and/or BlackRock by the SEC. These transactions would be effected in circumstances in which BlackRock determined that it would be appropriate for a Fund to purchase and another client of BlackRock to sell, or a Fund to sell and another client of BlackRock to purchase, the same security or instrument on the same day. From time to time, the activities of a Fund may be restricted because of regulatory requirements applicable to BlackRock and/or BlackRock's internal policies designed to comply with, limit the applicability of, or otherwise relate to such requirements. A client not advised by BlackRock would not be subject to some of those considerations. There may be periods when BlackRock may not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions, or may otherwise restrict or limit its advice in certain securities or instruments issued by or related to companies for which BlackRock is performing advisory or other services or has proprietary positions. For example, when BlackRock is engaged to provide advisory or risk management services for a company, BlackRock may be prohibited from or limited in purchasing or selling securities of that company on behalf of a Fund, particularly where such services result in BlackRock obtaining material non-public information about the company (*e.g.*, in connection with participation in a creditors' committee). Similar situations could arise if personnel of BlackRock serve as directors of companies the securities of which a Fund wishes to purchase or sell. However, if permitted by applicable law, and where consistent with BlackRock's policies and procedures (including the necessary implementation of appropriate information barriers), the Funds may purchase securities or instruments that are issued by such companies, are the subject of an advisory or risk management assignment by BlackRock, or where personnel of BlackRock are directors or officers of the issuer.

The investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and for client accounts may also limit the investment strategies and rights of the Funds. For example, in certain circumstances where the Funds invest in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, or are subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invest in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount invested by BlackRock for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Funds) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BlackRock, the Funds or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

If certain aggregate ownership thresholds are reached either through the actions of BlackRock or a Fund or as a result of third-party transactions, the ability of BlackRock, on behalf of clients (including the Funds), to purchase or dispose of

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investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. As a result, BlackRock, on behalf of its clients (including the Funds), may limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise restrict, forgo or limit the exercise of rights (including transferring, outsourcing or limiting voting rights or forgoing the right to receive dividends) when BlackRock, in its sole discretion, deems it appropriate in light of potential regulatory or other restrictions on ownership or other consequences resulting from reaching investment thresholds.

In those circumstances where ownership thresholds or limitations must be observed, BlackRock seeks to allocate limited investment opportunities equitably among clients (including the Funds), taking into consideration benchmark weight and investment strategy. BlackRock has adopted certain controls designed to prevent the occurrence of a breach of any applicable ownership threshold or limits, including, for example, when ownership in certain securities nears an applicable threshold, BlackRock may remove such securities from the list of Deposit Securities to be delivered to the Fund in connection with purchases of Creation Units of such Fund and may limit purchases in such securities to the issuer's weighting in the applicable benchmark used by BlackRock to manage such Fund. If client (including Fund) holdings of an issuer exceed an applicable threshold and BlackRock is unable to obtain relief to enable the continued holding of such investments, it may be necessary to sell down these positions to meet the applicable limitations. In these cases, benchmark overweight positions will be sold prior to benchmark positions being reduced to meet applicable limitations.

In addition to the foregoing, other ownership thresholds may trigger reporting requirements to governmental and regulatory authorities, and such reports may entail the disclosure of the identity of a client or BlackRock's intended strategy with respect to such security or asset.

BlackRock may not serve as an Authorized Participant in the creation and redemption of iShares ETFs.

BlackRock may maintain securities indices. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, the Funds may seek to license and use such indices as part of their investment strategy. Index based funds that seek to track the performance of securities indices also may use the name of the index or index provider in the fund name. Index providers, including BlackRock (to the extent permitted by applicable law), may be paid licensing fees for use of their index or index name. BlackRock may benefit from the Funds using BlackRock indices by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock is not obligated to license its indices to a Fund and the Funds are under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. Any Fund that enters into a license for a BlackRock index cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The custody arrangement described in "Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services" may lead to potential conflicts of interest with BlackRock where BlackRock has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse ordinary operating expenses in order to cap expenses of the Funds (or where BlackRock charges a unitary management fee). This is because the custody arrangements with certain Funds' custodian may have the effect of reducing custody fees when the Funds leave cash balances uninvested. This could be viewed as having the potential to provide BlackRock an incentive to keep high positive cash balances for Funds in order to offset fund custody fees that BlackRock might otherwise reimburse or pay. However, BlackRock's portfolio managers do not intentionally keep uninvested balances high, but rather make investment decisions that they anticipate will be beneficial to fund performance. For funds without a unitary management fee, when a fund's actual operating expense ratio exceeds a stated cap, a reduction in custody fees reduces the amount of waivers and/or reimbursements BlackRock would be required to make to the fund.

BlackRock may enter into contractual arrangements with third-party service providers to a Fund (*e.g.*, custodians, administrators and index providers) pursuant to which BlackRock receives fee discounts or concessions in recognition of BlackRock's overall relationship with such service providers. BlackRock may also enter into contractual arrangements with such service providers pursuant to which BlackRock incurs additional costs if the service provider's services are terminated with respect to a Fund. To the extent that BlackRock is responsible for paying these service providers out of its management fee, the benefits of any such fee discounts or concessions, or any additional costs, may accrue, in whole or in part, to BlackRock, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to the use or termination of service providers to a Fund.

BlackRock owns or has an ownership interest in certain trading, portfolio management, operations and/or information systems used by Fund service providers. These systems are, or will be, used by a Fund service provider in connection with the provision of services to accounts managed by BlackRock and funds managed and sponsored by BlackRock, including the Funds, that engage the service provider (typically the custodian). A Fund's service provider remunerates BlackRock for the use of the systems. A Fund service provider's payments to BlackRock for the use of these systems may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

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BlackRock's receipt of fees from a service provider in connection with the use of systems provided by BlackRock may create an incentive for BlackRock to recommend that a Fund enter into or renew an arrangement with the service provider.

In recognition of a BlackRock client's overall relationship with BlackRock, BlackRock may offer special pricing arrangements for certain services provided by BlackRock. Any such special pricing arrangements will not apply to the client's investment in a Fund.

Present and future activities of BlackRock (including BFA), its directors, officers and employees, in addition to those described in this section, may give rise to additional conflicts of interest.

## Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services
**Investment Adviser. BFA serves as investment adviser to each Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between the Trust, on behalf of each Fund, and BFA. BFA is a California corporation indirectly owned by BlackRock, Inc. and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Under the investment advisory agreement, BFA, subject to the supervision of the Board and in conformity with the stated investment policies of each Fund, manages and administers the Trust and the investment of each Fund's assets. BFA is responsible for placing purchase and sale orders and providing continuous supervision of the investment portfolio of each Fund.**

Pursuant to the investment advisory agreement, BFA may, from time to time, in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory or other services with respect to a Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the investment advisory agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion upon appropriate notice at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Funds, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Funds will bear the cost of the management fee, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Independent Trustees).

BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses to reduce the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

The following table sets forth the management fee at the annual rate (as a percentage of each Fund's average daily net assets) BFA received from each Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the management fees (net of waivers) each Fund paid BFA for the fiscal years noted:

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fee for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2020** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF<sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/08/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$49794 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$17283 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$4851 |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF<sup>2</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;739 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fee for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2020** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF<sup>3</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;1527 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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<sup>1</sup> For the iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.20% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.05%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.13%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF ("LQD"), after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $149,383, $51,849 and $14,555 of its management fees, respectively.

<sup>2</sup> For the iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.55% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.05%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.46%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF ("HYG"), after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA waived $7,396 of its management fees.

<sup>3</sup> For the iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.13% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.03%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF ("AGG"), after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA waived $458 of its management fees.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to each Fund continues in effect for two years from its effective date, and thereafter is subject to annual approval by (i) the Board, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the applicable Fund, provided that in either event such continuance also is approved by a majority of the Board members who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the applicable Fund, by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to each Fund is terminable without penalty, on 60 days' notice, by the Board or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the applicable Fund's outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act). The investment advisory agreement is also terminable upon 60 days' notice by BFA and will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

**Portfolio Managers. As of October 31, 2022, the individuals named as Portfolio Managers in the Funds' Prospectuses were also primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of other iShares funds and certain other types of portfolios and/or accounts as follows:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **James Mauro** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;120 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$538391000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;31695000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7414000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Karen Uyehara** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;113 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$532650000000 |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Karen Uyehara** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 | &nbsp;&nbsp;6134000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;6415000000 |

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Pursuant to BFA's policy, investment opportunities are allocated equitably among the Funds and other portfolios and accounts. For example, under certain circumstances, an investment opportunity may be restricted due to limited supply in the market, legal constraints or other factors, in which event the investment opportunity will be allocated equitably among those portfolios and accounts, including the Funds, seeking such investment opportunity. As a consequence, from time to time each Fund may receive a smaller allocation of an investment opportunity than it would have if the Portfolio Managers and BFA and its affiliates did not manage other portfolios or accounts.

Like the Funds, the other portfolios or accounts for which the Portfolio Managers are primarily responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management generally pay an asset-based fee to BFA or its affiliates, as applicable, for its advisory services. One or more of those other portfolios or accounts, however, may pay BFA or its affiliates a performance-based fee in lieu of, or in addition to, an asset-based fee for its advisory services. A portfolio or account with a performance-based fee would pay BFA or its affiliates a portion of that portfolio's or account's gains, or would pay BFA or its affiliates more for its services than would otherwise be the case if BFA or any of its affiliates meets or exceeds specified performance targets. Performance-based fee arrangements could present an incentive for BFA or its affiliates to devote greater resources, and allocate more investment opportunities, to the portfolios or accounts that have those fee arrangements, relative to other portfolios or accounts, in order to earn larger fees. Although BFA and each of its affiliates have an obligation to allocate resources and opportunities equitably among portfolios and accounts and intend to do so, shareholders of the Funds should be aware that, as with any group of portfolios and accounts managed by an investment adviser and/or its affiliates pursuant to varying fee arrangements, including performance-based fee arrangements, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, which may result in the Portfolio Managers favoring those portfolios or accounts with performance-based fee arrangements.

The tables below show, for each Portfolio Manager, the number of portfolios or accounts of the types set forth in the above tables and the aggregate of total assets in those portfolios or accounts with respect to which the investment management fees are based on the performance of those portfolios or accounts as of October 31, 2022:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **James Mauro** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with<br> Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Karen Uyehara** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with<br> Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1331000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2450000000 |

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*Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview*

The discussion below describes the Portfolio Managers' compensation as of October 31, 2022.

BlackRock, Inc.'s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation

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include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock, Inc.

Each portfolio manager receives base compensation based on their position with the firm, as well as retirement and other benefits offered to all BlackRock employees. Additionally, each portfolio manager receives discretionary incentive compensation, determined based on several components, including: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the performance of portfolios managed by the portfolio manager and the team relative to the portfolios' investment objectives (which in the case of index ETFs would be how closely the ETF tracks its Underlying Index), and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. Discretionary incentive compensation is paid in cash up to a certain threshold with the remaining portion represented by deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock awards. In some cases, additional deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock may be granted to certain key employees as part of a long-term incentive award to aid in retention, align interests with long-term shareholders and motivate performance.

The discretionary incentive income for James Mauro and Karen Uyehara includes as an additional consideration the performance of actively-managed portfolios they manage over 1, 3 and 5 year periods measured against the respective benchmark of each portfolio as well as peer group performance. A portion of the discretionary incentive compensation for James Mauro and Karen Uyehara is distributed in the form of deferred cash awards that notionally track the returns of select BlackRock, Inc. investment products they manage, which provides direct alignment of portfolio manager discretionary incentive compensation with investment product results. Deferred cash awards vest ratably over a number of years and, once vested, settle in the form of cash.

As of October 31, 2022, the Portfolio Managers did not beneficially own shares of the Funds.

**Codes of Ethics. The Trust, BFA and the Distributor have adopted codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. The codes of ethics permit personnel subject to the codes of ethics to invest in securities, subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Funds. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of each Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.**

**Anti-Money Laundering Requirements. The Funds are subject to the USA PATRIOT Act (the "Patriot Act"). The Patriot Act is intended to prevent the use of the U.S. financial system in furtherance of money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities. Pursuant to requirements under the Patriot Act, a Fund may request information from Authorized Participants to enable it to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of its Authorized Participants. This information will be used to verify the identity of Authorized Participants or, in some cases, the status of financial professionals; it will be used only for compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.**

The Funds reserve the right to reject purchase orders from persons who have not submitted information sufficient to allow the Fund to verify their identity. Each Fund also reserves the right to redeem any amounts in a Fund from persons whose identity it is unable to verify on a timely basis. It is the Funds' policy to cooperate fully with appropriate regulators in any investigations conducted with respect to potential money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities.

#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.
State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") serves as administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Funds under the Master Services Agreement and related Service Schedule (the "Service Module"). State Street's principal address is 1 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111. Pursuant to the Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services with the Trust, State Street provides necessary administrative, legal, tax and accounting and financial reporting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and each Fund. In addition, State Street makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services. Pursuant to the Service Module for Custodial Services with the Trust, State Street maintains, in separate accounts, cash, securities and other assets of the Trust and each Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records and provides other services. State Street is required, upon the order of the Trust, to deliver securities held by State Street and to make payments for securities purchased by the Trust for each Fund. State Street is authorized to appoint certain foreign custodians or foreign custody managers for Fund investments outside the U.S. Pursuant to the Service Module for Transfer Agency Services with the Trust, State Street acts as a transfer agent for each Fund's authorized and issued shares of beneficial interest, and as dividend disbursing agent of the Trust. As compensation

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for these services, State Street receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset-based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by BFA from its management fee.

The following table sets forth the administration, custodian and transfer agency expenses of each Fund paid by BFA to State Street for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Custody,<br> Administration,<br> Transfer Agency<br> Expenses<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/08/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$15368 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$15578 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$15685 |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5743 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6865 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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JPMorgan serves as custodian for the Funds in connection with certain securities lending activities under a Custody Services Agreement. JPMorgan's principal address is 383 Madison Avenue, 11<sup>th</sup> Floor, New York, NY 10179. Pursuant to the Custody Services Agreement with BTC and the Trust, JPMorgan provides custody and related services required to facilitate securities lending by each Fund. JPMorgan maintains custody as may be necessary to facilitate Fund securities lending activity in coordination with other funds, maintains custodial records and provides other services. As compensation for these services, JPMorgan receives certain fees and expenses paid by BTC from its compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

**Distributor. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Funds through the Distributor or its agent only in Creation Units, as described in the applicable Prospectus and below in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Fund shares in amounts less than Creation Units are generally not distributed by the Distributor or its agent. The Distributor or its agent will arrange for the delivery of the applicable Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it or its agents and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it or its agents. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "1934 Act"), and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The Distributor is also licensed as a broker-dealer in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.**

The Distribution Agreement for each Fund provides that it may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days' prior written notice to the other party following (i) the vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the relevant Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers ("Soliciting Dealers") who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Fund shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as described below), DTC participants and/or investor services organizations.

BFA or its affiliates may, from time to time and from its own resources, pay, defray or absorb costs relating to distribution, including payments out of its own resources to the Distributor, or to otherwise promote the sale of shares.

**Securities Lending. To the extent that a Fund engages in securities lending, each Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, and BTC acts as securities lending agent for the Funds, subject to the overall supervision of BFA, pursuant to a written agreement (the "Securities Lending Agency Agreement").**

Each Fund and Underlying Fund retains a portion of the securities lending income and remits the remaining portion to BTC as compensation for its services as securities lending agent. Securities lending income is generally equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral (and excludes collateral investment fees as defined below), and any fees or other payments to and from borrowers of securities. As securities lending agent, BTC bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending, including custodial costs of JPMorgan. Each Fund and Underlying Fund are responsible for fees in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan in a money market fund managed by BFA (the "collateral investment fees"); however, BTC has agreed to reduce the amount of securities lending income it receives in

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order to effectively limit the collateral investment fees the Fund bears to an annual rate of 0.04%. Such money market fund shares will not be subject to a sales load, redemption fee, distribution fee or service fee.

Under the securities lending program, the Funds are categorized into one of several specific asset classes. The determination of a Fund's asset class category (fixed-income, domestic equity, international equity or fund-of-funds), each of which may be subject to a different fee arrangement, is based on a methodology agreed to by the Trust and BTC.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement:

(i) fund-of-funds, such as the Funds, retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees), and (ii) this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income (which includes, for this purpose, collateral investment fees) earned across the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex (as defined in the *Management — Trustees and Officers* section of this SAI) in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, each applicable fund-of-fund, pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, will receive for the remainder of that calendar year securities lending income as follows:

(i) 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and (ii) this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

The services provided to the Funds by BTC in the most recent fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 primarily included the following:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) selecting borrowers from an approved list of borrowers and executing a securities lending agreement as agent on behalf of the Funds with each such borrower;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2) negotiating the terms of securities loans, including the amount of fees;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3) directing the delivery of loaned securities;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4) monitoring the daily value of the loaned securities and directing the payment of additional collateral or the return of excess collateral, as necessary;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5) investing cash collateral received in connection with any loaned securities;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6) monitoring distributions on loaned securities (for example, interest and dividend activity);

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(7) in the event of default by a borrower with respect to any securities loan, using the collateral or the proceeds of the liquidation of collateral to purchase replacement securities of the same issue, type, class and series as that of the loaned securities; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(8) terminating securities loans and arranging for the return of loaned securities to the Funds at loan termination.

The following table shows the dollar amounts of income and fees/compensation related to the securities lending activities of each Fund during its most recent fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> Corporate Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> High Yield Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF** |
| **Gross income from<br> securities<br> lending activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$417781** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$8416** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** |
| *Fees and/or compensation<br> for securities lending<br> activities and<br> related services*  |  |  |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> Corporate Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> High Yield Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Inflation Hedged<br> U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Securities lending<br> income paid to<br> BTC for services as<br> securities<br> lending agent | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;43873 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1444 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cash collateral<br> management<br> expenses not included in<br> securities lending<br> income paid to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;14256 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;104 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Administrative fees not<br> included in securities<br> lending income paid<br> to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Indemnification fees not<br> included<br> in securities lending<br> income paid<br> to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rebates (paid to<br> borrowers) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;159411 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;291 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other fees not<br> included in<br> securities lending<br> income paid to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| **Aggregate<br> fees/compensation for<br> securities lending<br> activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$217540** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$1839** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** |
| **Net income from securities<br> lending activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$200241** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$6577** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** |

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**Payments by BFA and its Affiliates. BFA and/or its affiliates ("BFA Entities") may pay certain broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks and other financial intermediaries ("Intermediaries") for certain activities related to the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products in general. BFA Entities make these payments from their own assets and not from the assets of the Funds. Although a portion of BFA Entities' revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, these payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. BFA Entities make payments for Intermediaries' participation in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Funds and other iShares funds, or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems ("Education Costs"). BFA Entities also make payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs or materials relating to the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products ("Publishing Costs"). In addition, BFA Entities make**

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payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products available to their clients, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, develop new products that feature iShares, create educational content about the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products that is featured on an Intermediary's platform, or otherwise promote the Funds, other iShares funds and exchange-traded products. BFA Entities may also reimburse expenses or make payments from their own assets to Intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services or other activities that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.

Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients, what services to provide for various products, or what marketing content to make available to its clients based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, such payments may create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients. These financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products over other investments. The same conflicts of interest and financial incentives exist with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

In addition to the payments described above, BFA Entities have developed proprietary tools, calculators and related interactive or digital content that is made available through the www.BlackRock.com website at no additional cost to Intermediaries. BlackRock may configure these tools and calculators and localize the content for Intermediaries as part of its customary digital marketing support and promotion of the Funds, other iShares funds, exchange-traded products and BlackRock mutual funds.

As of March 1, 2013, BFA Entities have contractual arrangements to make payments (in addition to payments for Education Costs or Publishing Costs) to one Intermediary, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC ("FBS"). Effective June 4, 2016, this relationship was expanded to include National Financial Services, LLC ("NFS"), an affiliate of FBS. Pursuant to this special, long-term and significant arrangement (the "Marketing Program"), FBS, NFS and certain of their affiliates (collectively "Fidelity") have agreed, among other things, to actively promote iShares funds to customers, investment professionals and other intermediaries and in advertising campaigns as the preferred exchange-traded product, to offer certain iShares funds in certain Fidelity platforms and investment programs, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, and to provide marketing data to BFA Entities. BFA Entities have agreed to facilitate the Marketing Program by, among other things, making certain payments to FBS and NFS for marketing and implementing certain brokerage and investment programs. Upon termination of the arrangement, the BFA Entities will make additional payments to FBS and/or NFS based upon a number of criteria, including the overall success of the Marketing Program and the level of services provided by FBS and NFS during the wind-down period.

In addition, BFA Entities may enter into other contractual arrangements with Intermediaries and certain other third parties that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in iShares funds. Such agreements may include payments by BFA Entities to such Intermediaries and third parties for data collection and provision, technology support, platform enhancement, or educational content, co-marketing and cross-promotional efforts. Payments made pursuant to such arrangements may vary in any year and may be different for different Intermediaries and third parties. In certain cases, the payments described in the preceding sentence may be subject to certain minimum payment levels. As of the date of this SAI, the Intermediaries and other third parties receiving one or more types of the contractual payments described above include (in addition to FBS and NFS): Advisor Credit Exchange, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics, LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, Dorsey Wright and Associates, LLC, Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., Envestnet Asset Management, Inc., FDx Advisors, Inc., LPL Financial LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, Pershing LLC, Public Holdings, Inc., Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Riskalyze, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. Any additions, modifications, or deletions to Intermediaries and other third parties listed above that have occurred since the date of this SAI are not included in the list.

Further, BFA Entities make Education Costs and Publishing Costs payments to other Intermediaries that are not listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. BFA Entities may determine to make such payments based on any number of metrics. For

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example, BFA Entities may make payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary's services at defined levels or an amount based on the Intermediary's net sales of one or more iShares funds in a year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, BFA anticipates that the payments paid by BFA Entities in connection with the Funds, iShares funds and exchange-traded products in general will be immaterial to BFA Entities in the aggregate for the next year. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments or financial incentives his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made, or financial incentives offered, by the BFA Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for the Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of the Funds, other iShares funds or other exchange-traded products.**

The Funds may participate in certain market maker incentive programs of a national securities exchange in which an affiliate of the Funds would pay a fee to the exchange used for the purpose of incentivizing one or more market makers in the securities of a Fund to enhance the liquidity and quality of the secondary market of securities of a Fund. The fee would then be credited by the exchange to one or more market makers that meet or exceed liquidity and market quality standards with respect to the securities of a Fund. Each market maker incentive program is subject to approval from the SEC. Any such fee payments made to an exchange will be made by an affiliate of a Fund solely for the benefit of a Fund and will not be paid from any Fund assets. Other funds managed by BFA may also participate in such programs.

## Determination of Net Asset Value
**Valuation of Shares. The NAV for each Fund is generally calculated as of the close of regular trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each business day the NYSE is open. Valuation of assets held by a Fund is as follows:**

**Equity Investments. Equity securities traded on a recognized securities exchange (*e.g.*, NYSE), on separate trading boards of a securities exchange or through a market system that provides contemporaneous transaction pricing information (each an "Exchange") are valued using information obtained via independent pricing services, generally at the closing price or, if an Exchange closing price is not available, the last traded price on that Exchange prior to the time as of which the assets or liabilities are valued. However, under certain circumstances, other means of determining current market value may be used. If an equity security is traded on more than one Exchange, the current market value of the security where it is primarily traded generally will be used. In the event that there are no sales involving an equity security held by a Fund on a day on which a Fund values such security, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the security, in which case such asset would be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

**Fixed-Income Investments. Fixed-income securities for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued using such securities' current market value. A Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using the last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by a Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. The pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values, including transaction data (*e.g*., recent representative bids and offers), credit quality information, perceived market movements, news, and other relevant information and by other methods, which may include consideration of: yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type; indications as to values from dealers; general market conditions; and/or other factors and assumptions. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but a Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. The amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with 60 days or less remaining to maturity unless such method does not represent fair value. Certain fixed-income investments, including asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, may be valued based on valuation models that consider the estimated cash flows of each tranche of the issuer, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.**

**Options, Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Exchange-traded equity options (except those that are customized) for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the mean of the last bid and ask prices as quoted on the Exchange or the board of trade on which such options are traded. In the event that there is no mean price available for an exchange traded equity option held by a Fund on a day on which a Fund values such option, the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price, if available, will be used as the value of such option. If no bid or ask price is available on a day on**

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which a Fund values such option, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the option, in which case such option will be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below). Customized exchange-traded equity options, as well as OTC derivatives, may be valued using a mathematical model which may incorporate a number of market data factors. Financial futures contracts and options thereon, which are traded on exchanges, are valued at their last sale price or settle price as of the close of such exchanges. Swap agreements and other derivatives are generally valued daily based upon quotations from market makers or by a pricing service in accordance with the Valuation Procedures.

**Underlying Funds. Shares of underlying open-end funds (including money market funds) are valued at NAV. Shares of underlying exchange-traded closed-end funds or other ETFs will be valued at their most recent closing price.**

**General Valuation Information. Prices obtained from independent third-party pricing services, broker-dealers or market makers to value a Fund's securities and other assets and liabilities are based on information available at the time a Fund values its assets and liabilities. In the event that a pricing service quotation is revised or updated subsequent to the day on which a Fund valued such security, the revised pricing service quotation generally will be applied prospectively. Such determination will be made considering pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding the revision.**

The price a Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from a Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for assets that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by a Fund, and a Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. A Fund's ability to value its investment may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

All cash, receivables and current payables are carried on a Fund's books at their fair value.

In the event that application of the methods of valuation discussed above result in a price for a security which is deemed not to be representative of the fair market value of such security, the security will be valued by, under the direction of or in accordance with a method approved by BFA, each Fund's valuation designee, as reflecting fair value. All other assets and liabilities (including securities for which market quotations are not readily available) held by a Fund (including restricted securities) are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by BFA pursuant to the Valuation Procedures. Any assets and liabilities which are denominated in a foreign currency are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates.

Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate a Fund's NAV and the prices used in the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between a Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

**Fair Value. When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, a Fund's investments are valued at fair value ("Fair Value Assets"). Fair Value Assets are valued by BFA in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act, the Board of Trustees has designated BFA as the valuation designee for the respective Funds for which it serves as investment adviser. BFA may reasonably conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if, among other things, a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its complete lack of trading, if BFA believes a market quotation from a broker-dealer or other source is unreliable (*e.g.*, where it varies significantly from a recent trade, or no longer reflects the fair value of the security or other asset or liability subsequent to the most recent market quotation), or where the security or other asset or liability is only thinly traded or due to the occurrence of a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation. For this purpose, a "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment, that an event has occurred after the close of trading for an asset or liability but prior to or at the time of pricing a Fund's assets or liabilities, is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, a Fund. On any day the NYSE is open and a foreign market or the primary exchange on which a foreign asset or liability is traded is closed, such asset or liability will be valued using the prior day's price, provided that BFA is not aware of any significant event or other information that would cause such price to no longer reflect the fair value of the asset or liability, in which case such asset or liability would be treated as a Fair Value Asset.**

BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving methodologies by investment type and significant inputs used in the fair valuation of Fund assets or liabilities. In addition, a Fund's accounting agent assists BFA by periodically endeavoring to confirm the prices it receives from all third-party pricing services, index providers and broker-dealers and

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regularly evaluating the values assigned to the securities and other assets and liabilities of a Fund. The pricing of all Fair Value Assets is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof.

When determining the price for a Fair Value Asset, BFA will seek to determine the price that a Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction on the date on which the asset or liability is being valued, and does not seek to determine the price a Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. Fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. When determining the fair value of an investment, one or more fair value methodologies may be used (depending on certain factors, including the asset type). For example, the investment may be initially priced based on the original cost of the investment or, alternatively, using proprietary or third-party models that may rely upon one or more unobservable inputs. Prices of actual, executed or historical transactions in the relevant investment (or comparable instruments) or, where appropriate, an appraisal by a third-party experienced in the valuation of similar instruments, may also be used as a basis for establishing the fair value of an investment.

The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining a Fund's NAV. As a result, a Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

Each Fund's annual audited financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), follow the requirements for valuation set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"), which defines and establishes a framework for measuring fair value under US GAAP and expands financial statement disclosure requirements relating to fair value measurements.

Generally, ASC 820 and other accounting rules applicable to funds and various assets in which they invest are evolving. Such changes may adversely affect a Fund. For example, the evolution of rules governing the determination of the fair market value of assets or liabilities, to the extent such rules become more stringent, would tend to increase the cost and/or reduce the availability of third-party determinations of fair market value. This may in turn increase the costs associated with selling assets or affect their liquidity due to a Fund's inability to obtain a third-party determination of fair market value.

## Brokerage Transactions
Subject to policies established by the Board, BFA is primarily responsible for the execution of a Fund's portfolio transactions and the allocation of brokerage. BFA does not execute transactions through any particular broker or dealer, but seeks to obtain the best net results for the Funds, taking into account such factors as price (including the applicable brokerage commission or dealer spread), size of order, difficulty of execution, operational facilities of the firm and the firm's risk and skill in positioning blocks of securities. While BFA generally seeks reasonable trade execution costs, a Fund does not necessarily pay the lowest spread or commission available, and payment of the lowest commission or spread is not necessarily consistent with obtaining the best price and execution in particular transactions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, BFA may select a broker based partly upon brokerage or research services provided to BFA and its clients, including a Fund. In return for such services, BFA may cause a Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if BFA determines in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to the services provided.

In selecting brokers or dealers to execute portfolio transactions, BFA seeks to obtain the best price and most favorable execution for a Fund and may take into account a variety of factors including: (i) the size, nature and character of the security or instrument being traded and the markets in which it is purchased or sold; (ii) the desired timing of the transaction; (iii) BFA's knowledge of the expected commission rates and spreads currently available; (iv) the activity existing and expected in the market for the particular security or instrument, including any anticipated execution difficulties; (v) the full range of brokerage services provided; (vi) the broker's or dealer's capital; (vii) the quality of research and research services provided; (viii) the reasonableness of the commission, dealer spread or its equivalent for the specific transaction; and (ix) BFA's knowledge of any actual or apparent operational problems of a broker or dealer. Brokers may also be selected because of

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their ability to handle special or difficult executions, such as may be involved in large block trades, thinly traded securities, or other circumstances.

Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act ("Section 28(e)") permits a U.S. investment adviser, under certain circumstances, to cause an account to pay a broker or dealer a commission for effecting a transaction in securities that exceeds the amount another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting the same transaction in recognition of the value of brokerage and research services provided by that broker or dealer. This includes commissions paid on riskless principal transactions in securities under certain conditions.

From time to time, a Fund may purchase new issues of securities in a fixed price offering. In these situations, the broker may be a member of the selling group that will, in addition to selling securities, provide BFA with research services. FINRA has adopted rules expressly permitting these types of arrangements under certain circumstances. Generally, the broker will provide research "credits" in these situations at a rate that is higher than that available for typical secondary market transactions. These arrangements may not fall within the safe harbor of Section 28(e).

OTC issues, including most fixed-income securities such as corporate debt and U.S. Government securities, are normally traded on a "net" basis without a stated commission, through dealers acting for their own account and not as brokers. The Funds will primarily engage in transactions with these dealers or deal directly with the issuer unless a better price or execution could be obtained by using a broker. Prices paid to a dealer with respect to both foreign and domestic securities will generally include a "spread," which is the difference between the prices at which the dealer is willing to purchase and sell the specific security at the time, and includes the dealer's normal profit.

Under the 1940 Act, persons affiliated with a Fund and persons who are affiliated with such affiliated persons are prohibited from dealing with the Fund as principal in the purchase and sale of securities unless a permissive order allowing such transactions is obtained from the SEC. Since transactions in the OTC market usually involve transactions with the dealers acting as principal for their own accounts, the Funds will not deal with affiliated persons and affiliated persons of such affiliated persons in connection with such transactions. The Funds will not purchase securities during the existence of any underwriting or selling group relating to such securities of which BFA, BRIL or any affiliated person (as defined in the 1940 Act) thereof is a member except pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board in accordance with Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act.

Purchases of money market instruments by the Funds are made from dealers, underwriters and issuers. The Funds do not currently expect to incur any brokerage commission expense on such transactions because money market instruments are generally traded on a "net" basis with dealers acting as principal for their own accounts without a stated commission. The price of the security, however, usually includes a profit to the dealer.

BFA may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Funds with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions.

Securities purchased in underwritten offerings include a fixed amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter's concession or discount. When securities are purchased or sold directly from or to an issuer, no commissions or discounts are paid.

Investment decisions for the Funds and for other investment accounts managed by BFA and the other Affiliates are made independently of each other in light of differing conditions. A variety of factors will be considered in making investment allocations. These factors include: (i) investment objectives or strategies for particular accounts, including sector, industry, country or region and capitalization weightings; (ii) tax considerations of an account; (iii) risk or investment concentration parameters for an account; (iv) supply or demand for a security at a given price level; (v) size of available investment; (vi) cash availability and liquidity requirements for accounts; (vii) regulatory restrictions; (viii) minimum investment size of an account; (ix) relative size of account; and (x) such other factors as may be approved by BlackRock's general counsel. Moreover, investments may not be allocated to one client account over another based on any of the following considerations: (i) to favor one client account at the expense of another; (ii) to generate higher fees paid by one client account over another or to produce greater performance compensation to BlackRock; (iii) to develop or enhance a relationship with a client or prospective client; (iv) to compensate a client for past services or benefits rendered to BlackRock or to induce future services or benefits to be rendered to BlackRock; or (v) to manage or equalize investment performance among different client

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accounts. BFA and the other Affiliates may deal, trade and invest for their own respective accounts in the types of securities in which the Funds may invest.

Initial public offerings ("IPOs") of securities may be over-subscribed and subsequently trade at a premium in the secondary market. When BFA is given an opportunity to invest in such an initial offering or "new" or "hot" issue, the supply of securities available for client accounts is often less than the amount of securities the accounts would otherwise take. In order to allocate these investments fairly and equitably among client accounts over time, each portfolio manager or a member of his or her respective investment team will indicate to BFA's trading desk their level of interest in a particular offering with respect to eligible clients' accounts for which that team is responsible. IPOs of U.S. equity securities will be identified as eligible for particular client accounts that are managed by portfolio teams who have indicated interest in the offering based on market capitalization of the issuer of the security and the investment mandate of the client account and in the case of international equity securities, the country where the offering is taking place and the investment mandate of the client account. Generally, shares received during the IPO will be allocated among participating client accounts within each investment mandate on a *pro rata* basis. This *pro rata* allocation may result in a Fund receiving less of a particular security than if pro-rating had not occurred. All allocations of securities will be subject, where relevant, to share minimums established for accounts and compliance constraints. In situations where supply is too limited to be allocated among all accounts for which the investment is eligible, portfolio managers may rotate such investment opportunities among one or more accounts so long as the rotation system provides for fair access for all client accounts over time. Other allocation methodologies that are considered by BFA to be fair and equitable to clients may be used as well.

Because different accounts may have differing investment objectives and policies, BFA may buy and sell the same securities at the same time for different clients based on the particular investment objective, guidelines and strategies of those accounts. For example, BFA may decide that it may be entirely appropriate for a growth fund to sell a security at the same time a value fund is buying that security. To the extent that transactions on behalf of more than one client of BFA or the other Affiliates during the same period increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, there may be an adverse effect on price. For example, sales of a security by BlackRock on behalf of one or more of its clients may decrease the market price of such security, adversely impacting other BlackRock clients that still hold the security. If purchases or sales of securities arise for consideration at or about the same time that would involve the Funds or other clients or funds for which BFA or another Affiliate act as investment manager, transactions in such securities will be made, insofar as feasible, for the respective funds and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all.

In certain instances, BFA may find it efficient for purposes of seeking to obtain best execution, to aggregate or "bunch" certain contemporaneous purchases or sale orders of its advisory accounts and advisory accounts of affiliates. In general, all contemporaneous trades for client accounts under management by the same portfolio manager or investment team will be bunched in a single order if the trader believes the bunched trade would provide each client with an opportunity to achieve a more favorable execution at a potentially lower execution cost. The costs associated with a bunched order will be shared *pro rata* among the clients in the bunched order. Generally, if an order for a particular portfolio manager or management team is filled at several different prices through multiple trades, all accounts participating in the order will receive the average price (except in the case of certain international markets where average pricing is not permitted). While in some cases this practice could have a detrimental effect upon the price or value of the security as far as the Funds are concerned, in other cases it could be beneficial to the Funds. Transactions effected by BFA or the other Affiliates on behalf of more than one of its clients during the same period may increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, causing an adverse effect on price. The trader will give the bunched order to the broker-dealer that the trader has identified as being able to provide the best execution of the order. Orders for purchase or sale of securities will be placed within a reasonable amount of time of the order receipt and bunched orders will be kept bunched only long enough to execute the order.

The table below sets forth the brokerage commissions paid by each Fund for the fiscal years noted. Any differences in brokerage commissions paid by a Fund from year to year are principally due to increases or decreases in that Fund's assets over those periods or the magnitude of changes to the components of a Fund's Underlying Index:

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2020** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/08/18 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$6695 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$408 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$366 |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;227 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;169 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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None of the Funds paid any brokerage commissions to BRIL, an affiliate of BFA, or to any other broker-dealer that is part of the BlackRock group of companies, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The Funds' purchase and sale orders for securities may be combined with those of other investment companies, clients or accounts that BlackRock manages or advises. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities of the Funds and one or more other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Funds and the other accounts in a manner deemed equitable to all by BlackRock. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Funds are concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower transaction costs will be beneficial to the Funds. BlackRock may deal, trade and invest for its own account in the types of securities in which the Funds may invest. BlackRock may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Funds with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions. The Funds will not deal with affiliates in principal transactions unless permitted by applicable SEC rules or regulations, or by SEC exemptive order.

Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year. High turnover rates may result in comparatively greater brokerage expenses. The table below sets forth the portfolio turnover rates of each Fund for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0% |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1%<sup>1,2</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1%<sup>1,2</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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<sup>1</sup> The portfolio turnover for the iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF and iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF relates to the period of June 22, 2022 to October 31, 2022 and is not annualized.

<sup>2</sup> The inception date for the iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF and iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF was June 22, 2022.

## Additional Information Concerning the Trust
**Shares. The Trust currently consists of 16 separate investment series or portfolios called funds. The Trust issues shares of beneficial interests in the funds with no par value. The Board may designate additional iShares funds.**

Each share issued by a fund has a *pro rata* interest in the assets of that fund. Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the relevant fund, and in the net distributable assets of such fund on liquidation.

Each share has one vote with respect to matters upon which the shareholder is entitled to vote. In any matter submitted to shareholders for a vote, each fund shall hold a separate vote, provided that shareholders of all affected funds will vote together when: (i) required by the 1940 Act, or (ii) the Trustees determine that the matter affects the interests of more than one fund.

Under Delaware law, the Trust is not required to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. The policy of the Trust is not to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940

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Act. All shares (regardless of the fund) have noncumulative voting rights in the election of members of the Board. Under Delaware law, Trustees of the Trust may be removed by vote of the shareholders.

Following the creation of the initial Creation Unit(s) of shares of a fund and immediately prior to the commencement of trading in such fund's shares, a holder of shares may be a "control person" of the fund, as defined in Rule 0-1 under the 1940 Act. A fund cannot predict the length of time for which one or more shareholders may remain a control person of the fund.

Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to iShares U.S. ETF Trust, c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC, 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, beneficial owners of more than 5% of the shares of a fund may be subject to the reporting provisions of Section 13 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. In addition, absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, officers and trustees of a fund and beneficial owners of 10% of the shares of a fund ("Insiders") may be subject to the insider reporting, short-swing profit and short sale provisions of Section 16 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. Beneficial owners and Insiders should consult with their own legal counsel concerning their obligations under Sections 13 and 16 of the 1934 Act and existing guidance provided by the SEC staff.

In accordance with the Trust's current Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust"), the Board may, without shareholder approval (unless such shareholder approval is required by the Declaration of Trust or applicable law, including the 1940 Act), authorize certain funds to merge, reorganize, consolidate, sell all or substantially all of their assets, or take other similar actions with, to or into another fund. The Trust or a fund may be terminated by a majority vote of the Board, or the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders of the Trust or such fund entitled to vote on termination; however, in certain circumstances described in the Declaration of Trust, only a majority vote of the Board is required. Although the shares are not automatically redeemable upon the occurrence of any specific event, the Declaration of Trust provides that the Board will have the unrestricted power to alter the number of shares in a Creation Unit. Therefore, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Board, in its sole discretion, could determine to permit the shares to be redeemable in aggregations smaller than Creation Units or to be individually redeemable. In such circumstance, the Trust or a fund may make redemptions in-kind, for cash or for a combination of cash or securities. Further, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Trust or a fund might elect to pay cash redemptions to all shareholders, with an in-kind election for shareholders owning in excess of a certain stated minimum amount.

**DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Funds. Shares of each Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.**

DTC was created in 1973 to enable electronic movement of securities between its participants ("DTC Participants"), and NSCC was established in 1976 to provide a single settlement system for securities clearing and to serve as central counterparty for securities trades among DTC Participants. In 1999, DTC and NSCC were consolidated within The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") and became wholly-owned subsidiaries of DTCC. The common stock of DTCC is owned by the DTC Participants, but NYSE and FINRA, through subsidiaries, hold preferred shares in DTCC that provide them with the right to elect one member each to the DTCC board of directors. Access to the DTC system is available to entities, such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly ("Indirect Participants").

Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as "Beneficial Owners") is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in shares of the Fund.

Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee to be charged to the Trust a listing of the shares of each Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC

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Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Share distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares of the Trust. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall credit immediately DTC Participants' accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in shares of each Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a "street name," and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.

The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants. DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to shares of the Trust at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.

**Distribution of Shares. In connection with each Fund's launch, each Fund was seeded through the sale of one or more Creation Units by each Fund to one or more initial investors. Initial investors participating in the seeding may be Authorized Participants, a lead market maker or other third party investor or an affiliate of each Fund or each Fund's adviser. Each such initial investor may sell some or all of the shares underlying the Creation Unit(s) held by them pursuant to the registration statement for each Fund (each, a "Selling Shareholder"), which shares have been registered to permit the resale from time to time after purchase. Each Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale by the Selling Shareholders of these shares.**

Selling Shareholders may sell shares owned by them directly or through broker-dealers, in accordance with applicable law, on any national securities exchange on which the shares may be listed or quoted at the time of sale, through trading systems, in the OTC market or in transactions other than on these exchanges or systems at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected through brokerage transactions, privately negotiated trades, block sales, entry into options or other derivatives transactions or through any other means authorized by applicable law. Selling Shareholders may redeem the shares held in Creation Unit size by them through an Authorized Participant.

Any Selling Shareholder and any broker-dealer or agents participating in the distribution of shares may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act, in connection with such sales.

Any Selling Shareholder and any other person participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

## Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
**General. The Trust issues and sells shares of each Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor or its agent, without a sales load, at a price based on each Fund's NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order received by the Distributor or its agent in proper form. On days when the Listing Exchange or the bond markets close earlier than normal, a Fund may require orders to be placed earlier in the day. The following table sets forth the number of shares of a Fund that constitute a Creation Unit for such Fund and the approximate value of such Creation Unit as of November 30, 2022:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Shares Per<br> Creation Unit** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Approximate<br> Value Per<br> Creation<br> Unit (U.S.$)** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1289735.65 |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2548414.30 |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2456798.10 |

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In its discretion, the Trust reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of a Fund's shares that constitute a Creation Unit. The Board reserves the right to declare a split or a consolidation in the number of shares outstanding of any Fund, and to make a corresponding change in the number of shares constituting a Creation Unit, in the event that the per share price in the secondary market rises (or declines) to an amount that falls outside the range deemed desirable by the Board.

A "Business Day" with respect to each Fund is any day the Fund is open for business, including any day when it satisfies redemption requests as required by Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act. Each Fund is open for business any day on which the Listing Exchange on which the Fund is listed for trading is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, each Listing Exchange observes the following holidays, as observed: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

**Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of Creation Units of a Fund, generally consists of Deposit Securities and the Cash Component computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to creation requests received in proper form. The Fund Deposit represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of a Fund. Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, to purchases of Creation Units of shares of a given Fund until such time as the next-announced Fund Deposit is made available.**

The "Cash Component" is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares (per Creation Unit) and the "Deposit Amount," which is an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities, and serves to compensate for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the Deposit Amount. Payment of any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities are the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant purchasing the Creation Unit.

The identity and number or par value of the Deposit Securities change pursuant to changes in the composition of a Fund's portfolio and as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by BFA with a view to the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities constituting the relevant Underlying Index.

The Fund Deposit may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Deposit Securities portion of the Fund Deposit through "systematic rounding." The rounding methodology "rounds up" position sizes of securities in the Deposit Securities (which in turn reduces the cash portion). However, the methodology limits the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Fund Deposit.

Fund Deposits may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when instruments are not available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) when instruments are not eligible for transfer through DTC or the clearing process (as discussed below); (iii) when instruments that the Authorized Participant (or an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) are not able to be traded due to a trading restriction; (iv) when delivery of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant (or by an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws; (v) in connection with distribution payments to be made by a Fund; or (vi) in certain other situations.

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**Cash Purchase Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified for a Fund, they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof. In the case of a partial or full cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser.**

**Procedures for Creation of Creation Units. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit of the Funds, an entity must be: (i) a "Participating Party," *i.e*., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the "Clearing Process"), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC, or (ii) a DTC Participant, and must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units ("Authorized Participant Agreement") (discussed below). A member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC which has a written agreement with the Funds or one of their service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units is referred to as an "Authorized Participant." All shares of the Funds, however created, will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.**

**Role of the Authorized Participant. Creation Units may be purchased only by or through a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Funds or one of their service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units. Such Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of such Authorized Participant Agreement and on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that such Authorized Participant will make available in advance of each purchase of shares an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component, once the NAV of a Creation Unit is next determined after receipt of the purchase order in proper form, together with the transaction fees described below. An Authorized Participant, acting on behalf of an investor, may require the investor to enter into an agreement with such Authorized Participant with respect to certain matters, including payment of the Cash Component. Investors who are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not be a DTC Participant or may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that orders to purchase Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant. As a result, purchase orders placed through an Authorized Participant may result in additional charges to such investor. The Trust does not expect to enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with more than a small number of DTC Participants. A list of current Authorized Participants may be obtained from the Distributor. The Distributor has adopted guidelines regarding Authorized Participants' transactions in Creation Units that are made available to all Authorized Participants. These guidelines set forth the processes and standards for Authorized Participants to transact with the Distributor and its agents in connection with creation and redemption transactions. In addition, the Distributor may be appointed as the proxy of the Authorized Participant and may be granted a power of attorney under its Authorized Participant Agreement.**

**Placement of Creation Orders. Fund Deposits must be delivered through the Federal Reserve System (for cash and U.S. government securities), through DTC (for corporate and municipal securities) or through a central depository account, such as with Euroclear or DTC, maintained by State Street or a sub-custodian (a "Central Depository Account"). Any portion of a Fund Deposit that may not be delivered through the Federal Reserve System or DTC must be delivered through a Central Depository Account. The Fund Deposit transfers made through DTC must be ordered by the DTC Participant in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number of Deposit Securities through DTC to the accounts of the Funds generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. Fund Deposit transfers made through the Federal Reserve System must be deposited by the participant institution in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number or amount of Deposit Securities or cash through the Federal Reserve System to the account of the Funds generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. Fund Deposit transfers made through a Central Depository Account must be completed pursuant to the requirements established by the Custodian or sub-custodian for such Central Depository Account generally before 2:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. The "Settlement Date" for all funds is generally the second business day after the Transmittal Date. All questions as to the number of Deposit Securities to be delivered, and the validity, form and eligibility (including time of receipt) for the deposit of any tendered securities, will be determined by the Trust, whose determination shall be final and binding. The amount of cash equal to the Cash Component must be transferred directly to State Street through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system in a timely manner so as to be received by State Street generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. If the Cash Component and the Deposit Securities are not received by 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date, the creation order may be canceled. Upon written notice to the Distributor, such canceled order may be resubmitted the following Business Day using the Fund Deposit as newly**

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constituted to reflect the then current NAV of the Funds. The delivery of Creation Units so created generally will occur no later than the second Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor, provided that the relevant Fund Deposit has been received by the Funds prior to such time.

**Purchase Orders. To initiate an order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit to the Distributor or its agent an irrevocable order to purchase shares of a Fund, in proper form, generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day to receive that day's NAV. The Distributor or its agent will notify BFA and the custodian of such order. The custodian will then provide such information to any appropriate sub-custodian. Procedures and requirements governing the delivery of the Fund Deposit are set forth in the procedures handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a creation request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request. Those placing orders to purchase Creation Units through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor or its agent by the Cutoff Time (as defined below) on such Business Day.**

The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the Funds, immediately available or same day funds estimated by the Funds to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with the applicable purchase transaction fees. Those placing orders should ascertain the applicable deadline for cash transfers by contacting the operations department of the broker or depositary institution effectuating the transfer of the Cash Component. This deadline is likely to be significantly earlier than the Cutoff Time of the Funds. Investors should be aware that an Authorized Participant may require orders for purchases of shares placed with it to be in the particular form required by the individual Authorized Participant.

The Authorized Participant is responsible for any and all expenses and costs incurred by a Fund, including any applicable cash amounts, in connection with any purchase order.

**Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable order to purchase shares of a Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. Creation Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant in the form required by the Funds to the Distributor or its agent pursuant to procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure, may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or its agent or an Authorized Participant. Each Fund's deadline specified above for the submission of purchase orders is referred to as that Fund's "Cutoff Time." The Distributor or its agent, in their discretion, may permit the submission of such orders and requests by or through an Authorized Participant at any time (including on days on which the Listing Exchange is not open for business) via communication through the facilities of the Distributor's or its agent's proprietary website maintained for this purpose. Purchase orders and redemption requests, if accepted by the Trust, will be processed based on the NAV next determined after such acceptance in accordance with a Fund's Cutoff Times as provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement and disclosed in this SAI.**

**Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. Subject to the conditions that (i) an irrevocable purchase order has been submitted by the Authorized Participant (either on its own or another investor's behalf) and (ii) arrangements satisfactory to the Funds are in place for payment of the Cash Component and any other cash amounts which may be due, the Funds will accept the order, subject to each Fund's right (and the right of the Distributor and BFA) to reject any order until acceptance, as set forth below.**

Once a Fund has accepted an order, upon the next determination of the NAV of the shares, the Fund will confirm the issuance of a Creation Unit, against receipt of payment, at such NAV. The Distributor or its agent will then transmit a confirmation of acceptance to the Authorized Participant that placed the order.

Each Fund reserves the right to reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent provided that a rejection or revocation of a creation order does not violate Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act. For example, a Fund may reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent if (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of the Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered do not conform to the identity and number of shares specified, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities is not legally required or would, in the opinion of the Trust, be unlawful or have an adverse effect on the Fund or its shareholders (*e.g*., jeopardize the Fund's tax status); or (v) circumstances outside the control of the Fund, the Distributor or its agent and BFA make it impracticable to process purchase orders. The Distributor or its

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agent shall notify a prospective purchaser of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such purchaser of its rejection of such order. The Funds, State Street, the sub-custodian and the Distributor or its agent are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for failure to give such notification.

**Issuance of a Creation Unit. Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the applicable Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When the sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the securities included in the Fund Deposit (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian or sub-custodians, the Distributor or its agent and BFA shall be notified of such delivery and the applicable Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit. Creation Units are generally issued on a "T+2 basis" (*i.e.*, two Business Days after trade date). Each Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law. For example, each Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2, in order to accommodate non-U.S. market holiday schedules, to account for different treatment among non-U.S. and U.S. markets of dividend record dates and ex-dividend dates (*i.e.*, the last day the holder of a security can sell the security and still receive dividends payable on the security) and in certain other circumstances.**

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor, each Fund will issue Creation Units to such Authorized Participant, notwithstanding the fact that the corresponding Fund Deposits have not been received in part or in whole, in reliance on the undertaking of the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Deposit Securities as soon as possible, which undertaking shall be secured by such Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to buy Deposit Securities for the Funds. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the contractual settlement date. Information concerning the Funds' current procedures for collateralization of missing Deposit Securities is available from the Distributor or its agent. The Authorized Participant Agreement will permit the Funds to buy the missing Deposit Securities at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Funds of purchasing such securities and the collateral including, without limitation, liability for related brokerage, borrowings and other charges.

In certain cases, Authorized Participants may create and redeem Creation Units on the same trade date and in these instances, the Funds reserve the right to settle these transactions on a net basis or require a representation from the Authorized Participants that the creation and redemption transactions are for separate beneficial owners. All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by each Fund and the Fund's determination shall be final and binding.

#### Costs Associated with Creation Transactions.
A standard creation transaction fee is imposed to offset the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant creates a Creation Unit, and is the same, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a purchase consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Deposit Securities to the Funds. Certain fees/costs associated with creation transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to acquire Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth each Fund's standard creation transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit.

**Redemption of Creation Units. Shares of a Fund may be redeemed by Authorized Participants only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Distributor or its agent and only on a Business Day. The Funds will not redeem shares in amounts less than Creation Units. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the secondary market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of shares to constitute a Creation Unit that could be redeemed by an Authorized Participant. Beneficial owners also may sell shares in the secondary market.**

Each Fund generally redeems Creation Units for Fund Securities (as defined below). Please see the *Cash Redemption Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the in-kind method for further information on redeeming Creation Units of the Funds.

Each Fund publishes the designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) that will be applicable to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day ("Fund Securities" or "Redemption Basket"), and an amount of cash (the "Cash Amount," as described below) in order to effect redemptions of Creation Units of a Fund. Such Fund Securities and Cash Amount will remain in effect until such time as the next announced composition of the Fund Securities and Cash Amount is made available. The Fund Securities and Cash Amount are subject to possible amendment or correction. Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities that are applicable to creations of Creation Units. Procedures and requirements governing redemption transactions are set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time.

Unless cash redemptions are available or specified for a Fund, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of Fund Securities, plus the Cash Amount, which is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares being redeemed, as next determined after the receipt of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of Fund Securities, less a redemption transaction fee (as described below).

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant (or to an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws or due to a trading restriction; (ii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Fund Security by the Authorized Participant due to restrictions under applicable securities or other local laws; (iii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in unfavorable tax treatment; (iv) when a Fund Security cannot be settled or otherwise delivered in time to facilitate an in-kind redemption; or (v) in certain other situations. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder. Each Fund generally redeems Creation Units for Fund Securities, but each Fund reserves the right to utilize a cash option for redemption of Creation Units. Each Fund may, in its sole discretion, provide such redeeming Authorized Participant a portfolio of securities that differs from the exact composition of the Fund Securities, but does not differ in NAV. The Redemption Basket may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Fund Securities portion of the Redemption Basket through systematically rounding. The rounding methodology allows position sizes of securities in the Fund Securities to be "rounded up," while limiting the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Redemption Basket. Redemption Baskets may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

**Cash Redemption Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units are available or specified for a Fund, they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof. In the case of partial or full cash redemption, the Authorized Participant receives the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.**

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#### Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions.
A standard redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by the relevant Fund. The standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and is the same regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed by an Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a redemption consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from a Fund to their account on their order. Certain fees/costs associated with redemption transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to dispose of Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth each Fund's standard redemption transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Redemption<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge\*** |
| iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |
| iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |
| iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit, inclusive of the standard redemption transaction fee.

**Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemption requests for Creation Units of the Funds must be submitted to the Distributor or its agent by or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable request to redeem shares of a Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day, in order to receive that day's NAV. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, a Fund may require orders to redeem Creation Units to be placed earlier that day. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a redemption request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request.**

The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption in the form required by the Funds to the Distributor or its agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant who has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement. At any time, only a limited number of broker-dealers will have an Authorized Participant Agreement in effect. Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant. Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the shares to the Funds' transfer agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.

A redemption request is considered to be in "proper form" if: (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Funds' transfer agent the Creation Unit redeemed through the book-entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the Listing Exchange closing time on any Business Day on which the redemption request is submitted; (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the applicable Fund is received by the Distributor or its agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified above; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement are properly followed.

Upon receiving a redemption request, the Distributor or its agent shall notify the applicable Fund and the Fund's transfer agent of such redemption request. The tender of an investor's shares for redemption and the distribution of the securities and/or cash included in the redemption payment made in respect of Creation Units redeemed will be made through DTC and the relevant Authorized Participant to the Beneficial Owner thereof as recorded on the book-entry system of DTC or the DTC Participant through which such investor holds, as the case may be, or by such other means specified by the Authorized Participant submitting the redemption request.

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A redeeming Authorized Participant, whether on its own account or acting on behalf of a Beneficial Owner, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the portfolio securities are customarily traded, to which account such portfolio securities will be delivered.

Deliveries of redemption proceeds by each Fund are generally made within two Business Days (*i.e.,* "T+2"). Each Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law. For example, each Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2 to accommodate non-U.S. market holiday schedules, to account for different treatment among non-U.S. and U.S. markets of dividend record dates and dividend ex-dates (*i.e.*, the last date the holder of a security can sell the security and still receive dividends payable on the security sold) and in certain other circumstances consistent with applicable law.

Although the Trust does not ordinarily permit cash redemptions of Creation Units, in the event that cash redemptions are permitted or required by the Trust, proceeds will be paid to the Authorized Participant redeeming shares as soon as practicable after the date of redemption (within seven calendar days thereafter). If a Fund includes a foreign investment in its basket, and if a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming Authorized Participants prevents timely delivery of the foreign investment in response to a redemption request, a Fund may delay delivery of the foreign investment more than seven days if a Fund delivers the foreign investment as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 days.

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant's agreement with the Distributor or its agent, in the event an Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation Unit to be redeemed to a Fund, at or prior to the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request, the Distributor or its agent will accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request and shall be held by State Street and marked-to-market daily. The fees of State Street and any sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant Agreement permits the Funds to acquire shares of the Funds at any time and subjects the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the aggregate of the cost to the Funds of purchasing such shares, plus the value of the Cash Amount, and the value of the collateral together with liability for related brokerage and other charges.

Because the U.S. bond market may be open on days that the Listing Exchange for a Fund is closed or are otherwise not Business Days for such Fund, shareholders may not be able to redeem their shares of such Fund or purchase or sell shares of such Fund on the Listing Exchange on days when the NAV of such a Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant market.

The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to any Fund: (i) for any period during which the applicable Listing Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the applicable Listing Exchange is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the shares of the Fund's portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.

**Custom Baskets. Creation and Redemption baskets may differ and each Fund may accept "custom baskets." A custom basket may include any of the following: (i) a basket that is composed of a non-representative selection of a Fund's portfolio holdings; (ii) a representative basket that is different from the initial basket used in transactions on the same business day; or (iii) a basket that contains bespoke cash substitutions for a single Authorized Participant. Each Fund has adopted policies and procedures that govern the construction and acceptance of baskets, including heightened requirements for certain types of custom baskets. Such policies and procedures provide the parameters for the construction and acceptance of custom baskets that are in the best interests of a Fund and its shareholders, establish processes for revisions to, or deviations from, such parameters, and specify the titles and roles of the employees of BFA who are required to review each custom basket for compliance with those parameters. In addition, when constructing custom baskets for redemptions, the tax efficiency of a Fund may be taken into account. The policies and procedures distinguish among different types of custom baskets that may**

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be used for each Fund and impose different requirements for different types of custom baskets in order to seek to mitigate against potential risks of conflicts and/or overreaching by an Authorized Participant. BlackRock has established a governance process to oversee basket compliance for the Funds, as set forth in each Fund's policies and procedures.

**Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units. An Authorized Participant generally will recognize either gain or loss upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units. This gain or loss is calculated by taking the market value of the Creation Units purchased over the Authorized Participant's aggregate basis in the Deposit Securities exchanged therefor. However, the IRS may apply the wash sales rules to determine that any loss realized upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units is not currently deductible. Authorized Participants should consult their own tax advisors.**

Current U.S. federal income tax laws dictate that capital gain or loss realized from the redemption of Creation Units will generally create long-term capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the Creation Units for more than one year, or short-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Units were held for one year or less, if the Creation Units are held as capital assets.

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## Taxes
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of a Fund. This summary does not address all of the potential U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be applicable to a Fund or to all categories of investors, some of which may be subject to special tax rules. Current and prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the specific federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of investing in a Fund. The summary is based on the laws and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof in effect on the date of this SAI, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. References to the Funds will also generally apply to the Underlying Funds as well.

**Regulated Investment Company Qualifications. Each Fund intends to qualify for and to elect treatment as a separate RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, each Fund must annually distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (which includes dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements. Among such other requirements are the following: (i) at least 90% of each Fund's annual gross income must be derived from dividends, interest, payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock or securities or non-U.S. currencies, other income (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect to its business of investing in such stock, securities or currencies, and net income derived from interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships (*i.e.*, partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than a partnership that derives at least 90% of its income from interest, dividends, capital gains and other traditionally permitted RIC income); and (ii) at the close of each quarter of each Fund's taxable year, (a) at least 50% of the market value of each Fund's total assets must be represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs and other securities, with such other securities limited for purposes of this calculation in respect of any one issuer to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund's assets and not greater than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (b) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund's total assets may be invested in the securities of any one issuer, of two or more issuers of which 20% or more of the voting stock is held by the Fund and that are engaged in the same or similar trades or businesses or related trades or businesses (other than the securities of other RICs) or the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships.**

A Fund may be able to cure a failure to derive at least 90% of its income from the sources specified above or a failure to diversify its holdings in the manner described above by paying a tax and/or by disposing of certain assets. If, in any taxable year, a Fund fails one of these tests and does not timely cure the failure, that Fund will be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation and distributions to its shareholders will not be deductible by that Fund in computing its taxable income.

Although in general the passive loss rules of the Internal Revenue Code do not apply to RICs, such rules do apply to a RIC with respect to items attributable to an interest in a qualified publicly-traded partnership. A Fund's investments in partnerships, including in qualified publicly-traded partnerships, may result in the Fund being subject to state, local, or non-U.S. income, franchise or withholding tax liabilities.

**Taxation of RICs. As a RIC, a Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders, provided that it satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. To satisfy the minimum distribution requirement, a Fund must distribute to its shareholders at least the sum of (i) 90% of its "investment company taxable income" (*i.e.*, income other than its net realized long-term capital gain over its net realized short-term capital loss), plus or minus certain adjustments, and (ii) 90% of its net tax-exempt income for the taxable year. A Fund will be subject to income tax at regular corporate rates on any taxable income or gains that it does not distribute to its shareholders. If a Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC or fails to meet the distribution requirement, all of its taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, distributions to individuals should be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income and distributions to corporate shareholders generally should be eligible for the dividends-received deduction. Although each Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and its capital gains for each taxable year, a Fund may decide to retain a portion of its income or gains if the Fund determines that**

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doing so is in the interest of its shareholders. Each Fund will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent any such income or gains are not distributed. Moreover, if a Fund fails to qualify as a RIC in any year, it must pay out its earnings and profits accumulated in that year in order to qualify again as a RIC. If a Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two taxable years, the Fund may be required to recognize any net built-in gains with respect to certain of its assets (*i.e.*, the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if the Fund had been liquidated) if it qualifies as a RIC in a subsequent year.

Short-term capital gain earned by the Underlying Fund will be ordinary income when distributed to the Fund and will not be offset by the Fund's capital losses. Upon the sale or other disposition by the Fund of shares of the Underlying Fund, the Fund will realize a capital gain or loss which will be long-term or short-term, generally depending on the Fund's holding period for the shares. Losses realized upon such redemptions may result in a substantial number of "wash sales" and deferral, perhaps indefinitely, of realized losses to the Fund.

**Net Capital Loss Carryforwards. Net capital loss carryforwards may be applied against any net realized capital gains in each succeeding year, until they have been reduced to zero.**

In the event that a Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Internal Revenue Code, the loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of a Fund and the Underlying Funds, if any, may be subject to limitation.

The following Funds had tax basis net capital loss carryforwards as set forth in the table below as of October 31, 2022, the tax year-end for the Funds listed:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Non-Expiring Capital Loss<br> Carryforward** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | $5844862 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;117549 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;144225 |

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**Excise Tax. A Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus at least 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the 12 months ended October 31 of such year. For this purpose, however, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by a Fund that is subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed by year-end. In addition, the minimum amounts that must be distributed in any year to avoid the excise tax will be increased or decreased to reflect any underdistribution or overdistribution, as the case may be, from the previous year. Each Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax. Long-term capital distributions from the Underlying Fund paid in December or, in certain cases, January in satisfaction of this rule will be subject to potential distribution by the Fund in the following calendar year.**

**Taxation of U.S. Shareholders. Dividends and other distributions by a Fund are generally treated under the Internal Revenue Code as received by the shareholders at the time the dividend or distribution is made. However, any dividend or capital gain distribution declared by a Fund in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in such a month shall be deemed to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year and to have been paid by the Fund not later than such December 31, provided such dividend is actually paid by the Fund during January of the following calendar year.**

Each Fund intends to distribute annually to its shareholders substantially all of its net tax-exempt income, investment company taxable income and any net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers). However, if a Fund retains for investment an amount equal to all or a portion of its net long-term capital gains in excess of its net short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers), it will be subject to a corporate tax (at a flat rate of 21%) on the amount retained. In that event, the Fund will report such retained amounts as undistributed capital gains in a notice to its shareholders who (a) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gains, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount, (b) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on the undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax

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liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent their credits exceed their liabilities, if any, and (c) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in their shares by an amount equal to the excess of the amount in clause (a) over the amount in clause (b). Organizations or persons not subject to U.S. federal income tax on such capital gains will be entitled to a refund of their *pro rata* share of such taxes paid by the Fund upon filing appropriate returns or claims for refund with the IRS.

Distributions of net realized long-term capital gains, if any, that a Fund reports as capital gain dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, whether paid in cash or in shares and regardless of how long a shareholder has held shares of the Fund. All other dividends of a Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits ("regular dividends") are generally subject to tax as ordinary income. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.

If an individual receives a regular dividend qualifying for the long-term capital gain rates and such dividend constitutes an "extraordinary dividend," and the individual subsequently recognizes a loss on the sale or exchange of stock in respect of which the extraordinary dividend was paid, then the loss will be long-term capital loss to the extent of such extraordinary dividend. An "extraordinary dividend" on common stock for this purpose is generally a dividend (i) in an amount greater than or equal to 10% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within an 85-day period, or (ii) in an amount greater than 20% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within a 365-day period.

Distributions in excess of a Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of a shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund, and as a capital gain thereafter (if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets). Distributions in excess of a Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. Shareholders receiving dividends or distributions in the form of additional shares should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of money that the shareholders receiving cash dividends or distributions will receive and should have a cost basis in the shares received equal to such amount. No deduction would be allowed to an investor for interest on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry shares of the Fund to the extent the interest deduction would relate to exempt-interest dividends received.

A 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on net investment income, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain from investments, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly), and of estates and trusts.

Investors considering buying shares just prior to a dividend or capital gain distribution should be aware that, although the price of shares purchased at that time may reflect the amount of the forthcoming distribution, such dividend or distribution may nevertheless be taxable to them. If a Fund is the holder of record of any security on the record date for any dividends payable with respect to such security, such dividends will be included in the Fund's gross income not as of the date received but as of the later of (i) the date such security became ex-dividend with respect to such dividends (*i.e*., the date on which a buyer of the security would not be entitled to receive the declared, but unpaid, dividends); or (ii) the date the Fund acquired such security. Accordingly, in order to satisfy its income distribution requirements, a Fund may be required to pay dividends based on anticipated earnings, and shareholders may receive dividends in an earlier year than would otherwise be the case.

In certain situations, a Fund may, for a taxable year, defer all or a portion of its net capital loss (or if there is no net capital loss, then any net long-term or short-term capital loss) realized after October and its late-year ordinary loss (defined as the sum of the excess of post-October foreign currency and passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") losses over post-October foreign currency and PFIC gains, plus the excess of post-December ordinary losses over post-December ordinary income) until the next taxable year in computing its investment company taxable income and net capital gain, which will defer the recognition of such realized losses. Such deferrals and other rules regarding gains and losses realized after October (or December) may affect the tax character of shareholder distributions.

**Sales of Shares. Upon the sale or exchange of shares of a Fund, a shareholder will realize a taxable gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund. A redemption of shares by a Fund will be treated as a sale for this purpose. Such gain or loss will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder's hands and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for more than one year and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized on a sale or exchange will be disallowed**

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to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced, including replacement through the reinvesting of dividends or capital gains distributions, or by an option, or contract to acquire substantially identical shares, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition of the shares. In such a case, the basis of the shares acquired will be increased to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss realized by a shareholder on the sale of Fund shares held by the shareholder for six months or less will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any distributions or deemed distributions of long-term capital gains received by the shareholder with respect to such share. The Medicare contribution tax described above will apply to the sale of Fund shares.

If a shareholder incurs a sales charge in acquiring shares of a Fund, disposes of those shares within 90 days and then, on or before January 31 of the following calendar year, acquires shares in a mutual fund for which the otherwise applicable sales charge is reduced by reason of a reinvestment right (*e.g.*, an exchange privilege), the original sales charge will not be taken into account in computing gain/loss on the original shares to the extent the subsequent sales charge is reduced. Instead, the disregarded portion of the original sales charge will be added to the tax basis of the newly acquired shares. Furthermore, the same rule also applies to a disposition of the newly acquired shares made within 90 days of the second acquisition. This provision prevents a shareholder from immediately deducting the sales charge by shifting his or her investment within a family of mutual funds.

**Backup Withholding. In certain cases, a Fund will be required to withhold at a 24% rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury such amounts withheld from any distributions paid to a shareholder who: (i) has failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; (ii) is subject to backup withholding by the IRS; (iii) has failed to certify to a Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding; or (iv) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amount withheld may be credited against a shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability.**

**Sections 351 and 362. The Trust, on behalf of each Fund, has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Sections 351 and 362 of the Internal Revenue Code, that Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. If a Fund's basis in such securities on the date of deposit was less than market value on such date, the Fund, upon disposition of the securities, would recognize more taxable gain or less taxable loss than if its basis in the securities had been equal to market value. It is not anticipated that the Trust will exercise the right of rejection except in a case where the Trust determines that accepting the order could result in material adverse tax consequences to a Fund or its shareholders. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.**

**Taxation of Certain Derivatives. A Fund's transactions in zero coupon securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward contracts, options and futures contracts (including options and futures contracts on non-U.S. currencies), to the extent permitted, will be subject to special provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to "hedging transactions" and "straddles") that, among other consequences, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (*i.e.*, may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer Fund losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also (a) will require a Fund to mark-to-market certain types of the positions in its portfolio (*i.e.*, treat them as if they were closed out at the end of each year) and (b) may cause a Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to pay dividends or make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. Each Fund will monitor its transactions, will make the appropriate tax elections and will make the appropriate entries in its books and records when it acquires any zero coupon security, non-U.S. currency, forward contract, option, futures contract or hedged investment in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and prevent disqualification of the Fund as a RIC.** 

A Fund's investments in so-called "section 1256 contracts," such as regulated futures contracts, most non-U.S. currency forward contracts traded in the interbank market and options on most security indexes, are subject to special tax rules. All section 1256 contracts held by a Fund at the end of its taxable year are required to be marked to their market value, and any unrealized gain or loss on those positions will be included in the Fund's income as if each position had been sold for its fair market value at the end of the taxable year. The resulting gain or loss will be combined with any gain or loss realized by a Fund from positions in section 1256 contracts closed during the taxable year. Provided such positions were held as capital assets and were not part of a "hedging transaction" nor part of a "straddle," 60% of the resulting net gain or loss will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% of such net gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, regardless of the period of time the positions were actually held by a Fund.

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As a result of entering into swap contracts, a Fund may make or receive periodic net payments. A Fund may also make or receive a payment when a swap is terminated prior to maturity through an assignment of the swap or other closing transaction. Periodic net payments will generally constitute ordinary income or deductions, while termination of a swap will generally result in capital gain or loss (which will be a long-term capital gain or loss if a Fund has been a party to the swap for more than one year). The cost of any payments made by a Fund on a swap transaction will be netted *pro rata* against both tax exempt and taxable gross income. With respect to certain types of swaps, a Fund may be required to currently recognize income or loss with respect to future payments on such swaps or may elect under certain circumstances to mark such swaps to market annually for tax purposes as ordinary income or loss.

**Market Discount. Any market discount recognized on a bond is taxable as ordinary income. A market discount bond is a bond acquired in the secondary market at a price below redemption value or adjusted issue price if issued with original issue discount ("OID"). To the extent a Fund does not include the market discount in income as it accrues, gain on the Fund's disposition of such an obligation will be treated as ordinary income rather than capital gain to the extent of the accrued market discount.**

**Non-U.S. Investments. Income (including, in some cases, capital gains) received by certain of the Funds from investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes in some cases. If more than 50% of a Fund's total assets at the close of its taxable year consists of securities of non-U.S. corporations, the Fund may elect for U.S. income tax purposes to treat non-U.S. income taxes paid by it as paid by its shareholders. A Fund may qualify for and make this election in some, but not necessarily all, of its taxable years. If a Fund were to make an election, shareholders of the Fund would be required to take into account an amount equal to their *pro rata* portions of such non-U.S. taxes in computing their taxable income and then treat an amount equal to those non-U.S. taxes as a U.S. federal income tax deduction or as a foreign tax credit against their U.S. federal income taxes. Shortly after any year for which it makes such an election, a Fund will report to its shareholders the amount per share of such non-U.S. income tax that must be included in each shareholder's gross income and the amount which will be available for the deduction or credit. No deduction for non-U.S. taxes may be claimed by a shareholder who does not itemize deductions. Certain limitations will be imposed on the extent to which the credit (but not the deduction) for non-U.S. taxes may be claimed. Under Section 988 of the Internal Revenue Code, gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the time a Fund accrues income or receivables or expenses or other liabilities denominated in a non-U.S. currency and the time a Fund actually collects such income or pays such liabilities are generally treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss. In general, gains (and losses) realized on debt instruments will be treated as Section 988 gain (or loss) to the extent attributable to changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the instruments are denominated. Similarly, gain or losses on non-U.S. currency, non-U.S. currency forward contracts, certain non-U.S. currency options or futures contracts and the disposition of debt securities denominated in non-U.S. currency, to the extent attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the acquisition and disposition dates, are also treated as ordinary income or loss unless a Fund were to elect otherwise.**

The Underlying Funds, if invested in non-U.S. securities, may be subject to non-U.S. income taxes and non U.S. financial transactions taxes. Each Underlying Fund, if permitted to do so, may elect to "pass through" to its investors, including the Funds, the amount of non-U.S. income taxes paid by the Underlying Fund. Each Fund itself will be eligible to elect to "pass through" such amounts to its stockholders and may do so, depending upon circumstances.

**Original Issue Discount. OID on tax-exempt bonds is recognized over the term of the bond and is tax-exempt to the holder of the bond. Special U.S. federal income tax rules apply to inflation-indexed bonds. Generally, all stated interest on such bonds is taken into income by a Fund under its regular method of accounting for interest income. The amount of a positive inflation adjustment, which results in an increase in the inflation-adjusted principal amount of the bond, is treated as OID. The OID is included in a Fund's gross income ratably during the period ending with the maturity of the bond, under the general OID inclusion rules. The amount of a Fund's OID in a taxable year with respect to a bond will increase a Fund's taxable income for such year without a corresponding receipt of cash, until the bond matures. As a result, a Fund may need to use other sources of cash to satisfy its distributions for such year. The amount of negative inflation adjustment, which results in a decrease in the inflation-adjusted principal amount of the bond, reduces the amount of interest (including stated, interest, OID, and market discount, if any) otherwise includible in a Fund's income with respect to the bond for the taxable year.**

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**Reporting. If a shareholder recognizes a loss with respect to a Fund's shares of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a RIC are not exempted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer's treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.**

#### Other Taxes. Dividends, distributions and redemption proceeds may also be subject to additional state, local and non-U.S. taxes depending on each shareholder's particular situation.
**Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders. Dividends paid by a Fund to non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or a reduced rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty to the extent derived from investment income and short-term capital gains. Dividends paid by a Fund from net tax-exempt income or long-term capital gains are generally not subject to such withholding tax. In order to obtain a reduced rate of withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will be required to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E certifying its entitlement to benefits under a treaty. The withholding tax does not apply to regular dividends paid to a non-U.S. shareholder who provides an IRS Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the non-U.S. shareholder were a U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to additional "branch profits tax" imposed at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate). A non-U.S. shareholder who fails to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form may be subject to backup withholding at the appropriate rate.**

Properly-reported dividends are generally exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax where they (i) are paid in respect of a Fund's "qualified net interest income" (generally, a Fund's U.S. source interest income, other than certain contingent interest and interest from obligations of a corporation or partnership in which a Fund is at least a 10% shareholder or partner, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income); or (ii) are paid in respect of a Fund's "qualified short-term capital gains" (generally, the excess of a Fund's net short-term capital gain over a Fund's long-term capital loss for such taxable year). However, depending on its circumstances, a Fund may report all, some or none of its potentially eligible dividends as such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains and/or treat such dividends, in whole or in part, as ineligible for this exemption from withholding. In order to qualify for this exemption from withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will need to comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its non-U.S. status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or substitute Form). In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if a Fund reports the payment as qualified net interest income or qualified short-term capital gain. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.

Special rules may apply to a foreign shareholder receiving a Fund distribution if at least 50% of the Fund's assets consist of interests in U.S. real property interests, including certain REITs and U.S. real property holding corporations (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations). Fund distributions that are attributable to gain from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest will be taxable as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding at a 30% or lower treaty rate if the foreign shareholder held no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. If the foreign shareholder held at least 5% of the Fund's shares, the distribution would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business within the U.S. and the foreign shareholder would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 21% and would generally be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return.

Similar consequences would generally apply to a foreign shareholder's gain on the sale of Fund shares unless the Fund is domestically controlled (meaning that more than 50% of the value of the Fund's shares is held by U.S. shareholders) or the foreign shareholder owns no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of sale. Finally, a domestically controlled Fund may be required to recognize a portion of its gain on the in-kind distribution of certain U.S. real property interests. Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in the Fund.

The rules laid out in the previous paragraph, other than the withholding rules, will apply notwithstanding the Fund's participation in a wash sale transaction or its payment of a substitute dividend.

Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in a Fund.

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Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to: (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to: (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information as to their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities will need to provide the name, address and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

Shares of a Fund held by a non-U.S. shareholder at death will be considered situated within the U.S. and subject to the U.S. estate tax.

The foregoing discussion is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such shares, including consequences under state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date of this SAI. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.

## Financial Statements
Each Fund's audited Financial Statements, including the Financial Highlights, appearing in the [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) to Shareholders and the report therein of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, are hereby incorporated by reference in this SAI. The applicable Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the referenced audited financial statements, is available upon request and without charge.

## Miscellaneous Information

#### Counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, located at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, is counsel to the Trust.
**Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, located at Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, serves as the Trust's independent registered public accounting firm, audits the Funds' financial statements, and may perform other services.**

**Shareholder Communications to the Board. The Board has established a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders may contact the Board by mail. Correspondence should be addressed to iShares Board of Trustees, c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors, iShares Fund Administration, 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Shareholder communications to the Board should include the following information: (i) the name and address of the shareholder; (ii) the number of shares owned by the shareholder; (iii) the Fund(s) of which the shareholder owns shares; and (iv) if these shares are owned indirectly through a broker, financial intermediary or other record owner, the name of the broker, financial intermediary or other record owner. All correspondence received as set forth above shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Trust and reported to the Board.**

**Investors' Rights. Each Fund relies on the services of BFA and its other service providers, including the Distributor, administrator, custodian and transfer agent. Further information about the duties and roles of these service providers is set out in this SAI. Investors who acquire shares of a Fund are not parties to the relevant agreement with these service providers and do not have express contractual rights against the Fund or its service providers, except certain institutional investors that are Authorized Participants may have certain express contractual rights with respect to the Distributor under the terms of the**

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relevant Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors may have certain legal rights under federal or state law against a Fund or its service providers. In the event that an investor considers that it may have a claim against a Fund, or against any service provider in connection with its investment in a Fund, such investor should consult its own legal advisor.

By contract, Authorized Participants irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State or U.S. federal court sitting in New York City over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Authorized Participant Agreement. Jurisdiction over other claims, whether by investors or Authorized Participants, will turn on the facts of the particular case and the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is brought.

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## Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy

#### BlackRock U.S. Registered Funds

#### Open-End Fund Proxy Voting Policy

#### Procedures Governing Delegation of Proxy Voting to Fund Advisers

#### August 1, 2022

#### Open-End Mutual Funds (including money market funds)

#### iShares and BlackRock ETFs
The Boards of Trustees/Directors ("Directors") of open-end funds (the "Funds") advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors or BlackRock Advisors, LLC ("BlackRock"), have the responsibility for the oversight of voting proxies relating to portfolio securities of the Funds, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to delegate the responsibility to vote proxies to BlackRock, subject to the principles outlined in this Policy, as part of BlackRock's authority to manage, acquire and dispose of account assets, all as contemplated by the Funds' respective investment management agreements.

BlackRock has adopted guidelines and procedures (together and as from time to time amended, the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BlackRock.

BlackRock will cast votes on behalf of each of the Funds on specific proxy issues in respect of securities held by each such Fund (or may refrain from voting) in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines.

BlackRock will report on an annual basis to the Directors on (1) a summary of all proxy votes that BlackRock has made on behalf of the Funds in the preceding year together with a representation that all votes were in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines, and (2) any changes to the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines that have not previously been reported.

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## Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| [Introduction to BlackRock](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Philosophy on corporate governance](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Corporate governance, engagement and voting](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [- Boards and directors](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-5 |
| [- Auditors and audit-related issues](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-6 |
| [- Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Compensation and benefits](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Environmental and social issues](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-8 |
| [- General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Oversight](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Vote execution](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-10 |
| [- Conflicts management policies and procedures](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-11 |
| [- Voting guidelines](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |
| [- Reporting and vote transparency](#xx_c5f8c96b-134f-4bbe-b4ea-2bb7bd6b4eda_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |

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#### INTRODUCTION TO BLACKROCK
BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. We manage assets on behalf of institutional and individual clients, across a full spectrum of investment strategies, asset classes and regions. Our client base includes pension plans, endowments, foundations, charities, official institutions, insurers and other financial institutions, as well as individuals around the world.

#### PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") activities are focused on maximizing long-term value for our clients. BIS does this through engagement with boards and management of investee companies and, for those clients who have given us authority, through voting at shareholder meetings.

We believe that there are certain fundamental rights attached to shareholding. Companies and their boards should be accountable to shareholders and structured with appropriate checks and balances to ensure that they operate in shareholders' best interests. Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and there should be one vote for one share. Shareholders should have the right to elect, remove and nominate directors, approve the appointment of the auditor and to amend the corporate charter or by-laws. Shareholders should be able to vote on matters that are material to the protection of their investment, including but not limited to, changes to the purpose of the business, dilution levels and pre-emptive rights, and the distribution of income and capital structure. In order to make informed decisions, we believe that shareholders have the right to sufficient and timely information.

Our primary focus is on the performance of the board of directors. As the agent of shareholders, the board should set the company's strategic aims within a framework of prudent and effective controls, which enables risk to be assessed and managed. The board should provide direction and leadership to management and oversee management's performance. Our starting position is to be supportive of boards in their oversight efforts on shareholders' behalf and we would generally expect to support the items of business they put to a vote at shareholder meetings. Votes cast against or withheld from resolutions proposed by the board are a signal that we are concerned that the directors or management have either not acted in the best interests of shareholders or have not responded adequately to shareholder concerns. We assess voting matters on a case-by-case basis and in light of each company's unique circumstances taking into consideration regional best practices and long-term value creation.

These principles set out our approach to engaging with companies, provide guidance on our position on corporate governance and outline how our views might be reflected in our voting decisions. Corporate governance practices can vary internationally, so our expectations in relation to individual companies are based on the legal and regulatory framework of each local market. However, we believe there are overarching principles of corporate governance that apply globally and provide a framework for more detailed, market-specific assessments.

We believe BlackRock has a responsibility in relation to monitoring and providing feedback to companies, sometimes known as "stewardship." These ownership responsibilities include engaging with management or board members on corporate governance matters, voting proxies in the best long-term economic interests of our clients, and engaging with regulatory bodies to ensure a sound policy framework consistent with promoting long-term shareholder value creation. We also believe in the responsibility to our clients to have appropriate resources and oversight structures. Our approach is set out in the section below titled "BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities" and is further detailed in a <u>team profile on our website</u>.

#### CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING
We recognize that accepted standards of corporate governance differ between markets, but we believe there are sufficient common threads globally to identify an overarching set of principles. The objective of our investment stewardship activities is the protection and enhancement of the value of our clients' investments in public corporations. Thus, these principles focus on practices and structures that we consider to be supportive of long-term value creation. We discuss below the principles under six key themes. In our regional and market-specific voting guidelines we explain how these principles inform our voting decisions in relation to specific resolutions that may appear on the agenda of a shareholder meeting in the relevant market.

The six key themes are:

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• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions

• Compensation and benefits

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections

At a minimum, we expect companies to observe the accepted corporate governance standards in their domestic market or to explain why doing so is not in the interests of shareholders. Where company reporting and disclosure is inadequate or the approach taken is inconsistent with our view of what is in the best interests of shareholders, we will engage with the company and/or use our vote to encourage a change in practice. In making voting decisions, we perform independent research and analysis, such as reviewing relevant information published by the company and apply our voting guidelines to achieve the outcome we believe best protects our clients' long-term economic interests. We also work closely with our active portfolio managers, and may take into account internal and external research.

BlackRock views engagement as an important activity; engagement provides us with the opportunity to improve our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that investee companies are facing and their governance structures. Engagement also allows us to share our philosophy and approach to investment and corporate governance with companies to enhance their understanding of our objectives. Our engagements often focus on providing our feedback on company disclosures, particularly where we believe they could be enhanced. There are a range of approaches we may take in engaging companies depending on the nature of the issue under consideration, the company and the market.

BlackRock's engagements emphasize direct dialogue with corporate leadership on the governance issues identified in these principles that have a material impact on financial performance. These engagements enable us to cast informed votes aligned with clients' long-term economic interests. We generally prefer to engage in the first instance where we have concerns and give management time to address or resolve the issue. As a long-term investor, we are patient and persistent in working with our portfolio companies to have an open dialogue and develop mutual understanding of governance matters, to promote the adoption of best practices and to assess the merits of a company's approach to its governance. We monitor the companies in which we invest and engage with them constructively and privately where we believe doing so helps protect shareholders' interests. We do not try to micro-manage companies, or tell management and boards what to do. We present our views as a long-term shareholder and listen to companies' responses. The materiality and immediacy of a given issue will generally determine the level of our engagement and whom we seek to engage at the company, which could be management representatives or board directors.

#### Boards and directors
The performance of the board is critical to the economic success of the company and to the protection of shareholders' interests. Board members serve as agents of shareholders in overseeing the strategic direction and operation of the company. For this reason, BlackRock focuses on directors in many of our engagements and sees the election of directors as one of our most important responsibilities in the proxy voting context.

We expect the board of directors to promote and protect shareholder interests by:

• establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure

• supporting and overseeing management in setting long-term strategic goals, applicable measures of value-creation and milestones that will demonstrate progress, and steps taken if any obstacles are anticipated or incurred

• ensuring the integrity of financial statements

• making independent decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals

• establishing appropriate executive compensation structures

• addressing business issues, including environmental and social issues, when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance

There should be clear definitions of the role of the board, the committees of the board and senior management such that the responsibilities of each are well understood and accepted. Companies should report publicly the approach taken to

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governance (including in relation to board structure) and why this approach is in the best interest of shareholders. We will seek to engage with the appropriate directors where we have concerns about the performance of the board or the company, the broad strategy of the company, or the performance of individual board members. We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable.

BlackRock believes that directors should stand for re-election on a regular basis. We assess directors nominated for election or re-election in the context of the composition of the board as a whole. There should be detailed disclosure of the relevant credentials of the individual directors in order for shareholders to assess the caliber of an individual nominee. We expect there to be a sufficient number of independent directors on the board to ensure the protection of the interests of all shareholders. Common impediments to independence may include but are not limited to:

• current or former employment at the company or a subsidiary within the past several years

• being, or representing, a shareholder with a substantial shareholding in the company

• interlocking directorships

• having any other interest, business or other relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

BlackRock believes that the operation of the board is enhanced when there is a clearly independent, senior non-executive director to chair it or, where the chairman is also the CEO (or is otherwise not independent), an independent lead director. The role of this director is to enhance the effectiveness of the independent members of the board through shaping the agenda, ensuring adequate information is provided to the board and encouraging independent participation in board deliberations. The lead independent board director should be available to shareholders in those situations where a director is best placed to explain and justify a company's approach.

To ensure that the board remains effective, regular reviews of board performance should be carried out and assessments made of gaps in skills or experience amongst the members. BlackRock believes it is beneficial for new directors to be brought onto the board periodically to refresh the group's thinking and to ensure both continuity and adequate succession planning. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the multiple dimensions of diversity, including personal factors such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. The board should review these dimensions of the current directors and how they might be augmented by incoming directors. We believe that directors are in the best position to assess the optimal size for the board, but we would be concerned if a board seemed too small to have an appropriate balance of directors or too large to be effective.

There are matters for which the board has responsibility that may involve a conflict of interest for executives or for affiliated directors. BlackRock believes that shareholders' interests are best served when the board forms committees of fully independent directors to deal with such matters. In many markets, these committees of the board specialize in audit, director nominations and compensation matters. An ad hoc committee might also be formed to decide on a special transaction, particularly one with a related party or to investigate a significant adverse event.

#### Auditors and audit-related issues
Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements, which should provide a true and fair picture of a company's financial condition. We will hold the members of the audit committee or equivalent responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or ad hoc notifications of material financial weakness.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor being free of any impediments to being an effective check on management. To that end, we believe it is important that auditors are, and are seen to be, independent. Where the audit firm provides services to the company in addition to the audit, the fees earned should be disclosed and explained. Audit committees should have in place a procedure for assessing annually the independence of the auditor.

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#### Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions
The capital structure of a company is critical to its owners, the shareholders, as it impacts the value of their investment and the priority of their interest in the company relative to that of other equity or debt investors. Pre-emptive rights are a key protection for shareholders against the dilution of their interests.

Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and we believe strongly in one vote for one share as a guiding principle that supports good corporate governance. Shareholders, as the residual claimants, have the strongest interest in protecting company value, and voting power should match economic exposure.

We are concerned that the creation of a dual share class may result in an over-concentration of power in the hands of a few shareholders, thus disenfranchising other shareholders and amplifying the potential conflict of interest, which the one share, one vote principle is designed to mitigate. However, we recognize that in certain circumstances, companies may have a valid argument for dual-class listings, at least for a limited period of time. We believe that such companies should review these dual-class structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Additionally, they should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal in the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

In assessing mergers, asset sales or other special transactions, BlackRock's primary consideration is the long-term economic interests of shareholders. Boards proposing a transaction need to clearly explain the economic and strategic rationale behind it. We will review a proposed transaction to determine the degree to which it enhances long-term shareholder value. We would prefer that proposed transactions have the unanimous support of the board and have been negotiated at arm's length. We may seek reassurance from the board that executives' and/or board members' financial interests in a given transaction have not adversely affected their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own. Where the transaction involves related parties, we would expect the recommendation to support it to come from the independent directors and it is good practice to be approved by a separate vote of the non-conflicted shareholders.

BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to dispose of company shares in the open market without unnecessary restriction. In our view, corporate mechanisms designed to limit shareholders' ability to sell their shares are contrary to basic property rights. Such mechanisms can serve to protect and entrench interests other than those of the shareholders. We believe that shareholders are broadly capable of making decisions in their own best interests. We expect any so-called 'shareholder rights plans' proposed by a board to be subject to shareholder approval upon introduction and periodically thereafter for continuation.

#### Compensation and benefits
BlackRock expects a company's board of directors to put in place a compensation structure that incentivizes and rewards executives appropriately and is aligned with shareholder interests, particularly generating sustainable long-term shareholder returns. We would expect the compensation committee to take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the key individuals the board is trying to incentivize. We encourage companies to ensure that their compensation plans incorporate appropriate and challenging performance conditions consistent with corporate strategy and market practice. We use third party research, in addition to our own analysis, to evaluate existing and proposed compensation structures. We hold members of the compensation committee or equivalent board members accountable for poor compensation practices or structures.

BlackRock believes that there should be a clear link between variable pay and company performance that drives shareholder returns. We are not supportive of one-off or special bonuses unrelated to company or individual performance. We acknowledge that the use of peer group evaluation by compensation committees can help ensure competitive pay; however, we are concerned when increases in total compensation at a company are justified solely on peer benchmarking rather than outperformance. We support incentive plans that foster the sustainable achievement of results relative to competitors. The vesting timeframes associated with incentive plans should facilitate a focus on long -term value creation. We believe consideration should be given to building claw back provisions into incentive plans such that executives would be required to forgo rewards when they are not justified by actual performance. Compensation committees should guard against contractual arrangements that would entitle executives to material compensation for early termination of their contract. Finally, pension contributions and other deferred compensation arrangements should be reasonable in light of market practice.

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Non-executive directors should be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the time and effort expended in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. Additionally, these compensation arrangements should not risk compromising their independence or aligning their interests too closely with those of the management, whom they are charged with overseeing.

#### Environmental and social issues
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well -managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses.

Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate -related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry -specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification processes in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors.

In deciding our course of action, we will assess the company's disclosures and the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social or political judgments on behalf of clients. Our consideration of these E&S factors is consistent with protecting the long-term economic interest of our clients' assets. We expect investee companies to comply,

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at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where local laws or regulations that significantly impact the company's operations are contradictory or ambiguous to global norms.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long - term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate -related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections
BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to timely and detailed information on the financial performance and viability of the companies in which they invest. In addition, companies should also publish information on the governance structures in place and the rights of shareholders to influence these. The reporting and disclosure provided by companies help shareholders assess whether their economic interests have been protected and the quality of the board's oversight of management. We believe shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including changes to governance mechanisms, to submit proposals to the shareholders' meeting and to call special meetings of shareholders.

#### BLACKROCK'S OVERSIGHT OF ITS INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES

#### Oversight
We hold ourselves to a very high standard in our investment stewardship activities, including proxy voting. This function is executed by a team called BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") which is comprised of BlackRock employees who do not have other responsibilities other than their roles in BIS. BIS is considered an investment function. The team does not have sales responsibilities.

BlackRock maintains three regional advisory committees ("Stewardship Advisory Committees") for (a) the Americas; (b) Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); and (c) Asia-Pacific, generally consisting of senior BlackRock investment professionals and/or senior employees with practical boardroom experience. The regional Stewardship Advisory Committees review and advise on amendments to the proxy voting guidelines covering markets within each respective region ("Guidelines").

In addition to the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees, the Investment Stewardship Global Oversight Committee ("Global Committee") is a risk-focused committee, comprised of senior representatives from various BlackRock investment teams, BlackRock's Deputy General Counsel, the Global Head of Investment Stewardship ("Global Head"), and other senior executives with relevant experience and team oversight.

The Global Head has primary oversight of the activities of BIS, including voting in accordance with the Guidelines, which require the application of professional judgment and consideration of each company's unique circumstances. The Global Committee reviews and approves amendments to these Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles. The Global

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Committee also reviews and approves amendments to the regional Guidelines, as proposed by the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees.

In addition, the Global Committee receives and reviews periodic reports regarding the votes cast by BIS, as well as regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other risk oversight considerations. The Global Committee reviews these reports in an oversight capacity as informed by the BIS corporate governance engagement program and Guidelines.

BIS carries out engagement with companies, monitors and executes proxy votes, and conducts vote operations (including maintaining records of votes cast) in a manner consistent with the relevant Guidelines. BIS also conducts research on corporate governance issues and participates in industry discussions to keep abreast of important developments in the corporate governance field. BIS may utilize third parties for certain of the foregoing activities and performs oversight of those third parties. BIS may raise complicated or particularly controversial matters for internal discussion with the relevant investment teams and/or refer such matters to the appropriate regional Stewardship Advisory Committees for review, discussion and guidance prior to making a voting decision.

#### Vote execution
We carefully consider proxies submitted to funds and other fiduciary account(s) ("Fund" or "Funds") for which we have voting authority. BlackRock votes (or refrains from voting) proxies for each Fund for which we have voting authority based on our evaluation of the best long-term economic interests of shareholders, in the exercise of our independent business judgment, and without regard to the relationship of the issuer of the proxy (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) to the Fund, the Fund's affiliates (if any), BlackRock or BlackRock's affiliates, or BlackRock employees (see "Conflicts management policies and procedures", below).

When exercising voting rights, BlackRock will normally vote on specific proxy issues in accordance with the Guidelines for the relevant market. The Guidelines are reviewed regularly and are amended consistent with changes in the local market practice, as developments in corporate governance occur, or as otherwise deemed advisable by BlackRock's Stewardship Advisory Committees. BIS may, in the exercise of their professional judgment, conclude that the Guidelines do not cover the specific matter upon which a proxy vote is required or that an exception to the Guidelines would be in the best long - term economic interests of BlackRock's clients.

In the uncommon circumstance of there being a vote with respect to fixed income securities or the securities of privately held issuers, the decision generally will be made by a Fund's portfolio managers and/or BIS based on their assessment of the particular transactions or other matters at issue.

In certain markets, proxy voting involves logistical issues which can affect BlackRock's ability to vote such proxies, as well as the desirability of voting such proxies. These issues include but are not limited to: (i) untimely notice of shareholder meetings; (ii) restrictions on a foreigner's ability to exercise votes; (iii) requirements to vote proxies in person; (iv) "share- blocking" (requirements that investors who exercise their voting rights surrender the right to dispose of their holdings for some specified period in proximity to the shareholder meeting); (v) potential difficulties in translating the proxy; (vi) regulatory constraints; and (vii) requirements to provide local agents with unrestricted powers of attorney to facilitate voting instructions. We are not supportive of impediments to the exercise of voting rights such as share-blocking or overly burdensome administrative requirements.

As a consequence, BlackRock votes proxies on a "best-efforts" basis. In addition, BIS may determine that it is generally in the best interests of BlackRock's clients not to vote proxies if the costs (including but not limited to opportunity costs associated with share-blocking constraints) associated with exercising a vote are expected to outweigh the benefit the client would derive by voting on the proposal.

Portfolio managers have full discretion to vote the shares in the Funds they manage based on their analysis of the economic impact of a particular ballot item. Portfolio managers may from time to time reach differing views on how best to maximize economic value with respect to a particular investment. Therefore, portfolio managers may, and sometimes do, vote shares in the Funds under their management differently from one another. However, because BlackRock's clients are mostly long-term investors with long-term economic goals, ballots are frequently cast in a uniform manner.

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#### Conflicts management policies and procedures
BIS maintains the following policies and procedures that seek to prevent undue influence on BlackRock's proxy voting activity. Such influence might stem from any relationship between the investee company (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) and BlackRock, BlackRock's affiliates, a Fund or a Fund's affiliates, or BlackRock employees. The following are examples of sources of perceived or potential conflicts of interest:

• BlackRock clients who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock business partners or third parties who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock employees who may sit on the boards of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Significant BlackRock, Inc. investors who may be issuers of securities held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Securities of BlackRock, Inc. or BlackRock investment funds held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• BlackRock, Inc. board members who serve as senior executives of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

BlackRock has taken certain steps to mitigate perceived or potential conflicts including, but not limited to, the following:

• Adopted the Guidelines which are designed to protect and enhance the economic value of the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

• Established a reporting structure that separates BIS from employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles. In addition, BlackRock seeks to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers, dissident shareholders or shareholder proponents are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock's relationship with such parties. Clients or business partners are not given special treatment or differentiated access to BIS. BIS prioritizes engagements based on factors including but not limited to our need for additional information to make a voting decision or our view on the likelihood that an engagement could lead to positive outcome(s) over time for the economic value of the company. Within the normal course of business, BIS may engage directly with BlackRock clients, business partners and/or third parties, and/or with employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles, in discussions regarding our approach to stewardship, general corporate governance matters, client reporting needs, and/or to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met.

• Determined to engage, in certain instances, an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, or as may be otherwise required by applicable law. In such circumstances, the independent fiduciary provides BlackRock's proxy voting agent with instructions, in accordance with the Guidelines, as to how to vote such proxies, and BlackRock's proxy voting agent votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary's determination. BlackRock uses an independent fiduciary to vote proxies of (i) any company that is affiliated with BlackRock, Inc., (ii) any public company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors, (iii) The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (iv) any public company of which a BlackRock, Inc. board member serves as a senior executive, and (v) companies when legal or regulatory requirements compel BlackRock to use an independent fiduciary. In selecting an independent fiduciary, we assess several characteristics, including but not limited to: independence, an ability to analyze proxy issues and vote in the best economic interest of our clients, reputation for reliability and integrity, and operational capacity to accurately deliver the assigned votes in a timely manner. We may engage more than one independent fiduciary, in part in order to mitigate potential or perceived conflicts of interest at an independent fiduciary. The Global Committee appoints and reviews the performance of the independent fiduciar(ies), generally on an annual basis.

When so authorized, BlackRock acts as a securities lending agent on behalf of Funds. With regard to the relationship between securities lending and proxy voting, BlackRock's approach is driven by our clients' economic interests. The decision whether to recall securities on loan to vote is based on a formal analysis of the revenue producing value to clients of loans, against the assessed economic value of casting votes. Generally, we expect that the likely economic value to clients of casting votes would be less than the securities lending income, either because, in our assessment, the resolutions being voted on will not have significant economic consequences or because the outcome would not be affected by BlackRock recalling loaned securities in order to vote. BlackRock also may, in our discretion, determine that the value of voting outweighs the cost of recalling shares, and thus recall shares to vote in that instance.

Periodically, BlackRock reviews our process for determining whether to recall securities on loan in order to vote and may modify it as necessary.

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#### Voting guidelines
The issue-specific Guidelines published for each region/country in which we vote are intended to summarize BlackRock's general philosophy and approach to issues that may commonly arise in the proxy voting context in each market where we invest. These Guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. BIS applies the Guidelines on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the individual circumstances of each company and the specific issue under review. As such, these Guidelines do not indicate how BIS will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots.

#### Reporting and vote transparency
We inform clients about our engagement and voting policies and activities through direct communication and through disclosure on our website. Each year we publish an annual report, an annual engagement and voting statistics report, and our full voting record to our website. On a quarterly basis, we publish regional reports which provide an overview of our investment stewardship engagement and voting activities during the quarter, including market developments, speaking engagements, and engagement and voting statistics. Additionally, we make public our market-specific voting guidelines for the benefit of clients and companies with whom we engage.

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## Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities

#### January 2020

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Introduction | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Voting guidelines | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Boards and directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Independence | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Responsiveness to shareholders | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Shareholder rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board composition and effectiveness | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board size | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Classified board of directors / staggered terms | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Contested director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Cumulative voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director compensation and equity programs | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Majority vote requirements | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Risk oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Separation of chairman and CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Auditors and audit-related issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Capital structure proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equal voting rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Blank check preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase in authorized common shares | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase or issuance of preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Stock splits | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Poison pill plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Executive Compensation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay") | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Claw back proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Employee stock purchase plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equity compensation plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Golden parachutes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Option exchanges | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Pay-for-Performance plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Supplemental executive retirement plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| Environmental and social issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Climate risk | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Corporate political activities | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| General corporate governance matters | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Bundled proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Exclusive forum provisions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Multi-jurisdictional companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Other business | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reincorporation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- IPO governance | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Shareholder Protections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Proxy access | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to act by written consent | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to call a special meeting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Simple majority voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |

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These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the BlackRock Investment Stewardship Global Corporate Governance Guidelines & Engagement Principles (See Appendix A2 of this SAI).

#### INTRODUCTION
BlackRock, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "BlackRock") seek to make proxy voting decisions in the manner most likely to protect and enhance the economic value of the securities held in client accounts. The following issue-specific proxy voting guidelines (the "Guidelines") are intended to summarize BlackRock Investment Stewardship's general philosophy and approach to corporate governance issues that most commonly arise in proxy voting for U.S. securities. These Guidelines are not intended to limit the analysis of individual issues at specific companies and are not intended to provide a guide to how BlackRock will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots, as well as our expectations of boards of directors. They are applied with discretion, taking into consideration the range of issues and facts specific to the company and the individual ballot item.

#### VOTING GUIDELINES
These guidelines are divided into eight key themes which group together the issues that frequently appear on the agenda of annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders:

• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure

• Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions

• Executive compensation

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters

• Shareholder protections

#### BOARDS AND DIRECTORS

#### Director elections
In general, BlackRock supports the election of directors as recommended by the board in uncontested elections. However, we believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held account able. We may withhold votes from directors or members of particular board committees in certain situations, as indicated below.

#### Independence
We expect a majority of the directors on the board to be independent. In addition, all members of key committees, including audit, compensation, and nominating / governance committees, should be independent. Our view of independence may vary slightly from listing standards.

In particular, common impediments to independence in the U.S. may include:

• Employment as a senior executive by the company or a subsidiary within the past five years

• An equity ownership in the company in excess of 20%

• Having any other interest, business, or relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

We may vote against directors serving on key committees that we do not consider to be independent.

When evaluating controlled companies, as defined by the U.S. stock exchanges, we will only vote against insiders or affiliates who sit on the audit committee, but not other key committees.

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#### Oversight
We expect the board to exercise appropriate oversight over management and business activities of the company. We will consider voting against committee members and / or individual directors in the following circumstances:

• Where the board has failed to exercise oversight with regard to accounting practices or audit oversight, we will consider voting against the current audit committee, and any other members of the board who may be responsible. For example, this may apply to members of the audit committee during a period when the board failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing if substantial accounting irregularities suggest insufficient oversight by that committee

• Members of the compensation committee during a period in which executive compensation appears excessive relative to performance and peers, and where we believe the compensation committee has not already substantially addressed this issue

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where the board is not comprised of a majority of independent directors. However, this would not apply in the case of a controlled company

• Where it appears the director has acted (at the company or at other companies) in a manner that compromises his / her reliability to represent the best long-term economic interests of shareholders

• Where a director has a pattern of poor attendance at combined board and applicable key committee meetings. Excluding exigent circumstances, BlackRock generally considers attendance at less than 75% of the combined board and applicable key committee meetings by a board member to be poor attendance

• Where a director serves on an excess number of boards, which may limit his / her capacity to focus on each board's requirements. The following illustrates the maximum number of boards on which a director may serve, before he / she is considered to be over-committed:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Public<br> Company CEO** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**# Outside<br> Public Boards\*** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total # of<br> Public Boards** |
| Director A | &nbsp;&nbsp;x | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| Director B |  | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |

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\* In addition to the company under review

#### Responsiveness to shareholders
We expect a board to be engaged and responsive to its shareholders. Where we believe a board has not substantially addressed shareholder concerns, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

• The independent chair or lead independent director, members of the nominating / governance committee, and / or the longest tenured director(s), where we observe a lack of board responsiveness to shareholders, evidence of board entrenchment, and / or failure to promote adequate board succession planning

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where board member(s) at the most recent election of directors have received withhold votes from more than 30% of shares voted and the board has not taken appropriate action to respond to shareholder concerns. This may not apply in cases where BlackRock did not support the initial withhold vote

• The independent chair or lead independent director and / or members of the nominating / governance committee, where a board fails to implement shareholder proposals that receive a majority of votes cast at a prior shareholder meeting, and the proposals, in our view, have a direct and substantial impact on shareholders' fundamental rights or long-term economic interests

#### Shareholder rights
We expect a board to act with integrity and to uphold governance best practices. Where we believe a board has not acted in the best interests of its shareholders, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

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• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board implements or renews a poison pill without shareholder approval

• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board amends the charter / articles / bylaws such that the effect may be to entrench directors or to significantly reduce shareholder rights

• Members of the compensation committee where the company has repriced options without shareholder approval

• If a board maintains a classified structure, it is possible that the director(s) with whom we have a particular concern may not be subject to election in the year that the concern arises. In such situations, if we have a concern regarding a committee or committee chair that is not up for re-election, we will generally register our concern by withholding votes from all available members of the relevant committee

#### Board composition and effectiveness
We encourage boards to periodically renew their membership to ensure relevant skills and experience within the boardroom. To this end, regular performance reviews and skills assessments should be conducted by the nominating / governance committee.

Furthermore, we expect boards to be comprised of a diverse selection of individuals who bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in order to create a constructive debate of competing views and opinions in the boardroom. We recognize that diversity has multiple dimensions. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the full breadth of diversity including personal factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. In addition to other elements of diversity, we encourage companies to have at least two women directors on their board. Our publicly available <u>commentary</u> explains our approach to engaging on board diversity.

We encourage boards to disclose their views on:

• The mix of competencies, experience, and other qualities required to effectively oversee and guide management in light of the stated long-term strategy of the company

• The process by which candidates are identified and selected, including whether professional firms or other sources outside of incumbent directors' networks have been engaged to identify and / or assess candidates

• The process by which boards evaluate themselves and any significant outcomes of the evaluation process, without divulging inappropriate and / or sensitive details

• The consideration given to board diversity, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnicity, race, age, experience, geographic location, skills, and perspective in the nomination process

While we support regular board refreshment, we are not opposed in principle to long-tenured directors, nor do we believe that long board tenure is necessarily an impediment to director independence. A variety of director tenures within the boardroom can be beneficial to ensure board quality and continuity of experience.

Our primary concern is that board members are able to contribute effectively as corporate strategy evolves and business conditions change, and that all directors, regardless of tenure, demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to shareholders. We acknowledge that no single person can be expected to bring all relevant skill sets to a board; at the same time, we generally do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to have any particular director on the board solely by virtue of a singular background or specific area of expertise.

Where boards find that age limits or term limits are the most efficient and objective mechanism for ensuring periodic board refreshment, we generally defer to the board's determination in setting such limits.

To the extent that we believe that a company has not adequately accounted for diversity in its board composition within a reasonable timeframe, we may vote against the nominating / governance committee for an apparent lack of commitment to board effectiveness.

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#### Board size
We typically defer to the board in setting the appropriate size and believe directors are generally in the best position to assess the optimal board size to ensure effectiveness. However, we may oppose boards that appear too small to allow for effective shareholder representation or too large to function efficiently.

#### CEO and management succession planning
There should be a robust CEO and senior management succession plan in place at the board level that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. We expect succession planning to cover both long-term planning consistent with the strategic direction of the company and identified leadership needs over time, as well as short-term planning in the event of an unanticipated executive departure. We encourage the company to explain its executive succession planning process, including where accountability lies within the boardroom for this task, without prematurely divulging sensitive information commonly associated with this exercise.

#### Classified board of directors / staggered terms
We believe that directors should be re-elected annually and that classification of the board generally limits shareholders' rights to regularly evaluate a board's performance and select directors. While we will typically support proposals requesting board de-classification, we may make exceptions, should the board articulate an appropriate strategic rationale for a classified board structure, such as when a company needs consistency and stability during a time of transition, e.g. newly public companies or companies undergoing a strategic restructuring. A classified board structure may also be justified at non-operating companies in certain circumstances. We would, however, expect boards with a classified structure to periodically review the rationale for such structure and consider when annual elections might be appropriate.

Without a voting mechanism to immediately address concerns of a specific director, we may choose to vote against or withhold votes from the available slate of directors by default (see "Shareholder rights" for additional detail).

#### Contested director elections
The details of contested elections, or proxy contests, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We evaluate a number of factors, which may include: the qualifications of the dissident and management candidates; the validity of the concerns identified by the dissident; the viability of both the dissident's and management's plans; the likelihood that the dissident's solutions will produce the desired change; and whether the dissident represents the best option for enhancing long-term shareholder value.

#### Cumulative voting
We believe that a majority vote standard is in the best long-term interest of shareholders. It ensures director accountability via the requirement to be elected by more than half of the votes cast. As such, we will generally oppose proposals requesting the adoption of cumulative voting, which may disproportionately aggregate votes on certain issues or director candidates.

#### Director compensation and equity programs
We believe that compensation for directors should be structured to attract and retain the best possible directors, while also aligning their interests with those of shareholders. We believe director compensation packages that are based on the company's long-term value creation and include some form of long-term equity compensation are more likely to meet this goal. In addition, we expect directors to build meaningful share ownership over time.

#### Majority vote requirements
BlackRock believes that directors should generally be elected by a majority of the shares voted and will normally support proposals seeking to introduce bylaws requiring a majority vote standard for director elections. Majority voting standards assist in ensuring that directors who are not broadly supported by shareholders are not elected to serve as their representatives. Some companies with a plurality voting standard have adopted a resignation policy for directors who do not receive support from at least a majority of votes cast. Where we believe that the company already has a sufficiently robust majority voting process in place, we may not support a shareholder proposal seeking an alternative mechanism.

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#### Risk oversight
Companies should have an established process for identifying, monitoring, and managing key risks. Independent directors should have ready access to relevant management information and outside advice, as appropriate, to ensure they can properly oversee risk management. We encourage companies to provide transparency around risk measurement, mitigation, and reporting to the board. We are particularly interested in understanding how risk oversight processes evolve in response to changes in corporate strategy and / or shifts in the business and related risk environment. Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

#### Separation of chairman and CEO
We believe that independent leadership is important in the boardroom. In the U.S. there are two commonly accepted structures for independent board leadership: 1) an independent chairman; or 2) a lead independent director when the roles of chairman and CEO are combined.

In the absence of a significant governance concern, we defer to boards to designate the most appropriate leadership structure to ensure adequate balance and independence.

In the event that the board chooses a combined chair / CEO model, we generally support the designation of a lead independent director if they have the power to: 1) provide formal input into board meeting agendas; 2) call meetings of the independent directors; and 3) preside at meetings of independent directors. Furthermore, while we anticipate that most directors will be elected annually, we believe an element of continuity is important for this role for an extended period of time to provide appropriate leadership balance to the chair / CEO.

The following table illustrates examples of responsibilities under each board leadership model:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Separate<br> Chair Model** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair / CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair |
| Board Meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;Attends full meetings of the board of directors<br> Authority to call meetings of independent directors<br> Briefs CEO on issues arising from executive sessions | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors |
| Agenda | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, consulting with the lead director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Collaborates with chair / CEO to set board agenda and board information | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, in conjunction with CEO |
| Board Communications | &nbsp;&nbsp;Communicates with all directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning |

---

#### AUDITORS AND AUDIT-RELATED ISSUES
BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements to provide a complete and accurate portrayal of a company's financial condition. Consistent with our approach to voting on boards of directors, we seek to hold the audit committee of the board responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function at a company, and may withhold votes from the audit committee members where the board has failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing. We look to

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the audit committee report for insight into the scope of the audit committee responsibilities, including an overview of audit committee processes, issues on the audit committee agenda, and key decisions taken by the audit committee. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or material weakness disclosures, and we expect timely disclosure and remediation of accounting irregularities.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor effectively fulfilling its role. To that end, we favor an independent auditor. In addition, to the extent that an auditor fails to reasonably identify and address issues that eventually lead to a significant financial restatement, or the audit firm has violated standards of practice that protect the interests of shareholders, we may also vote against ratification.

From time to time, shareholder proposals may be presented to promote auditor independence or the rotation of audit firms. We may support these proposals when they are consistent with our views as described above.

#### CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROPOSALS

#### Equal voting rights
BlackRock believes that shareholders should be entitled to voting rights in proportion to their economic interests. We believe that companies that look to add or already have dual or multiple class share structures should review these structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Companies should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal on the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

#### Blank check preferred stock
We frequently oppose proposals requesting authorization of a class of preferred stock with unspecified voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights ("blank check" preferred stock) because they may serve as a transfer of authority from shareholders to the board and as a possible entrenchment device. We generally view the board's discretion to establish voting rights on a when-issued basis as a potential anti-takeover device, as it affords the board the ability to place a block of stock with an investor sympathetic to management, thereby foiling a takeover bid without a shareholder vote.

Nonetheless, we may support the proposal where the company:

• Appears to have a legitimate financing motive for requesting blank check authority

• Has committed publicly that blank check preferred shares will not be used for anti-takeover purposes

• Has a history of using blank check preferred stock for financings

• Has blank check preferred stock previously outstanding such that an increase would not necessarily provide further anti-takeover protection but may provide greater financing flexibility

#### Increase in authorized common shares
BlackRock considers industry-specific norms in our analysis of these proposals, as well as a company's history with respect to the use of its common shares. Generally, we are predisposed to support a company if the board believes additional common shares are necessary to carry out the firm's business. The most substantial concern we might have with an increase is the possibility of use of common shares to fund a poison pill plan that is not in the economic interests of shareholders.

#### Increase or issuance of preferred stock
We generally support proposals to increase or issue preferred stock in cases where the company specifies the voting, dividend, conversion, and other rights of such stock where the terms of the preferred stock appear reasonable.

#### Stock splits
We generally support stock splits that are not likely to negatively affect the ability to trade shares or the economic value of a share. We generally support reverse stock splits that are designed to avoid delisting or to facilitate trading in the stock, where the reverse split will not have a negative impact on share value (e.g*.* one class is reduced while others remain at pre- split

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levels). In the event of a proposal for a reverse split that would not also proportionately reduce the company's authorized stock, we apply the same analysis we would use for a proposal to increase authorized stock.

#### MERGERS, ASSET SALES, AND OTHER SPECIAL TRANSACTIONS
BlackRock's primary concern is the best long-term economic interests of shareholders. While merger, asset sales, and other special transaction proposals vary widely in scope and substance, we closely examine certain salient features in our analyses, such as:

• The degree to which the proposed transaction represents a premium to the company's trading price. We consider the share price over multiple time periods prior to the date of the merger announcement. In most cases, business combinations should provide a premium. We may consider comparable transaction analyses provided by the parties' financial advisors and our own valuation assessments. For companies facing insolvency or bankruptcy, a premium may not apply

• There should be clear strategic, operational, and / or financial rationale for the combination

• Unanimous board approval and arm's-length negotiations are preferred. We will consider whether the transaction involves a dissenting board or does not appear to be the result of an arm's-length bidding process. We may also consider whether executive and / or board members' financial interests in a given transaction appear likely to affect their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own

• We prefer transaction proposals that include the fairness opinion of a reputable financial advisor assessing the value of the transaction to shareholders in comparison to recent similar transactions

#### Poison pill plans
Where a poison pill is put to a shareholder vote by management, our policy is to examine these plans individually. Although we oppose most plans, we may support plans that include a reasonable "qualifying offer clause." Such clauses typically require shareholder ratification of the pill and stipulate a sunset provision whereby the pill expires unless it is renewed.

These clauses also tend to specify that an all cash bid for all shares that includes a fairness opinion and evidence of financing does not trigger the pill, but forces either a special meeting at which the offer is put to a shareholder vote, or the board to seek the written consent of shareholders where shareholders could rescind the pill at their discretion. We may also support a pill where it is the only effective method for protecting tax or other economic benefits that may be associated with limiting the ownership changes of individual shareholders.

We generally vote in favor of shareholder proposals to rescind poison pills.

#### Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns
We generally do not support shareholder proposals seeking the reimbursement of proxy contest expenses, even in situations where we support the shareholder campaign. We believe that introducing the possibility of such reimbursement may incentivize disruptive and unnecessary shareholder campaigns.

#### EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
We note that there are both management and shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. We generally vote on these proposals as described below, except that we typically oppose shareholder proposals on issues where the company already has a reasonable policy in place that we believe is sufficient to address the issue. We may also oppose a shareholder proposal regarding executive compensation if the company's history suggests that the issue raised is not likely to present a problem for that company.

#### Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay")
In cases where there is a Say on Pay vote, BlackRock will respond to the proposal as informed by our evaluation of compensation practices at that particular company and in a manner that appropriately addresses the specific question posed to shareholders. In a commentary on our website, entitled "<u>BlackRock Investment Stewardship's approach to executive compensation</u>," we explain our beliefs and expectations related to executive compensation practices, our Say on Pay analysis framework, and our typical approach to engagement and voting on Say on Pay.

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#### Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions
BlackRock will generally support triennial pay frequency votes, but we defer to the board to determine the appropriate timeframe upon which pay should be reviewed. In evaluating pay, we believe that the compensation committee is responsible for constructing a plan that appropriately incentivizes executives for long-term value creation, utilizing relevant metrics and structure to ensure overall pay and performance alignment. In a similar vein, we defer to the board to establish the most appropriate timeframe for review of pay structure, absent a change in strategy that would suggest otherwise.

However, we may support an annual pay frequency vote in some situations, for example, where we conclude that a company has failed to align pay with performance. In these circumstances, we will also consider voting against the compensation committee members.

#### Claw back proposals
We generally favor recoupment from any senior executive whose compensation was based on faulty financial reporting or deceptive business practices. In addition to fraudulent acts, we also favor recoupment from any senior executive whose behavior caused direct financial harm to shareholders, reputational risk to the company, or resulted in a criminal investigation, even if such actions did not ultimately result in a material restatement of past results. This includes, but is not limited to, settlement agreements arising from such behavior and paid for directly by the company. We typically support shareholder proposals on these matters unless the company already has a robust claw back policy that sufficiently addresses our concerns.

#### Employee stock purchase plans
We believe these plans can provide performance incentives and help align employees' interests with those of shareholders. The most common form of employee stock purchase plan ("ESPP") qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. We will typically support qualified ESPP proposals.

#### Equity compensation plans
BlackRock supports equity plans that align the economic interests of directors, managers, and other employees with those of shareholders. We believe that boards should establish policies prohibiting the use of equity awards in a manner that could disrupt the intended alignment with shareholder interests (e.g. the use of stock as collateral for a loan; the use of stock in a margin account; the use of stock or an unvested award in hedging or derivative transactions). We may support shareholder proposals requesting the establishment of such policies.

Our evaluation of equity compensation plans is based on a company's executive pay and performance relative to peers and whether the plan plays a significant role in a pay-for-performance disconnect. We generally oppose plans that contain "evergreen" provisions, which allow for the unlimited increase of shares reserved without requiring further shareholder approval after a reasonable time period. We also generally oppose plans that allow for repricing without shareholder approval. We may also oppose plans that provide for the acceleration of vesting of equity awards even in situations where an actual change of control may not occur. We encourage companies to structure their change of control provisions to require the termination of the covered employee before acceleration or special payments are triggered.

#### Golden parachutes
We generally view golden parachutes as encouragement to management to consider transactions that might be beneficial to shareholders. However, a large potential pay-out under a golden parachute arrangement also presents the risk of motivating a management team to support a sub-optimal sale price for a company. When determining whether to support or oppose an advisory vote on a golden parachute plan, we normally support the plan unless it appears to result in payments that are excessive or detrimental to shareholders. In evaluating golden parachute plans, BlackRock may consider several factors, including:

• Whether we believe that the triggering event is in the best interest of shareholders

• Whether management attempted to maximize shareholder value in the triggering event

• The percentage of total premium or transaction value that will be transferred to the management team, rather than shareholders, as a result of the golden parachute payment

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• Whether excessively large excise tax gross-up payments are part of the pay-out

• Whether the pay package that serves as the basis for calculating the golden parachute payment was reasonable in light of performance and peers

• Whether the golden parachute payment will have the effect of rewarding a management team that has failed to effectively manage the company

It may be difficult to anticipate the results of a plan until after it has been triggered; as a result, BlackRock may vote against a golden parachute proposal even if the golden parachute plan under review was approved by shareholders when it was implemented.

We may support shareholder proposals requesting that implementation of such arrangements require shareholder approval. We generally support proposals requiring shareholder approval of plans that exceed 2.99 times an executive's current salary and bonus, including equity compensation.

#### Option exchanges
We believe that there may be legitimate instances where underwater options create an overhang on a company's capital structure and a repricing or option exchange may be warranted. We will evaluate these instances on a case-by-case basis. BlackRock may support a request to reprice or exchange underwater options under the following circumstances:

• The company has experienced significant stock price decline as a result of macroeconomic trends, not individual company performance

• Directors and executive officers are excluded; the exchange is value neutral or value creative to shareholders; tax, accounting, and other technical considerations have been fully contemplated

• There is clear evidence that absent repricing, the company will suffer serious employee incentive or retention and recruiting problems

BlackRock may also support a request to exchange underwater options in other circumstances, if we determine that the exchange is in the best interest of shareholders.

#### Pay-for-Performance plans
In order for executive compensation exceeding $1 million USD to qualify for federal tax deductions, related to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ("OBRA") requires companies to link compensation for the company's top five executives to disclosed performance goals and submit the plans for shareholder approval. The law further requires that a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors administer these plans. Because the primary objective of these proposals is to preserve the deductibility of such compensation, we generally favor approval in order to preserve net income.

#### Supplemental executive retirement plans
BlackRock may support shareholder proposals requesting to put extraordinary benefits contained in Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans ("SERP") agreements to a shareholder vote unless the company's executive pension plans do not contain excessive benefits beyond what is offered under employee-wide plans.

#### ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well-managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses. Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry-specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an

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overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification process in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

• Publish disclosures in line with industry specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

• Disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors. In deciding our course of action, we will assess the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social, ethical, or political judgments on behalf of clients, but rather, to protect the ir long-term economic interests as shareholders. We expect investee companies to comply, at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where such laws or regulations are contradictory or ambiguous.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long- term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain

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instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### Corporate political activities
Companies may engage in certain political activities, within legal and regulatory limits, in order to influence public policy consistent with the companies' values and strategies, and thus serve shareholders' best long-term economic interests. These activities can create risks, including: the potential for allegations of corruption; the potential for reputational issues associated with a candidate, party, or issue; and risks that arise from the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations associated with corporate political activity. We believe that companies which choose to engage in political activities should develop and maintain robust processes to guide these activities and to mitigate risks, including a level of board oversight.

When presented with shareholder proposals requesting increased disclosure on corporate political activities, we may consider the political activities of that company and its peers, the existing level of disclosure, and our view regarding the associated risks. We generally believe that it is the duty of boards and management to determine the appropriate level of disclosure of all types of corporate activity, and we are generally not supportive of proposals that are overly prescriptive in nature. We may decide to support a shareholder proposal requesting additional reporting of corporate political activities where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or actual harm to shareholders' interests, and where we believe the company has not already provided shareholders with sufficient information to assess the company's management of the risk.

Finally, we believe that it is not the role of shareholders to suggest or approve corporate political activities; therefore we generally do not support proposals requesting a shareholder vote on political activities or expenditures.

#### GENERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MATTERS

#### Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes
We generally support such proposals unless the agenda contains items that we judge to be detrimental to shareholders' best long-term economic interests.

#### Bundled proposals
We believe that shareholders should have the opportunity to review substantial governance changes individually without having to accept bundled proposals. Where several measures are grouped into one proposal, BlackRock may reject certain positive changes when linked with proposals that generally contradict or impede the rights and economic interests of shareholders.

#### Exclusive forum provisions
BlackRock generally supports proposals to seek exclusive forum for certain shareholder litigation. In cases where a board unilaterally adopts exclusive forum provisions that we consider unfavorable to the interests of shareholders, we will vote against the independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee.

#### Multi-jurisdictional companies
Where a company is listed on multiple exchanges or incorporated in a country different from its primary listing, we will seek to apply the most relevant market guideline(s) to our analysis of the company's governance structure and specific proposals on the shareholder meeting agenda. In doing so, we typically consider the governance standards of the company's primary listing, the market standards by which the company governs itself, and the market context of each specific proposal on the agenda. If the relevant standards are silent on the issue under consideration, we will use our professional judgment as to what voting outcome would best protect the long-term economic interests of investors. We expect that companies will disclose the rationale for their selection of primary listing, country of incorporation, and choice of governance structures, in particular where there is conflict between relevant market governance practices.

#### Other business

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We oppose giving companies our proxy to vote on matters where we are not given the opportunity to review and understand those measures and carry out an appropriate level of shareholder oversight.

#### Reincorporation
Proposals to reincorporate from one state or country to another are most frequently motivated by considerations of anti- takeover protections, legal advantages, and / or cost savings. We will evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the economic and strategic rationale behind the company's proposal to reincorporate. In all instances, we will evaluate the changes to shareholder protection under the new charter / articles / bylaws to assess whether the move increases or decreases shareholder protections. Where we find that shareholder protections are diminished, we may support reincorporation if we determine that the overall benefits outweigh the diminished rights.

#### IPO governance
We expect boards to consider and disclose how the corporate governance structures adopted upon initial public offering ("IPO") are in shareholders' best long-term interests. We also expect boards to conduct a regular review of corporate governance and control structures, such that boards might evolve foundational corporate governance structures as company circumstances change, without undue costs and disruption to shareholders. In our <u>letter on unequal voting structures</u>, we articulate our view that "one vote for one share" is the preferred structure for publicly-traded companies. We also recognize the potential benefits of dual class shares to newly public companies as they establish themselves; however, we believe that these structures should have a specific and limited duration. We will generally engage new companies on topics such as classified boards and supermajority vote provisions to amend bylaws, as we believe that such arrangements may not be in the best interest of shareholders in the long-term.

We will typically apply a one-year grace period for the application of certain director-related guidelines (including, but not limited to, director independence and over-boarding considerations), during which we expect boards to take steps to bring corporate governance standards in line with our expectations.

Further, if a company qualifies as an emerging growth company (an "EGC") under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), we will give consideration to the NYSE and NASDAQ governance exemptions granted under the JOBS Act for the duration such a company is categorized as an EGC. We expect an EGC to have a totally independent audit committee by the first anniversary of its IPO, with our standard approach to voting on auditors and audit-related issues applicable in full for an EGC on the first anniversary of its IPO.

#### SHAREHOLDER PROTECTIONS

#### Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws
We believe that shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including on changes to governance mechanisms and amendments to the charter / articles / bylaws. We may vote against certain directors where changes to governing documents are not put to a shareholder vote within a reasonable period of time, in particular if those changes have the potential to impact shareholder rights (see "Director elections" herein). In cases where a board's unilateral adoption of changes to the charter / articles / bylaws promotes cost and operational efficiency benefits for the company and its shareholders, we may support such action if it does not have a negative effect on shareholder rights or the company's corporate governance structure.

When voting on a management or shareholder proposal to make changes to the charter / articles / bylaws, we will consider in part the company's and / or proponent's publicly stated rationale for the changes, the company's governance profile and history, relevant jurisdictional laws, and situational or contextual circumstances which may have motivated the proposed changes, among other factors. We will typically support changes to the charter / articles / bylaws where the benefits to shareholders, including the costs of failing to make those changes, demonstrably outweigh the costs or risks of making such changes.

#### Proxy access
We believe that long-term shareholders should have the opportunity, when necessary and under reasonable conditions, to nominate directors on the company's proxy card.

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In our view, securing the right of shareholders to nominate directors without engaging in a control contest can enhance shareholders' ability to meaningfully participate in the director election process, stimulate board attention to shareholder interests, and provide shareholders an effective means of directing that attention where it is lacking. Proxy access mechanisms should provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to use this right without stipulating overly restrictive or onerous parameters for use, and also provide assurances that the mechanism will not be subject to abuse by short-term investors, investors without a substantial investment in the company, or investors seeking to take control of the board.

In general, we support market-standardized proxy access proposals, which allow a shareholder (or group of up to 20 shareholders) holding three percent of a company's outstanding shares for at least three years the right to nominate the greater of up to two directors or 20% of the board. Where a standardized proxy access provision exists, we will generally oppose shareholder proposals requesting outlier thresholds.

#### Right to act by written consent
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to solicit votes by written consent provided that: 1) there are reasonable requirements to initiate the consent solicitation process (in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests); and 2) shareholders receive a minimum of 50% of outstanding shares to effectuate the action by written consent. We may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others, or if the proposal is written to discourage the board from incorporating appropriate mechanisms to avoid the waste of corporate resources when establishing a right to act by written consent. Additionally, we may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent if the company already provides a shareholder right to call a special meeting that we believe offers shareholders a reasonable opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting.

#### Right to call a special meeting
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to call a special meeting in cases where a reasonably high proportion of shareholders (typically a minimum of 15% but no higher than 25%) are required to agree to such a meeting before it is called, in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests. However, we may oppose this right in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others. We generally believe that a right to act via written consent is not a sufficient alternative to the right to call a special meeting.

#### Simple majority voting
We generally favor a simple majority voting requirement to pass proposals. Therefore, we will support the reduction or the elimination of supermajority voting requirements to the extent that we determine shareholders' ability to protect their economic interests is improved. Nonetheless, in situations where there is a substantial or dominant shareholder, supermajority voting may be protective of public shareholder interests and we may support supermajority requirements in those situations.

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## Appendix B – Description of Fixed-Income Ratings
A rating is generally assigned to a fixed-income security at the time of issuance by a credit rating agency designated as a NRSRO by the SEC. While NRSROs may from time to time revise such ratings, they undertake no obligation to do so, and the ratings given to securities at issuance do not necessarily represent ratings which would be given to these securities on a particular subsequent date.

NRSROs may rate specific investments (*e.g.*, bonds), issuers (*e.g.*, corporations, governments and financial institutions) and/or programs (*e.g.*, commercial paper programs). However, certain types of investments may not be rated by NRSROs, such as certain government/sovereign obligations, US agency securities, commercial paper, time deposits at financial institutions, and derivative instruments such as credit default swaps. For these types of investments, as well as US Treasury securities (some of which are not rated), where a NRSRO has not rated the specific investment but has rated the investment's issuer, program, financial institution or underlying reference asset, BFA may consider the investment to have the same NRSRO rating as its issuer, program, financial institution or underlying reference asset, as applicable. In the case of municipal securities, where one NRSRO provides multiple ratings for the same security (*e.g.*, "underlying," "insured" and/or "enhanced" ratings), BFA may consider the security to have the highest of the multiple ratings.

New issue securities (regardless of type) may not be rated by a NRSRO at the time of their initial offering. Preliminary prospectuses or term sheets for new issue securities may include an expected rating for the security (as determined by the underwriter and/or issuer) or a NRSRO rating for the issuer of the security. If applicable, when deciding whether to purchase a new issue security that has not yet been rated by a NRSRO, BFA may attribute an expected rating to the security based on: (i) the expected rating of the security set forth in the preliminary prospectus or term sheet for the security; (ii) the NRSRO's rating for the issuer of the security set forth in the preliminary prospectus or term sheet for the security; or (iii) with respect to asset-backed securities, the rating of a prior issuance having a similar structure or the same sponsor.

Where the investment objective of a Fund is to track the performance of an index that includes credit ratings eligibility criteria as part of its index methodology, a Fund may purchase any security within the index, such security having been determined by the index provider as meeting its credit ratings eligibility criteria. The credit ratings practices of an index provider may differ from BlackRock's practices, as described above. Further, a Fund may invest, directly or indirectly, in securities that are not rated by a rating agency or securities with a credit rating that differs from the credit rating specified in its index methodology in various circumstances, including where a security is downgraded but not yet removed from an index, following the removal of a security from an index prior to its sale by the Fund or as a result of a corporate action or restructuring affecting an issuer of a security held by a Fund.

Fixed-income securities which are unrated may expose the investor to risks with respect to capacity to pay interest or repay principal which are similar to the risks of lower-rated speculative bonds. Evaluation of these securities is dependent on the investment adviser's judgment, analysis and experience in the evaluation of such securities.

Investors should note that the assignment of a rating to a security by an NRSRO may not reflect the effect of recent developments on the issuer's ability to make interest and principal payments or on the likelihood of default.

Securities deemed to be high yield are rated below Baa3 by Moody's and below BBB- by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch.

The descriptions below relate to general long-term and short-term obligations of an issuer.

#### Moody's Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations

#### Aaa: Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk.

#### Aa: Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.

#### A: Obligations rated A are judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk.

#### Baa: Obligations rated Baa are judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics.

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#### Ba: Obligations rated Ba are judged to be speculative and are subject to substantial credit risk.

#### B: Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk.

#### Caa: Obligations rated Caa are judged to be speculative, of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk.

#### Ca: Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest.

#### C: Obligations rated C are the lowest rated and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest.
**Note: Moody's appends numerical modifiers 1, 2 and 3 in each generic rating classification from Aa through Caa. The modifier 1 indicates that the obligation ranks in the higher end of its generic rating category; the modifier 2 indicates a mid-range ranking; and the modifier 3 indicates a ranking in the lower end of that generic rating category.**

**Absence of Rating: Where no rating has been assigned or where a rating has been withdrawn, it may be for reasons unrelated to the creditworthiness of the issue.**

Should no rating be assigned, the reason may be one of the following:

1. An application was not received or accepted.

2. The issue or issuer belongs to a group of securities or entities that are not rated as a matter of policy.

3. There is a lack of essential data pertaining to the issue or issuer.

4. The issue was privately placed, in which case the rating is not published in Moody's publications.

Withdrawal may occur if new and material circumstances arise, the effects of which preclude satisfactory analysis; if there is no longer available reasonable up-to-date data to permit a judgment to be formed; if a bond is called for redemption; or for other reasons.

#### Short-Term Obligations
Moody's short-term debt ratings are opinions of the ability of issuers to honor short-term financial obligations, generally with an original maturity not exceeding thirteen months.

Moody's employs the following designations to indicate the relative repayment ability of rated issuers:

#### P-1: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-1 have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

#### P-2: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-2 have a strong ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

#### P-3: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-3 have an acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations.

#### NP: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Not Prime do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories.

#### US Municipal Short-Term Debt Obligations
There are three rating categories for short-term municipal obligations that are considered investment-grade and are designated as Municipal Investment Grade (MIG). In addition, those short-term obligations that are of speculative quality are designated SG, or speculative grade. MIG ratings expire at the maturity of the obligation.

**MIG 1: This designation denotes superior credit quality. Excellent protection is afforded by established cash flows, highly reliable liquidity support, or demonstrated broad-based access to the market for refinancing.**

#### MIG 2: This designation denotes strong credit quality. Margins of protection are ample, although not as large as in the preceding group.
**MIG 3: This designation denotes acceptable credit quality. Liquidity and cash-flow protection may be narrow, and market access for refinancing is likely to be less well-established.**

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#### SG: This designation denotes speculative-grade credit quality. Debt instruments in this category may lack sufficient margins of protection.

#### S&P Global Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations
**AAA: An obligation rated AAA has the highest rating assigned by S&P Global Ratings. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is extremely strong.**

**AA: An obligation rated AA differs from the highest-rated obligations only to a small degree. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment is very strong.**

**A: An obligation rated A is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher-rated categories. However, the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is still strong.**

**BBB: An obligation rated BBB exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**BB; B; CCC; CC; and C: Obligations rated BB, B, CCC, CC, and C are regarded as having significant speculative characteristics. BB indicates the least degree of speculation and C the highest. While such obligations will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, these may be outweighed by large uncertainties or major exposures to adverse conditions.**

**BB: An obligation rated BB is less vulnerable to nonpayment than other speculative issues. However, it faces major ongoing uncertainties or exposure to adverse business, financial, or economic conditions which could lead to the obligor's inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**B: An obligation rated B is more vulnerable to nonpayment than obligations rated BB, but the obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. Adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair the obligor's capacity or willingness to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**CCC: An obligation rated CCC is currently vulnerable to nonpayment, and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. In the event of adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, the obligor is not likely to have the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**CC: An obligation rated CC is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment. The CC rating is used when a default has not yet occurred, but S&P Global Ratings expects default to be a virtual certainty, regardless of the anticipated time to default.**

**C: An obligation rated C is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment, and the obligation is expected to have lower relative seniority or lower ultimate recovery compared to obligations that are rated higher.**

**D: An obligation rated D is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the D rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P Global Ratings believes that such payments will be made within five business days in the absence of a stated grace period or within the earlier of the stated grace period or 30 calendar days. The D rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation's rating is lowered to D if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.**

**NR: NR indicates no rating has been requested, or that there is insufficient information on which to base a rating, or that S&P Global Ratings does not rate a particular obligation as a matter of policy.**

**Note: The ratings from AA to CCC may be modified by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (-) sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories.**

#### Short-Term Obligations

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**A-1: A short-term obligation rated A-1 is rated in the highest category by S&P Global Ratings. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is strong. Within this category, certain obligations are designated with a plus sign (+). This indicates that the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on these obligations is extremely strong.**

**A-2: A short-term obligation rated A-2 is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher rating categories. However, the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is satisfactory.**

**A-3: A short-term obligation rated A-3 exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**B: A short-term obligation rated B is regarded as vulnerable and has significant speculative characteristics. The obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitments; however, it faces major ongoing uncertainties which could lead to the obligor's inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitments.**

**C: A short-term obligation rated C is currently vulnerable to nonpayment and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**D: A short-term obligation rated D is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the D rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P Global Ratings believes that such payments will be made within any stated grace period. However, any stated grace period longer than five business days will be treated as five business days. The D rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of a similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation's rating is lowered to D if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.**

#### Municipal Short-Term Obligations
An S&P U.S. municipal note rating reflects S&P Global Ratings opinion about the liquidity factors and market access risks unique to the notes. Notes due in three years or less will likely receive a note rating. Notes with an original maturity of more than three years will most likely receive a long-term debt rating.

**SP-1: Strong capacity to pay principal and interest. An issue determined to possess a very strong capacity to pay debt service is given a plus (+) designation.**

#### SP-2: Satisfactory capacity to pay principal and interest, with some vulnerability to adverse financial and economic changes over the term of the notes.

#### SP-3: Speculative capacity to pay principal and interest.

#### Fitch Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations
**AAA: Highest credit quality. AAA ratings denote the lowest expectation of credit risk. They are assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events.**

**AA: Very high credit quality. AA ratings denote expectations of very low credit risk. They indicate very strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.**

**A: High credit quality. A ratings denote expectations of low credit risk. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered strong. This capacity may, nevertheless, be more vulnerable to adverse business or economic conditions than is the case for higher ratings.**

**BBB: Good credit quality. BBB ratings indicate that expectations of credit risk are currently low. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered adequate but adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair this capacity.**

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**BB: Speculative. BB ratings indicate an elevated vulnerability to credit risk, particularly in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over time; however, business or financial alternatives may be available to allow financial commitments to be met.**

#### B: Highly speculative. B ratings indicate that material credit risk is present.

#### CCC: Substantial credit risk. CCC ratings indicate that substantial credit risk is present.

#### CC: Very high levels of credit risk. CC ratings indicate very high levels of credit risk.

#### C: Exceptionally high levels of credit risk. C indicates exceptionally high levels of credit risk.
Defaulted obligations typically are not assigned RD or D ratings, but are instead rated in the B to C rating categories, depending upon their recovery prospects and other relevant characteristics. This approach better aligns obligations that have comparable overall expected loss but varying vulnerability to default and loss.

*Note: The modifiers "+" or "-" may be appended to a rating to denote relative status within major rating categories. Such suffixes are not added to the AAA obligation rating category, or to corporate finance obligation ratings in the categories below CCC.*

*The subscript 'emr' is appended to a rating to denote embedded market risk which is beyond the scope of the rating. The designation is intended to make clear that the rating solely addresses the counterparty risk of the issuing bank. It is not meant to indicate any limitation in the analysis of the counterparty risk, which in all other respects follows published Fitch criteria for analyzing the issuing financial institution. Fitch does not rate these instruments where the principal is to any degree subject to market risk.*

#### Short-Term Obligations (Corporate and Public Finance)
A short-term issuer or obligation rating is based in all cases on the short-term vulnerability to default of the rated entity or security stream and relates to the capacity to meet financial obligations in accordance with the documentation governing the relevant obligation. Short-Term Ratings are assigned to obligations whose initial maturity is viewed as "short-term" based on market convention. Typically, this means up to 13 months for corporate, sovereign, and structured obligations, and up to 36 months for obligations in U.S. public finance markets.

**F1: Highest short-term credit quality. Indicates the strongest intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments; may have an added "+" to denote any exceptionally strong credit feature.**

#### F2: Good short-term credit quality. Good intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments.

#### F3: Fair short-term credit quality. The intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments is adequate.
**B: Speculative short-term credit quality. Minimal capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, plus heightened vulnerability to near term adverse changes in financial and economic conditions.**

#### C: High short-term default risk. Default is a real possibility.
**RD: Restricted default. Indicates an entity that has defaulted on one or more of its financial commitments, although it continues to meet other financial obligations. Typically applicable to entity ratings only.**

#### D: Default. Indicates a broad-based default event for an entity, or the default of a short-term obligation.
IS-SAI-INFLA-0323

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## iShares<sup>®</sup> U.S. ETF Trust
Statement of Additional Information

Dated March 1, 2023

This Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the current prospectuses (each, a "Prospectus" and collectively the "Prospectuses") for the following series of iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust"):

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Ticker** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Listing Exchange** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;LQDH | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;HYGH | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;IGBH | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;AGRH | &nbsp;&nbsp;NYSE Arca |

---

Each Fund invests its assets in (i) individual securities, including shares of other iShares funds that, in turn, invest in bonds and/or short-term instruments based on an index as well as (ii) interest rate hedging instruments, primarily interest rate swap contracts (each, an "Underlying Fund" and collectively, the "Underlying Funds"). BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA" or the "Investment Adviser"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., serves as investment adviser to the Funds and also serves as investment adviser to each of the Underlying Funds.

The Prospectuses for the above-listed funds (each, a "Fund" and collectively, the "Funds") are dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the applicable Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. The Financial Statements and Notes contained in the applicable [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) and [Semi-Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522187742/d360218dncsrs.htm) of the Trust for the Funds are incorporated by reference into and are deemed to be part of this SAI. A copy of each Fund's Prospectus, Annual Report and Semi-Annual Report may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting *www.iShares.com*. Each Fund's Prospectus is incorporated by reference into this SAI.

References to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act" or the "1940 Act"), or other applicable law, will include any rules promulgated thereunder and any guidance, interpretations or modifications by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), SEC staff or other authority with appropriate jurisdiction, including court interpretations, and exemptive, no action or other relief or permission from the SEC, SEC staff or other authority.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

------

#### **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| [General Description of the Trust and the Funds](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Exchange Listing and Trading](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Investment Strategies and Risks of the Funds](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Asset-Backed Securities Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Bonds](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Corporate Bonds](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Derivatives](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Diversification Status](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures and Options](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Hedging](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[High Yield Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Inflation-Protected Obligations](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investing in Underlying Funds Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investments in the Underlying Funds and other Investment Companies](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lending Portfolio Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk Management](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Privately Issued Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Ratings](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulation Regarding Derivatives](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;8 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreements](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reverse Repurchase Agreements](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities of Investment Companies](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short Sales](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Stripped Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Structured Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S.-Registered and Restricted Securities of Non-U.S. Issuers](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[When Issued Securities, Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Zero Coupon Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Future Developments](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| [General Considerations and Risks](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |

---

i

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Call Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custody Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Extension Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Illiquid Investments Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuer Insolvency Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Replacement Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Money Market Instruments Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Not a Money Market Fund](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Operational Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Prepayment Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Derivatives](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Agency Debt Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Debt Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Swap Agreements](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_20) | &nbsp;&nbsp;20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Valuation Risk](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Asia](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Central and South America](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_22) | &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Developed Countries](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_22) | &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Europe](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Middle East](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_25) | &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in North America](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Russia](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Basic Materials Industry](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_29) | &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Capital Goods Industry](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_30) | &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Communication Services Sector](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_30) | &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Cyclical Industry](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Services Industry](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Staples Sector](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Healthcare Sector](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |

---

ii

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Technology Sector](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Transportation Industry](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Utilities Sector](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_35) | &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| [Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Indexes](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| [The BlackRock Indexes](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond Index](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond Index](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond Index](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;37 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;37 |
| [Investment Policies](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_38) | &nbsp;&nbsp;38 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_38) | &nbsp;&nbsp;38 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_40) | &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |
| [Continuous Offering](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| [Management](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Trustees and Officers](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Committees of the Board of Trustees](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_49) | &nbsp;&nbsp;49 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_55) | &nbsp;&nbsp;55 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Conflicts of Interest](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| [Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_64) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Adviser](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_64) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Portfolio Managers](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_65) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Codes of Ethics](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Anti-Money Laundering Requirements](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_67) | &nbsp;&nbsp;67 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distributor](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_68) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_68) | &nbsp;&nbsp;68 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Payments by BFA and its Affiliates](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_70) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| [Determination of Net Asset Value](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_72) | &nbsp;&nbsp;72 |
| [Brokerage Transactions](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_74) | &nbsp;&nbsp;74 |
| [Additional Information Concerning the Trust](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_77) | &nbsp;&nbsp;77 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shares](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_77) | &nbsp;&nbsp;77 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Funds](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_78) | &nbsp;&nbsp;78 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distribution of Shares](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_79) | &nbsp;&nbsp;79 |
| [Creation and Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_79) | &nbsp;&nbsp;79 |

---

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[General](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_79) | &nbsp;&nbsp;79 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fund Deposit](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_80) | &nbsp;&nbsp;80 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Purchase Method](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_81) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Procedures for Creation of Creation Units](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_81) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Role of the Authorized Participant](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_81) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Creation Orders](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_81) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Purchase Orders](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_82) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_82) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_82) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuance of a Creation Unit](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_83) | &nbsp;&nbsp;83 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Creation Transactions](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_83) | &nbsp;&nbsp;83 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_84) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Redemption Method](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_84) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_85) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Redemption Orders](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_85) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custom Baskets](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_86) | &nbsp;&nbsp;86 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units](#xx_8dc310d3-93dd-449b-b575-b107256041c2_87) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| [Taxes](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;88 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulated Investment Company Qualifications](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;88 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of RICs](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;88 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Net Capital Loss Carryforwards](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;89 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excise Tax](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;89 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of U.S. Shareholders](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;89 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sales of Shares](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;90 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Backup Withholding](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;91 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sections 351 and 362](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;91 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Certain Derivatives](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;91 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Market Discount](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;92 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Investments](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;92 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Original Issue Discount](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;92 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reporting](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;93 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Other Taxes](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;93 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;93 |
| [Financial Statements](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| [Miscellaneous Information](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Counsel](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shareholder Communications to the Board](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investors' Rights](#xx_228d4359-86eb-4205-9ab7-ef5907bd0f16_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| [Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_2795c277-93d0-4d10-a6f2-089abcd5e12d_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-1 |
| [Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_2795c277-93d0-4d10-a6f2-089abcd5e12d_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-2 |
| [Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_9ed67631-2bc7-4f5c-b749-f20fce9e8d74_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-13 |
| [Appendix B – Description of Fixed-Income Ratings](#xx_5ff6cc50-e14c-4021-a674-87661501e885_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;B-1 |

---

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## General Description of the Trust and the Funds
The Trust currently consists of 16 investment series or portfolios. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on June 21, 2011 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. The offering of the Trust's shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This SAI relates to the following Funds:

• iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

• iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

• iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF

• iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

Each Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., and generally seeks to track the investment results of the specific index identified in the applicable Prospectus for that Fund (each, an "Underlying Index").

The Funds invest in a combination of individual securities and one or more Underlying Funds, and may also invest in other exchange-traded funds ("ETFs"), U.S. government securities, cash and cash equivalents, including shares of money market funds advised by BFA, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., or its affiliates. Each Fund is managed by BFA. The Funds are not money market funds and do not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.

Each Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value per share ("NAV") only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each, a "Creation Unit"), generally in exchange for a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) (the "Deposit Securities" or "Creation Basket"), together with the deposit of a specified cash payment (the "Cash Component"). Shares of each Fund are listed for trading on NYSE Arca, Inc. ("NYSE Arca" or the "Listing Exchange"), a national securities exchange. Shares of each Fund are traded in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below the Fund's NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Units, and, generally, in exchange for portfolio securities and a Cash Amount (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units-Role of the Authorized Participant* section of this SAI). Creation Units typically are a specified number of shares, generally ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 shares or multiples thereof.

The Trust reserves the right to permit or require that creations and redemptions of shares are effected fully or partially in cash. Shares may be issued in advance of receipt of Deposit Securities, subject to various conditions, including a requirement that the Authorized Participant (as defined in the *Portfolio Holdings Information* section of this SAI) maintain with the Trust collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to purchase Deposit Securities. See the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Transaction fees and other costs associated with creations or redemptions that include a cash portion may be higher than the transaction fees and other costs associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, conditions with respect to creations and redemptions of shares and fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of SEC rules and regulations applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.

## Exchange Listing and Trading
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in each Fund is contained in the *Shareholder Information* section of each Fund's Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, that section of the applicable Prospectus.

Shares of each Fund are listed for trading, and trade throughout the day, on the Listing Exchange and in other secondary markets. Shares of the Funds may also be listed on certain non-U.S. exchanges. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Listing Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of a Fund will continue to be met. The Listing Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of a Fund from listing if, among other things: (i) following the initial 12-month period beginning upon the commencement of trading of Fund shares, there are fewer than 50 record and/or

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beneficial owners of shares of a Fund; (ii) a Fund is no longer eligible to operate in reliance on Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act; (iii) any of the other listing requirements are not continuously maintained; or (iv) any event shall occur or condition shall exist that, in the opinion of the Listing Exchange, makes further dealings on the Listing Exchange inadvisable. The Listing Exchange will also remove shares of a Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Fund.

As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares of a Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker, as well as other charges.

The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Funds in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Funds or an investor's equity interest in the Funds.

## Investment Strategies and Risks of the Funds
Each Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective primarily by investing in (i) each Fund's Underlying Fund that is included in its applicable Underlying Index and (ii) the hedging component of the applicable Underlying Index by entering into interest rate swap contracts and other instruments. Each of the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF and the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF may also achieve its investment objective through direct investment in bonds included in the underlying index of its Underlying Fund. Each Fund operates as an index fund and is not actively managed. Adverse performance of an instrument in a Fund's portfolio will ordinarily not result in the elimination of the instrument from the Fund's portfolio.

Each Fund engages in representative sampling, which is investing in a sample of securities and/or other instruments selected by BFA to have a collective investment profile similar to that of the Fund's Underlying Index. Securities and/or other instruments selected have aggregate investment characteristics (based on market capitalization value and industry weightings), fundamental characteristics (such as yield, credit rating, maturity and duration) and liquidity measures similar to those of the Fund's Underlying Index. A fund that uses representative sampling generally does not hold all of the securities and/or other instruments that are in its underlying index.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") has adopted certain requirements that subject registered investment companies and their advisers to regulation by the CFTC if a registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its net asset value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps, or if a registered investment company markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. Due to the Funds' use or potential use of CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps above the prescribed levels, each is considered a "commodity pool" under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA").

Although the Funds do not seek leveraged returns, certain instruments used by the Funds or Underlying Funds may have a leveraging effect as described below.

**Asset-Backed Securities Risk. Asset-backed securities ("ABS") represent interests in "pools" of assets, including consumer loans or receivables held in trust. ABS are "pass-through" securities, meaning that principal and interest payments, net of expenses, made by the borrower on the underlying assets are passed through to a Fund. ABS, like traditional fixed-income securities, are subject to credit, interest rate, call, prepayment, extension, valuation and illiquidity risk. Because of call, prepayment, and extension risk, however, ABS react differently to changes in interest rates than other bonds. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain ABS. The price paid by a Fund for its ABS, the yield a Fund expects to receive from such securities and the average life of such securities are based on a number of factors, including the anticipated rate of prepayment of the underlying assets. During periods of difficulty in the credit markets, ABS may decline in value and become less liquid, more volatile, and more difficult to value.**

The nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets may subject ABS to additional risks in comparison to mortgage-backed securities. For instance, certain ABS generally do not have the benefit of a security interest in collateral that is comparable in quality to mortgage-backed assets. The value of the collateral may also be insufficient to cover the principal amount of the obligation. Other ABS, such as those backed by credit card receivables, do not have the benefit of a security interest in collateral at all. Moreover, the values of ABS may be substantially dependent on the servicing of the underlying

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asset pools, and are therefore subject to risks associated with the negligence or malfeasance by their servicers and to the credit risk of their servicers.

ABS are often not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government and are subject to risk of default on the underlying asset, particularly during periods of economic downturn.

**Bonds. Each Fund, either directly or through its investments in the Underlying Fund, invests a substantial portion of its assets in U.S. dollar-denominated bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security issued by a U.S. or non-U.S. company or governmental unit. The issuer of a bond has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond's face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by issuers to borrow money from investors.**

An issuer may have the right to redeem or "call" a bond before maturity, in which case a fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, a fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a "coupon" rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Accordingly, a fixed-rate bond's yield (income as a percent of the bond's current value) may differ from its coupon rate as its value rises or falls. When an investor purchases a fixed-rate bond at a price that is greater than its face value, the investor is purchasing the bond at a premium. Conversely, when an investor purchases a fixed-rate bond at a price that is less than its face value, the investor is purchasing the bond at a discount. Fixed-rate bonds that are purchased at a discount pay less current income than securities with comparable yields that are purchased at face value, with the result that prices for such fixed-rate securities can be more volatile than prices for such securities that are purchased at face value. Other types of bonds bear interest at an interest rate that is adjusted periodically. Interest rates on "floating rate" or "variable rate" bonds may be higher or lower than current market rates for fixed-rate bonds of comparable quality with similar final maturities. Because of their adjustable interest rates, the value of "floating rate" or "variable rate" bonds fluctuates much less in response to market interest rate movements than the value of fixed-rate bonds, but their value may decline if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general. Each Fund or an Underlying Fund may treat some of these bonds as having a shorter maturity for purposes of calculating the weighted average maturity of its investment portfolio. Generally, prices of higher quality issues tend to fluctuate less with changes in market interest rates than prices of lower quality issues and prices of longer maturity issues tend to fluctuate more than prices of shorter maturity issues. Bonds may be senior or subordinated obligations. Senior obligations generally have the first claim on an issuer's earnings and assets and, in the event of liquidation, are paid before subordinated obligations. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer's general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).

**Borrowing. Each Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet payments due from redemptions or to facilitate the settlement of securities or other transactions.**

The purchase of securities while borrowings are outstanding may have the effect of leveraging a Fund or Underlying Fund. The incurrence of leverage increases a Fund's or Underlying Fund's exposure to risk, and borrowed funds are subject to interest costs that will reduce net income. Purchasing securities while borrowings are outstanding creates special risks, such as the potential for greater volatility in the NAV of Fund or Underlying Fund shares and in the yield on a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio. In addition, the interest expenses from borrowings may exceed the income generated by a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio and, therefore, the amount available (if any) for distribution to shareholders as dividends may be reduced. BFA may determine to maintain outstanding borrowings if it expects that the benefits to a Fund's shareholders will outweigh the current reduced return.

Certain types of borrowings by a Fund or Underlying Fund must be made from a bank or may result in a Fund or Underlying Fund being subject to covenants in credit agreements relating to asset coverage, portfolio composition requirements and other matters. It is not anticipated that observance of such covenants would impede BFA's management of a Fund's portfolio in accordance with a Fund's investment objectives and policies. However, a breach of any such covenants not cured within the specified cure period may result in acceleration of outstanding indebtedness and require a Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

**Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. The commercial mortgage-backed securities ("CMBS") in which a Fund invests may be issued by entities, such as banks, mortgage lenders or other institutions. These entities are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, and there can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities where it is not obligated to do so.**

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CMBS depend on cash flows generated by underlying commercial real-estate loans, receivables or other assets, and can be significantly affected by changes in interest rates, the availability of information concerning the underlying assets and their structure, and the creditworthiness of the originators of the underlying assets.

Due to the nature of the loans they represent, CMBS are subject to a greater degree of prepayment and extension risk than many other forms of fixed-income securities. Small movements in interest rates (both increases and decreases) may quickly and significantly reduce the value of certain CMBS. Certain CMBS are issued in several classes with different levels of yield and credit protection. A Fund's investments in CMBS with several classes may be in the lower classes that have greater risks than the higher classes, including greater interest rate, credit, prepayment and extension risks.

In addition, the value of CMBS may be adversely affected by regulatory or tax changes. CMBS issued by non-government entities may offer higher yields than those issued by government entities, but also may be subject to greater volatility than government issues. In the recent past, the market for CMBS has experienced volatility and reduced liquidity.

**Corporate Bonds. The iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF, iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF, iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF and their Underlying Funds invest a substantial portion of their assets in investment-grade corporate bonds. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the issuer, the issuer's performance and perceptions of the issuer in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.**

**Derivatives. Certain of the Funds or Underlying Funds may use instruments referred to as derivatives. Derivatives are financial instruments the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity (such as gold or oil), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500 Index or the prime lending rate). Derivatives allow a Fund or Underlying Fund to increase or decrease the level of risk to which a Fund or Underlying Fund is exposed more quickly and efficiently than transactions in other types of instruments. The Funds may use derivatives for hedging purposes. The Funds or Underlying Funds may also use derivatives for speculative purposes to seek to enhance returns. The use of a derivative is speculative if a Fund or Underlying Fund is primarily seeking to achieve gains, rather than to offset the risk of other positions. When a Fund or Underlying Fund invests in a derivative for speculative purposes, a Fund or Underlying Fund will be fully exposed to the risks of loss of that derivative, which may sometimes be greater than the derivative's cost. Unless otherwise permitted, a Fund or Underlying Fund may not use any derivatives to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly.**

#### Diversification Status. The following table sets forth the diversification status of each Fund:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Diversified Funds** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Non-Diversified Funds** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF |  |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF |  |

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A fund classified as "diversified" under the 1940 Act may not purchase securities of an issuer (other than (i) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities and (ii) securities of other investment companies) if, with respect to 75% of its total assets, (a) more than 5% of the fund's total assets would be invested in securities of that issuer or (b) the fund would hold more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of that issuer. With respect to the remaining 25% of its total assets, the fund may invest more than 5% of its assets in one issuer. Under the 1940 Act, a fund cannot change its classification from diversified to non-diversified without shareholder approval.

A non-diversified fund is a fund that is not limited by the 1940 Act with regard to the percentage of its assets that may be invested in the securities of a single issuer. The securities of a particular issuer (or securities of issuers in particular industries) may constitute a significant percentage of the underlying index of such a fund and, consequently, the fund's investment portfolio. This may adversely affect a fund's performance or subject the fund's shares to greater price volatility than that experienced by more diversified investment companies.

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Each Fund (whether diversified or non-diversified) intends to maintain the required level of diversification and otherwise conduct its operations so as to qualify as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for purposes of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), and to relieve the Fund of any liability for U.S. federal income tax to the extent that its earnings are distributed to shareholders, provided that the Fund satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. Compliance with the diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code may limit the investment flexibility of the Funds and may make it less likely that the Funds will meet their respective investment objectives.

**Futures and Options. Futures contracts and options may be used by a Fund or Underlying Fund to implement the hedging strategy. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may enter into futures contracts and options that are traded on a U.S. or non-U.S. exchange.**

Futures contracts provide for the future sale by one party and purchase by another party of a specified amount of a specific instrument or index at a specified future time and at a specified price. Upon entering into a futures contract, a Fund or Underlying Fund will be required to deposit with the broker an amount of cash or cash equivalents known as "initial margin," which is in the nature of a performance bond or good faith deposit on the contract and is returned to a Fund or Underlying Fund upon termination of the futures contract if all contractual obligations have been satisfied. Subsequent payments, known as "variation margin," to and from the broker will be made daily as the price of the instrument or index underlying the futures contract fluctuates, making the long and short positions in the futures contract more or less valuable, a process known as "marking-to-market." At any time prior to the expiration of a futures contract, a Fund or Underlying Fund may elect to close the position by taking an opposite position, which will operate to terminate a Fund's or Underlying Fund's existing position in the contract.

A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security at a specified price ("exercise price") within a specified period of time. A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security at a specified exercise price within a specified period of time. The initial purchaser of a call option pays the "writer" a premium, which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may purchase put options to hedge its portfolio against the risk of a decline in the market value of securities held and may purchase call options to hedge against an increase in the price of securities it is committed to purchase. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may write put and call options along with a long position in options to increase its ability to hedge against a change in the market value of the securities it holds or is committed to purchase.

**Hedging. Hedging is a strategy in which a derivative is used to offset particular risks associated with other Fund holdings. Losses on the other investment may be substantially reduced by gains on a derivative that reacts in an opposite manner to market movements. While hedging can reduce losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains or cause losses if the market moves in a manner different from that anticipated by a Fund or Underlying Fund or if the cost of the derivative outweighs the benefit of the hedge. Establishment of hedges, if not tailored properly or timed in accordance with market changes, may not be effective in meeting a Fund's or Underlying Fund's intended objectives. This is due to the fact that hedging also involves correlation risk, *i.e.*, the risk that changes in the value of the derivative will not match those of the holdings being hedged as expected by a Fund or Underlying Fund, in which case any losses on the holdings being hedged may not be reduced or may be increased. The inability to close options and futures positions also could have an adverse impact on each Fund's or Underlying Fund's ability to hedge effectively its portfolio. There is also a risk of loss by a Fund or Underlying Fund of margin deposits or collateral in the event of bankruptcy of a broker or other intermediary with whom a Fund or Underlying Fund has an open position in a currency forward or non-deliverable forward ("NDF"), a swap, an option, a futures contract, a related option or another hedging instrument. In certain falling interest rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in its derivatives positions as compared to gains in the long corporate bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee that the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising interest rates in which the Fund's or Underlying Fund's derivatives positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund or Underlying Fund will incur expenses when entering into derivatives positions. There can be no assurance that the Fund's or Underlying Fund's hedging strategies will be effective.**

**High Yield Securities. The iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF invests in high yield debt securities, sometimes referred to as "junk bonds." High yield securities are debt securities rated below investment-grade. Investments in high yield securities generally provide greater potential income and increased opportunity for capital appreciation than investments in higher quality securities, but they also typically entail greater price volatility and credit risk. These high yield securities are regarded as predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer's continuing ability to meet principal and interest payments. Analysis of the creditworthiness of issuers of debt securities that are high yield may be more complex than for issuers of**

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higher quality debt securities. In addition, high yield securities are often issued by smaller, less creditworthy issuers or by highly leveraged (indebted) firms, which are generally less able than more financially stable firms to make scheduled payments of interest and principal. The risks posed by securities issued under such circumstances are substantial.

Investing in high yield debt securities involves risks that are greater than the risks of investing in higher quality debt securities. These risks include: (i) changes in credit status, including weaker overall credit conditions of issuers and risks of default; (ii) industry, market and economic risk; and (iii) greater price variability and credit risks of certain high yield securities such as zero coupon and payment-in-kind securities. While these risks provide the opportunity for maximizing return over time, they may result in greater volatility of the value of the Fund or the Underlying Fund than a fund that invests in higher-rated securities.

Furthermore, the value of high yield securities may be more susceptible to real or perceived adverse economic, company or industry conditions than is the case for higher quality securities. The market values of certain of these lower-rated and unrated debt securities tend to reflect individual corporate developments to a greater extent than do higher-rated securities which react primarily to fluctuations in the general level of interest rates, and tend to be more sensitive to economic conditions than are higher-rated securities. Adverse market, credit or economic conditions could make it difficult at certain times to sell certain high yield securities held by the Fund or the Underlying Fund.

The secondary market on which high yield securities are traded, if any, may be less liquid than the market for higher grade securities. Less liquidity in the secondary trading market could adversely affect the price at which the Fund or the Underlying Fund could sell a high yield security, and could adversely affect the daily NAV of the Fund or the Underlying Fund. When secondary markets for high yield securities are less liquid than the market for higher grade securities, it may be more difficult to value the securities because there is less reliable, objective data available.

The use of credit ratings as a principal method of selecting high yield securities can involve certain risks. For example, credit ratings evaluate the safety of principal and interest payments, not the market value risk of high yield securities. Also, credit rating agencies may fail to change credit ratings in a timely fashion to reflect events since the security was last rated.

**Inflation-Protected Obligations. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may invest in inflation-protected public obligations of the U.S. Treasury, commonly known as "TIPS." TIPS are a type of U.S. government obligation issued by the U.S. Treasury that are designed to provide inflation protection to investors. TIPS are income-generating instruments whose interest and principal payments are adjusted for inflation - a sustained increase in prices that erodes the purchasing power of money. The inflation adjustment, which is typically applied monthly to the principal of the bond, follows a designated inflation index, the consumer price index ("CPI"), and TIPS' principal payments are adjusted according to changes in the CPI. A fixed-coupon rate is applied to the inflation-adjusted principal so that as inflation rises, both the principal value and the interest payments increase. This can provide investors with a hedge against inflation, as it helps preserve the purchasing power of an investment. Because of this inflation adjustment feature, inflation-protected bonds typically have lower yields than conventional fixed-rate bonds.**

**Investing in Underlying Funds Risk. Because each Fund invests in one or more underlying funds that are ETFs that seek investment results corresponding to their own underlying indexes, the Fund is indirectly exposed to index-related risk and tracking error risk. Index-related risk is the risk that there may be errors in respect of the quality, accuracy and completeness of the data included in an underlying index for an underlying fund that may not be identified and corrected for a period of time. Gains, losses or costs associated with such errors will be borne directly by the underlying fund tracking such an index and its shareholders and indirectly by the Fund and its shareholders. An index provider for an underlying fund may carry out additional ad hoc rebalances to an underlying index in order, for example, to correct an error in the selection of index constituents. Where such an index rebalance occurs and an underlying fund in turn rebalances its portfolio to bring it in line with its underlying index, any transaction costs and market exposure arising from such portfolio rebalancing will be borne directly by the underlying fund and indirectly by the Fund. Tracking error risk is the risk that the performance of an underlying fund will diverge from that of its underlying index, which may reduce each Fund's returns and have an adverse impact on each Fund's strategy. This risk may be heightened during times of increased market volatility or other unusual market conditions.**

**Investments in the Underlying Funds and other Investment Companies. To implement its asset allocation strategy, each Fund may invest some or all of its assets in the Underlying Funds. The Underlying Funds generally invests directly in portfolio securities. Each Fund may also invest in other investment companies, including ETFs that are not iShares ETFs, to the extent permitted by law.**

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**Lending Portfolio Securities. Each Fund and Underlying Fund may lend portfolio securities to certain borrowers that BFA determines to be creditworthy, including borrowers affiliated with BFA. The borrowers provide collateral that is maintained in an amount at least equal to the current market value of the securities loaned. No securities loan shall be made on behalf of a Fund or an Underlying Fund if, as a result, the aggregate value of all securities loans of a Fund or an Underlying Fund exceeds one-third of the value of a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received). A Fund or Underlying Fund may terminate a loan at any time and obtain the return of the securities loaned. Each Fund or Underlying Fund receives, by way of substitute payment, the value of any interest or cash or non-cash distributions paid on the loaned securities that it would have otherwise received if the securities were not on loan.**

With respect to loans that are collateralized by cash, the borrower may be entitled to receive a fee based on the amount of cash collateral. The Funds or the Underlying Funds are compensated by any positive difference between the amount earned on the reinvestment of cash collateral and the fee paid to the borrower. In the case of collateral other than cash, a Fund or Underlying Fund is compensated by a fee paid by the borrower equal to a percentage of the market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral received by the Fund or Underlying Fund for such loans, and uninvested cash, may be reinvested in certain short-term instruments either directly on behalf of each Fund or Underlying Fund or through one or more joint accounts or money market funds, including those affiliated with BFA; such investments are subject to investment risk. Other investment companies in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests can be expected to incur fees and expenses for operations, such as investment advisory and administration fees, that would be in addition to those incurred by a Fund or an Underlying Fund.

Each Fund and Underlying Fund conduct their securities lending pursuant to an exemptive order from the SEC permitting them to lend portfolio securities to borrowers affiliated with the Fund or Underlying Fund and to retain an affiliate of the Fund or Underlying Fund to act as securities lending agent. To the extent that a Fund or Underlying Fund engages in securities lending, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") acts as securities lending agent for the Fund or Underlying Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA. BTC administers the lending program in accordance with guidelines approved by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board," the trustees of which are the "Trustees"). JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan") serves as custodian for the Funds in connection with certain securities lending activities.

Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including operational risk (i.e., the risk of losses resulting from problems in the settlement and accounting process), "gap" risk (i.e., the risk of a mismatch between the return on cash collateral reinvestments and the fees a Fund or Underlying Fund has agreed to pay a borrower), foreign exchange risk (i.e., the risk of a shortfall at default when a cash collateral investment is denominated in a currency other than the currency of the assets being loaned due to movements in foreign exchange rates), and credit, legal, counterparty and market risks (including the risk that market events could lead the Fund or Underlying Fund to recall loaned securities or to lend less or not at all, which could lead to reduced securities lending revenue). If a securities lending counterparty were to default, a Fund or Underlying Fund would be subject to the risk of a possible delay in receiving collateral or in recovering the loaned securities, or to a possible loss of rights in the collateral. In the event a borrower does not return a Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities as agreed, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's ability to participate in a corporate action event may be impacted, or the Fund or Underlying Fund may experience losses if the proceeds received from liquidating the collateral do not at least equal the value of the loaned security at the time the collateral is liquidated, plus the transaction costs incurred in purchasing replacement securities. This latter event could trigger adverse tax consequences for a Fund or Underlying Fund. A Fund or Underlying Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan. Substitute payments received by a Fund or Underlying Fund representing dividends paid on securities loaned out by the Fund or Underlying Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. BTC will take into account the tax effects on shareholders caused by this difference in connection with a Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities lending program. Substitute payments received on tax-exempt securities loaned out will not be tax-exempt income. There could also be changes in the status of issuers under applicable laws and regulations, including tax regulations, that may impact the regulatory or tax treatment of loaned securities and could, for example, result in a delay in the payment of dividend equivalent payments owed to a Fund or Underlying Fund (as permitted by applicable law).

Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Fund or Underlying Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these requirements, as well as potential

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additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect the Fund's or Underlying Fund's ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

**Liquidity Risk Management. Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act (the "Liquidity Rule") requires open-end funds, including ETFs such as the Funds, to establish a liquidity risk management program (the "Liquidity Program") and enhance disclosures regarding fund liquidity. As required by the Liquidity Rule, the Funds have implemented a Liquidity Program, and the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust, has appointed BFA as the administrator of the Liquidity Program. Under the Liquidity Program, BFA assesses, manages, and periodically reviews each Fund's liquidity risk and classifies each investment held by a Fund as a "highly liquid investment," "moderately liquid investment," "less liquid investment" or "illiquid investment." The Liquidity Rule defines "liquidity risk" as the risk that a Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by a Fund without significant dilution of the remaining investors' interest in a Fund. The liquidity of a Fund's portfolio investments is determined based on relevant market, trading and investment-specific considerations under the Liquidity Program. There are exclusions from certain portions of the liquidity risk management program requirements for "in-kind" ETFs, as defined in the Liquidity Rule. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, a Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.**

**Non-U.S. Securities. Certain obligations or securities of non-U.S. issuers may be deemed to be located in a particular country if: (i) the principal trading market for the security is in such country, (ii) the issuer is organized under the laws of such country, (iii) the issuer derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from such country or has at least 50% of its assets situated in such country or, (iv) the issuer is the government of the particular country.**

**Privately Issued Securities. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may invest in privately issued securities, including those that may be resold only in accordance with Rule 144A or Regulation S under the 1933 Act ("Restricted Securities"). Restricted Securities are not publicly-traded and are subject to a variety of restrictions, which limit a purchaser's ability to acquire or resell such securities. Accordingly, the liquidity of the market for specific Restricted Securities may vary. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to a Fund.**

**Ratings. An investment-grade rating generally means the security or issuer is rated investment-grade by one or more of Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's"), Standard & Poor's<sup>®</sup> Financial Services LLC, a subsidiary of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. ("S&P Global Ratings"), Fitch, Inc. ("Fitch"), or another credit rating agency designated as a nationally recognized statistical rating organization ("NRSRO") by the SEC, or is unrated but considered to be of equivalent quality by BFA. Generally, bonds rated Baa3 or above by Moody's or BBB- or above by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch are considered "investment-grade" securities, bonds rated Baa are considered medium grade obligations subject to moderate credit risk and may possess certain speculative characteristics, while bonds rated BBB are regarded as having adequate capacity to meet financial commitments. In recent years, the U.S. and certain other countries experienced a credit rating downgrade; these downgrades or additional downgrades in the future may result in the deterioration of investor confidence.**

Subsequent to purchase by a Fund or an Underlying Fund, a rated security may cease to be rated or its rating may be reduced below an investment-grade rating. Bonds rated below Baa3 by Moody's or below BBB- by S&P Global Ratings or Fitch are generally considered below investment-grade quality and are obligations of issuers that are generally considered predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer's capacity to pay interest and repay principal according to the terms of the obligation and, therefore, carry greater investment risk, including the possibility of issuer default and bankruptcy and increased market price volatility. Such lower-rated securities are commonly referred to as "junk bonds" and are subject to a substantial degree of credit risk. Please see Appendix B of this SAI for a description of each rating category of Moody's, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch and BFA's treatment of investments that are not rated by any of the rating agencies.

**Regulation Regarding Derivatives. The CFTC subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if a fund that is advised by the adviser either (i) invests, directly or indirectly, more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps ("CFTC Derivatives") or (ii) markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. The CFTC also subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests in one or more commodity pools. NDFs and cash-settled currency forwards as well as futures, options on futures, currency options and swaps entered into by a Fund will be treated as CFTC Derivatives for these purposes. Physically-settled foreign currency forward contracts will generally be treated as CFTC**

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Derivatives, however these contracts are not treated as CFTC regulated-swaps and are not subject to certain of the CFTC's rules with respect to swaps. To the extent a Fund uses CFTC Derivatives, it intends to do so below such prescribed levels and intends not to market itself as a "commodity pool" or a vehicle for trading such instruments.

Due to the Funds' use or potential use of CFTC Derivatives above the prescribed levels, each Fund will be considered a "commodity pool" under the CEA. Accordingly, BFA, each Fund's investment adviser, has registered as a commodity pool operator and is subject to CFTC regulation with respect to each Fund.

Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards, and NDFs, are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Swaps, NDFs and certain other derivatives traded in the over-the-counter ("OTC") market are subject to variation margin and initial margin requirements. Implementation of the margining and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading, reporting and documentation of swaps and other derivatives have impacted and may continue to impact the costs to a Fund of trading these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in a Fund.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits a Fund to enter into Derivatives Transactions (as defined below) and certain other transactions notwithstanding the restrictions on the issuance of "senior securities" under Section 18 of the Investment Company Act. Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, among other things, prohibits open-end funds, including the Funds, from issuing or selling any "senior security," other than borrowing from a bank (subject to a requirement to maintain 300% "asset coverage").

Under Rule 18f-4, "Derivatives Transactions" include the following: (1) any swap, security-based swap (including a contract for differences), futures contract, forward contract, option (excluding purchased options), any combination of the foregoing, or any similar instrument, under which a Fund is or may be required to make any payment or delivery of cash or other assets during the life of the instrument or at maturity or early termination, whether as margin or settlement payment or otherwise; (2) any short sale borrowing; (3) reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g*., recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, and borrowed bonds), if a Fund elects to treat these transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4; and (4) when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g.*, firm and standby commitments, including to-be-announced ("TBA") commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities, unless the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision").

Unless a Fund is relying on the Limited Derivatives User Exception (as defined below), the Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to its Derivatives Transactions. Rule 18f-4, among other things, requires a Fund to adopt and implement a comprehensive written derivatives risk management program ("DRMP") and comply with a relative or absolute limit on Fund leverage risk calculated based on value-at-risk ("VaR"). The DRMP is administered by a "derivatives risk manager," who is appointed by the Board, including a majority of Independent Directors/Trustees, and periodically reviews the DRMP and reports to the Board.

Rule 18f-4 provides an exception from the DRMP, VaR limit and certain other requirements if a Fund's "derivatives exposure" (as defined in Rule 18f-4) is limited to 10% of its net assets (as calculated in accordance with Rule 18f-4) and the Fund adopts and implements written policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks (the "Limited Derivatives User Exception").

**Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, a Fund or an Underlying Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price, thereby determining the yield during the purchaser's holding period. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by a Fund or an Underlying Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price, and, in the event of a default by the seller, the Fund and its Underlying Fund may suffer time delays and incur costs or losses in connection with the disposition of the collateral.**

In any repurchase transaction, the collateral for a repurchase agreement may include: (i) cash items; (ii) obligations issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; or (iii) obligations that, at the time the repurchase agreement is

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entered into, are determined to (A) have exceptionally strong capacity to meet their financial obligations and (B) are sufficiently liquid such that they can be sold at approximately their carrying value in the ordinary course of business within seven days.

Repurchase agreements pose certain risks for a Fund or an Underlying Fund, should it decide to utilize them. Such risks are not unique to the Fund and its Underlying Fund, but are inherent in repurchase agreements. Each Fund and its Underlying Fund seek to minimize such risks, but because of the inherent legal uncertainties involved in repurchase agreements, such risks cannot be eliminated. Lower quality collateral and collateral with a longer maturity may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality collateral and collateral with a shorter maturity. If the repurchase agreement counterparty were to default, lower quality collateral may be more difficult to liquidate than higher quality collateral. Should the counterparty default and the amount of collateral not be sufficient to cover the counterparty's repurchase obligation, a Fund or an Underlying Fund would likely retain the status of an unsecured creditor of the counterparty (*i.e.*, the position a Fund or an Underlying Fund would normally be in if it were to hold, pursuant to its investment policies, other unsecured debt securities of the defaulting counterparty) with respect to the amount of the shortfall. As an unsecured creditor, a Fund or an Underlying Fund would be at risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.

**Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. Generally, the effect of such transactions is that each Fund or an Underlying Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund or an Underlying Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are advantageous only if each Fund or an Underlying Fund has an opportunity to earn a rate of interest on the cash derived from these transactions that is greater than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required to be paid may not always be available, and each Fund or an Underlying Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique only when BFA believes it will be advantageous to the Fund or an Underlying Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any increase or decrease in the value of the Fund's or its Underlying Fund's assets. The use of reverse repurchase agreements is a form of leverage, and the proceeds obtained through reverse repurchase agreements may be invested in additional securities.**

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits each Fund or an Underlying Fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.,* recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, borrowed bonds) notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that each Fund or an Underlying Fund either (i) complies with the 300% asset coverage ratio with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treats such transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4. (See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.)

**Securities of Investment Companies. Each Fund and the Underlying Funds may invest in the securities of other investment companies (including money market funds) to the extent allowed by law, regulation, exemptive order or SEC staff guidance. Pursuant to the 1940 Act, the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' investment in investment companies is limited to, subject to certain exceptions, (i) 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of any one investment company, (ii) 5% of the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' total assets with respect to any one investment company, and (iii) 10% of the Funds' or the Underlying Funds' total assets with respect to investment companies in the aggregate. To the extent allowed by law or regulation, the Funds or Underlying Funds intend from time to time to invest its assets in securities of investment companies, including but not limited to, money market funds, in excess of the limits discussed above. Such investment companies may be advised by or otherwise affiliated with BFA. Other investment companies in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests can be expected to incur fees and expenses for operations, such as investment advisory and administration fees, that would be in addition to those incurred by a Fund and the Underlying Funds.**

The Funds or the Underlying Funds may purchase shares of ETFs for the same reason it would purchase (and as an alternative to purchasing) futures contracts – to obtain relatively low-cost exposure to the stock market while maintaining flexibility to meet the liquidity needs of the Funds or Underlying Funds. ETF shares enjoy several advantages over futures contracts. Depending on the market, the holding period, and other factors, ETF shares can be less costly than futures contracts. In addition, ETF shares can be purchased for smaller sums and offer exposure to market sectors and styles for which there is no suitable or liquid futures contract. The Funds and the Underlying Funds may also purchase ETF shares for other purposes, including improving its ability to track their underlying index (in the case of the Underlying Funds). The Funds and the Underlying Funds may invest in shares of ETFs that are advised by BFA.

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**Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments. Each Fund and the Underlying Funds may invest in short-term instruments, including money market instruments, on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity or for other reasons. Money market instruments are generally short-term investments that may include, but are not limited to: (i) shares of money market funds (including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA); (ii) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (including government-sponsored enterprises); (iii) negotiable certificates of deposit ("CDs"), bankers' acceptances, fixed-time deposits and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks (including non-U.S. branches) and similar institutions; (iv) commercial paper rated, at the date of purchase, "Prime-1" by Moody's, "F-1" by Fitch, or "A-1" by S&P Global Ratings, or if unrated, of comparable quality as determined by BFA; (v) non-convertible corporate debt securities (*e.g.*, bonds and debentures) with remaining maturities at the date of purchase of not more than 397 days and that have been determined to present minimal credit risks, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act; (vi) repurchase agreements; and (vii) short-term U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of non-U.S. banks (including U.S. branches) that, in the opinion of BFA, are of comparable quality to obligations of U.S. banks that may be purchased by a Fund. Any of these instruments may be purchased on a current or forward-settled basis. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Bankers' acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.**

**Short Sales. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may make short sales of securities, either as a hedge against potential declines in value of a portfolio security or to realize appreciation when a security that a Fund or Underlying Fund does not own declines in value. When a Fund or Underlying Fund makes a short sale, it borrows the security sold short and delivers it to the broker-dealer through which it made the short sale. A Fund or Underlying Fund may have to pay a fee to borrow particular securities and is often obligated to turn over any payments received on such borrowed securities to the lender of the securities.**

A Fund or Underlying Fund secures its obligation to replace the borrowed security by depositing collateral with the broker-dealer, usually in cash, U.S. government securities or other liquid securities similar to those borrowed. With respect to uncovered short positions, a Fund or Underlying Fund is required to deposit similar collateral with its custodian, if necessary, to the extent that the value of both collateral deposits in the aggregate is at all times equal to at least 100% of the current market value of the security sold short. Depending on arrangements made with the broker-dealer from which a Fund borrowed the security, regarding payment received by a Fund or Underlying Fund on such security, a Fund or Underlying Fund may not receive any payments (including interest) on its collateral deposited with such broker-dealer.

A Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act with respect to its short sale borrowings, which are considered Derivatives Transactions under the Rule. See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.

**Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations. Certain of the Funds and Underlying Funds may invest in sovereign and quasi-sovereign obligations. An investment in sovereign debt obligations involves special risks not present in corporate debt obligations. Sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by a foreign sovereign government. Quasi-sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by an entity affiliated with or backed by a sovereign government. The issuer of the sovereign debt that controls the repayment of the debt may be unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due, and a Fund and an Underlying Fund may have limited recourse in the event of a default. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a non-U.S. government may cause the value of a sovereign debt to decline. During periods of economic uncertainty, the market prices of sovereign debt obligations may be more volatile than prices of U.S. debt obligations, which may affect a Fund's or the Underlying Fund's NAV. In the past, certain emerging market countries have encountered difficulties in servicing their debt obligations, withheld payments of principal and interest and declared moratoria on the payment of principal and interest on their sovereign debts. Several sovereign issuers have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about rising government debt levels, including Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.**

A sovereign debtor's willingness or ability to repay principal and pay interest in a timely manner may be affected by, among other factors, its cash flow situation, the extent of its non-U.S. currency reserves, the availability of sufficient foreign exchange, the relative size of the debt service burden, the sovereign debtor's policy toward principal international lenders and local political constraints. Sovereign debtors may also be dependent on expected disbursements from foreign governments, multilateral agencies and other entities to reduce principal and interest arrears on their debt. The failure of a sovereign debtor to implement economic reforms, achieve specified levels of economic performance or repay principal or interest when due may result in the cancellation of third-party commitments to lend funds to the sovereign debtor, which may further impair such debtor's ability or willingness to service its debts.

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**Stripped Securities. Stripped securities are created when the issuer separates the interest and principal components of an instrument and sells them as separate securities. In general, one security is entitled to receive the interest payments on the underlying assets (the interest only, or "IO" security) and the other to receive the principal payments (the principal only, or "PO" security). Some stripped securities may receive a combination of interest and principal payments. The yields to maturity on IOs and POs are sensitive to the expected or anticipated rate of principal payments (including prepayments) on the related underlying assets, and principal payments may have a material effect on yield to maturity. If the underlying assets experience greater than anticipated prepayments of principal, the Fund or Underlying Fund may not fully recoup its initial investment in IOs. Conversely, if the underlying assets experience less than anticipated prepayments of principal, the yield on POs could be adversely affected. Stripped securities may be highly sensitive to changes in interest rates and rates of prepayment.**

**Structured Securities. Structured products are privately negotiated debt obligations where the principal and/or interest is determined by reference to the performance of an underlying investment, index or reference obligation. Structured products may be issued by corporations, including banks, as well as by governmental agencies. The terms of structured products normally provide that their principal and/or interest payments are to be adjusted upwards or downwards (but ordinarily not below zero) to reflect changes in the index while the instruments are outstanding. As a result, the interest and/or principal payments that may be made on a structured product may vary widely, depending on a variety of factors, including the volatility of the index and the effect of changes in the index on principal and/or interest payments. The rate of return on structured products may be determined by applying a multiplier to the performance or differential performance of the referenced index or other assets. Application of a multiplier involves leverage that will serve to magnify the potential for gain and the risk of loss.**

Holders of structured products bear risks of the underlying investments, index or reference obligation and are subject to counterparty risk. The Funds or the Underlying Funds may have the right to receive payments only from the structured product, and generally does not have direct rights against the issuer or the entity that sold the assets to be securitized. Certain structured products may be thinly traded or have a limited trading market. In addition to the general risks associated with debt securities, structured products carry additional risks, including, but not limited to: the possibility that distributions from collateral securities will not be adequate to make interest or other payments; the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; and the possibility that the structured products are subordinate to other instruments. Structured notes are based upon the movement of one or more factors, including currency exchange rates, interest rates, referenced bonds and stock indexes, and changes in interest rates and impact of these factors may cause significant price fluctuations. Additionally, changes in the reference instrument or security may cause the interest rate on the structured note to be reduced to zero.

**U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. Certain of the Funds invest in securities backed by pools of mortgages issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, including Government National Mortgage Association ("Ginnie Mae"), Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac"). The market for mortgage-backed securities ("MBS") has been adversely affected by the value of those MBS held and/or issued by these agencies and sponsored entities. If a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity issues securities in which certain of the Funds invests and such issuer is unable to meet its obligations or ceases to exist, and no plan is made for the repayment of securities, the performance of certain of the Funds will be adversely impacted.**

*Ginnie Mae. Established in 1968, Ginnie Mae is a wholly owned U.S. government corporation within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ginnie Mae is authorized to guarantee, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, the timely payment of principal and interest on securities issued by the institutions approved by Ginnie Mae (such as savings and loan institutions, commercial banks and mortgage banks), and backed by pools of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Ginnie Mae securities also are supported by the authority of Ginnie Mae to borrow funds from the U.S. Treasury Department to make payments under its guarantee. Any actual or potential disruption to Ginnie Mae, or the financial condition or credit of the U.S. government, could cause the value of Ginnie Mae securities to decline. In 2011, S&P Global Ratings downgraded U.S. Treasury securities from AAA rating to AA+ rating. A further downgrade of the ratings of U.S. government debt obligations, which are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, could result in higher interest rates for individual and corporate borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial negative effect on the U.S. economy. A downgrade of U.S. Treasury securities from another ratings agency or a further downgrade below AA+ rating by S&P Global Ratings may cause the value of Ginnie Mae securities to decline.*

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*Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae was established as a federal agency in 1938 and in 1968 was chartered by Congress as a private shareholder-owned company. Securities issued by Fannie Mae are guaranteed as to timely payment of principal and interest by Fannie Mae. The securities are not backed by or entitled to the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, but are supported by the right of Fannie Mae to borrow from the U.S. Treasury Department.*

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970. Securities issued by Freddie Mac entitle the holder to timely payment of interests, which is guaranteed by Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac also guarantees either ultimate collection or timely payment of all principal payments. While Freddie Mac generally does not guarantee timely payment of principal, Freddie Mac may remit the amount due on account of its guarantee of ultimate payment of principal at any time after default on an underlying mortgage, but in no event later than one year after it becomes payable. The securities are not backed by or entitled to the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or by any Federal Home Loan Banks, but are supported by the right of Freddie Mac to borrow from the U.S. Treasury Department.

In 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency placed each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into government conservatorship in an effort to provide stability in the financial markets and put the government-sponsored entities in sound and solvent condition. In addition, the U.S. Treasury Department agreed to provide Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up to $100 billion of capital each on an as needed basis to ensure that they continue to provide liquidity to the housing and mortgage markets.

*Mortgage-Backed Securities. MBS issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac, represent interests in pools of mortgages in which payments of both principal and interest on the securities are generally made monthly, in effect "passing through" the payments made by borrowers on the mortgage loans that underlie the securities (net of any fees paid to the issuer or guarantor of the securities). MBS differ from other forms of debt securities, which normally provide for periodic payment of interest in fixed amounts with principal payments at maturity or specified call dates, while a MBS payments provide a combination of interest and principal throughout the a bond's term. As further described below, MBS may be structured as pass-through securities or collateralized mortgage obligations ("CMOs").*

MBS are subject to the general risks associated with investing in real estate securities; that is, they may lose value if the value of the underlying real estate to which a pool of mortgages relates declines. In addition, investments in MBS involve certain specific risks. These risks include the failure of a party to meet its commitments under the related operative documents, adverse interest rate changes and the effects of prepayments on mortgage cash flows. The value of MBS, like that of traditional fixed-income securities, typically increases when interest rates fall and decreases when interest rates rise. However, MBS differ from traditional fixed-income securities because of their potential for prepayment without penalty. The price paid by a Fund for its MBS, the yield a Fund expects to receive from such securities and the weighted average life of the securities are based on a number of factors, including the anticipated rate of prepayment of the underlying mortgages. In a period of declining interest rates, borrowers may prepay the underlying mortgages more quickly than anticipated, thereby reducing the yield to maturity and the average life of the MBS. Moreover, when a Fund reinvests the proceeds of a prepayment in these circumstances, it will likely receive a rate of interest that is lower than the rate on the security that was prepaid.

To the extent that a Fund purchases MBS at a premium, mortgage foreclosures and principal prepayments may result in a loss to the extent of the premium paid. If a Fund buys such securities at a discount, both scheduled payments of principal and unscheduled prepayments will increase current and total returns and will accelerate the recognition of income, which, when distributed to shareholders, will be taxable as ordinary income. In a period of rising interest rates, prepayments of the underlying mortgages may occur at a slower than expected rate, creating maturity extension risk. This particular risk may effectively change a security that was considered short- or intermediate-term at the time of purchase into a long-term security. Since the value of long-term securities generally fluctuates more widely in response to changes in interest rates than that of shorter-term securities, maturity extension risk could increase the inherent volatility of a Fund. Under certain interest rate and prepayment scenarios, a Fund may fail to recoup fully its investment in MBS notwithstanding any direct or indirect U.S. governmental or agency guarantee.

*Mortgage Pass-Through Securities. Some MBS, such as U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities, represent a right to receive principal and interest payments collected on a pool of mortgages, which are passed through to security holders. In the basic mortgage pass-through structure, mortgages with similar issuer, term and coupon characteristics are collected and aggregated into a "pool" consisting of multiple mortgage loans. The pool is assigned a CUSIP number and undivided*

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interests in the pool are traded and sold as pass-through securities. The holder of the security is entitled to a pro rata share of principal and interest payments (including unscheduled prepayments) from the pool of mortgage loans.

An investment in a specific pool of mortgage pass-through securities requires an analysis of the specific prepayment risk of mortgages within the covered pool (since mortgagors typically have the option to prepay their loans). The level of prepayments on a pool of MBS is difficult to predict and can impact the subsequent cash flows, value and yield of the mortgage pool. In addition, when trading specific mortgage pools, precise execution, delivery and settlement arrangements must be negotiated for each transaction.

*To-Be-Announced Securities. A Fund may seek to gain exposure to U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities by investing in to-be-announced ("TBA") securities. "TBAs" refer to a commonly used mechanism for the forward settlement of U.S. agency MBS, and not to a separate type of MBS. Most transactions in fixed-rate MBS occur through the use of TBA transactions. TBA transactions generally are conducted in accordance with widely-accepted guidelines which establish commonly observed terms and conditions for execution, settlement, and delivery. In a TBA transaction, the buyer and seller decide on general trade parameters, such as the issuing agency, settlement date, par amount, and price. The actual mortgage pools delivered generally are determined two days prior to settlement date. Certain of the Funds may regularly enter into TBA agreements and "roll over" such agreements prior to the settlement date stipulated in such agreements. This type of TBA transaction is sometimes known as a "TBA roll." In a TBA roll, such Funds generally will sell the obligation to purchase the pools stipulated in the TBA agreement prior to the stipulated settlement date and will enter into a new TBA agreement for future delivery of pools of MBS. In addition, certain of the Funds may enter into TBA agreements and settle such transactions on the stipulated settlement date by accepting actual receipt or delivery of the pools of MBS stipulated in the TBA agreement.*

Certain of the Funds may invest cash pending settlement of TBA transactions in money market instruments, repurchase agreements, or other high quality, liquid short-term instruments, including money market funds advised by BFA. Each such Fund will pay its *pro rata* share of fees and expenses of any money market fund that it may invest in, in addition to such Fund's own fees and expenses.

**U.S.-Registered and Restricted Securities of Non-U.S. Issuers. Each Fund or the Underlying Funds may invest in U.S.-registered, U.S. dollar-denominated bonds of non-U.S. governments, agencies, supranational entities and corporate issuers. The Funds or the Underlying Funds may invest in Restricted Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers. Investing in U.S.-registered, U.S. dollar-denominated bonds or Restricted Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers involves some risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards; the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation; adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations; political instability, which could affect U.S. investments in foreign countries; and potential restrictions of the flow of international capital. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. In addition, the risk that the issuer may fail to meet its obligations on these securities may be affected by fluctuations in non-U.S. currency exchange rates between the issuer's local currency and the U.S. dollar. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product ("GDP"), rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions.**

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**When Issued Securities, Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may purchase or sell securities that it is entitled to receive on a when issued basis. Each Fund or Underlying Fund may also purchase or sell securities on a delayed delivery basis or through a forward commitment (including on TBA transactions). These transactions involve the purchase or sale of securities by each Fund or Underlying Fund at an established price with payment and delivery taking place in the future. Each Fund or Underlying Fund enters into these transactions to obtain what is considered an advantageous price to each Fund or Underlying Fund at the time of entering into the transaction. When each Fund or Underlying Fund purchases securities in these transactions, each Fund or Underlying Fund segregates liquid securities in an amount equal to the amount of its purchase commitments. TBAs also require the Fund or Underlying Fund entering into the transaction to post margin with the broker-dealer in connection with the transaction, which increases costs to the Fund or Underlying Fund.**

There can be no assurance that a security purchased on a when issued basis will be issued or that a security purchased or sold on a delayed delivery basis or through a forward commitment will be delivered. Also, the value of securities in these transactions on the delivery date may be more or less than the price paid by each Fund or Underlying Fund to purchase the securities.

Each Fund or Underlying Fund will lose money if the value of the security in such a transaction declines below the purchase price and will not benefit if the value of the security appreciates above the sale price during the commitment period.

Each Fund or Underlying Fund may dispose of or renegotiate a commitment after it has been entered into, and may sell securities it has committed to purchase before those securities are delivered to each Fund or Underlying Fund on the settlement date. In these cases each Fund or Underlying Fund may realize a taxable capital gain or loss.

When each Fund or Underlying Fund engages in when-issued, TBA transactions or forward commitment transactions, it relies on the other party to consummate the trade. Failure of such party to do so may result in the Fund's incurring a loss or missing an opportunity to obtain a price considered to be advantageous.

The market value of the securities underlying a commitment to purchase securities, and any subsequent fluctuations in their market value, is taken into account when determining the market value of each Fund or Underlying Fund starting on the day each Fund or Underlying Fund agrees to purchase the securities. Each Fund or Underlying Fund does not earn interest on the securities it has committed to purchase until they are paid for and delivered on the settlement date.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits a Fund to enter into when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g*., firm and standby commitments, including TBA commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision"). If a when-issued, forward-settling or non-standard settlement cycle security does not satisfy the Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision, then it is treated as a Derivatives Transaction under Rule 18f-4. See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.

**Zero Coupon Securities. Zero coupon securities are securities that are sold at a discount to par value and do not pay interest during the life of the security. The discount approximates the total amount of interest the security will accrue and compound over the period until maturity at a rate of interest reflecting the market rate of the security at the time of issuance. Upon maturity, the holder of a zero coupon security is entitled to receive the par value of the security.**

While interest payments are not made on such securities, holders of such securities are deemed to have received income (phantom income) annually, notwithstanding that cash may not be received currently. The effect of owning instruments that do not make current interest payments is that a fixed yield is earned not only on the original investment but also, in effect, on all discount accretion during the life of the obligations. This implicit reinvestment of earnings at a fixed rate eliminates the risk of being unable to invest distributions at a rate as high as the implicit yield on the zero coupon bond, but at the same time eliminates the holder's ability to reinvest at higher rates in the future. For this reason, some of these securities may be subject to substantially greater price fluctuations during periods of changing market interest rates than are comparable securities that pay interest currently. Longer term zero coupon bonds are more exposed to interest rate risk than shorter term zero coupon bonds. These investments benefit the issuer by mitigating its need for cash to meet debt service, but also require a higher rate of return to attract investors who are willing to defer receipt of cash.

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Each Fund or Underlying Fund accrues income with respect to these securities for federal income tax and accounting purposes prior to the receipt of cash payments. Zero coupon securities may be subject to greater fluctuation in value and less liquidity in the event of adverse market conditions than comparably rated securities that pay cash interest at regular intervals. Further, to maintain its qualification for pass-through treatment under the federal tax laws, the Fund or Underlying Fund is required to distribute income to its shareholders and, consequently, may have to dispose of other, more liquid portfolio securities under disadvantageous circumstances or may have to leverage itself by borrowing in order to generate the cash to satisfy these distributions. The required distributions may result in an increase in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's exposure to zero coupon securities.

In addition to the above-described risks, there are certain other risks related to investing in zero coupon securities. During a period of severe market conditions, the market for such securities may become even less liquid. In addition, as these securities do not pay cash interest, the Fund's or Underlying Fund's investment exposure to these securities and their risks, including credit risk, will increase during the time these securities are held in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio.

**Future Developments. The Board or the Board of Trustees of the Underlying Funds may, in the future, authorize each Fund and an Underlying Fund to invest in securities contracts and investments other than those listed in this SAI and in the respective prospectuses, provided they are consistent with each Fund's and/or an Underlying Fund's investment objective and do not violate any of their investment restrictions or policies.**

## General Considerations and Risks
A discussion of some of the principal risks associated with an investment in a Fund is contained in the applicable Prospectus. Because each Fund expects to obtain its exposure substantially through its investment in the Underlying Funds, shareholders should be aware that the risks of investment in particular types of securities, economic sectors and geographic locations discussed below may be borne by the Fund through its investment in the Underlying Funds. Through its investment in the Underlying Funds, each Fund will also bear the risks described below associated with the Underlying Funds' use of portfolio management techniques, such as borrowing arrangements and use of derivatives, in addition to the risks associated with those activities if the Funds engage in them directly.

An investment in a Fund should be made with an understanding that the value of the Fund's portfolio securities, including its investment in the Underlying Funds, may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of bonds in general, and other factors that affect the market. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the NAV of Fund or Underlying Fund shares and in the return on a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cause a Fund or Underlying Fund to incur interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce a Fund's or Underlying Fund's return. Borrowing may cause a Fund or Underlying Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by the Funds or Underlying Funds may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and a Fund or an Underlying Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields or interest rates that would not benefit from the hedging strategies used by the Fund. This might result in a decline in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Custody Risk. Custody risk refers to the risks inherent in the process of clearing and settling trades and to the holding of securities, cash and other assets by local banks, agents and depositories. Low trading volumes and volatile prices in less developed markets make trades harder to complete and settle, and governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that may not be subject to independent evaluation. Local agents are held only to the standards of care of their local markets, and thus may be subject to limited or no government oversight. Communications between the U.S. and emerging market countries may be unreliable, increasing the risk of delayed settlements or losses of security certificates. In general, the less developed a country's securities market is, the greater the likelihood of custody problems. Practices in relation to the settlement of securities transactions in emerging markets involve higher risks than those in developed markets, in part because of the use of brokers and counterparties that are often less well capitalized, and custody and registration of assets in some countries may be unreliable. The possibility of fraud, negligence or undue influence being exerted by the issuer or refusal to recognize ownership exists in some emerging markets, and, along with**

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other factors, could result in ownership registration being lost. In addition, the laws of certain countries may put limits on a Fund's or its Underlying Fund's ability to recover its assets if a foreign bank or depository or issuer of a security or an agent of any of the foregoing goes bankrupt. A Fund would absorb any loss resulting from such custody problems and may have no successful claim for compensation.

**Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's income and potentially in the value of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.**

**Illiquid Investments Risk. Each Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that a Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The liquidity of an investment will be determined based on relevant market, trading and investment specific considerations as set out in the Liquidity Program as required by the Liquidity Rule. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount to comparable, more liquid investments and a Fund may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments in a timely fashion or at their expected prices. If illiquid investments exceed 15% of a Fund's net assets, the Liquidity Rule and the Liquidity Program will require that certain remedial actions be taken.**

**Issuer Insolvency Risk. Each Fund's and Underlying Fund's potential exposure to financially or operationally troubled issuers involves a high degree of credit and market risk, which may be heightened during an economic downturn or recession. Should an issuer of securities held by a Fund or Underlying Fund become involved in a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, a wide variety of considerations make an evaluation of the outcome of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's exposure to the issuer uncertain.**

During the period of a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, it is unlikely that each Fund or an Underlying Fund will receive any interest payments on the securities of the issuer. Each Fund or an Underlying Fund will be subject to significant uncertainty as to whether the reorganization or restructuring will be completed, and each Fund or an Underlying Fund may bear certain extraordinary expenses to protect and recover its investment. Each Fund or an Underlying Fund will also be subject to significant uncertainty as to when and in what manner and for what value the obligations evidenced by the securities of the issuer held by a Fund or Underlying Fund will eventually be satisfied. Even if a plan of reorganization or restructuring is adopted with respect to the securities of the issuer held by each Fund or Underlying Fund, there can be no assurance that the securities or other assets received by a Fund or Underlying Fund in connection with such plan of reorganization or restructuring will not have a lower value or income potential than may have been anticipated or no value. A Fund or an Underlying Fund may be unable to enforce their claims or rights in any collateral or may have its claims or security interest in any collateral challenged, disallowed or subordinated to the claims or security interests of other creditors. In addition, amendments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code or other relevant laws could alter the expected outcome or introduce greater uncertainty regarding the outcome of each Fund's or Underlying Fund's securities holdings in the issuer. In a bankruptcy proceeding, a reorganization or restructuring, the securities of the issuer held by a Fund or Underlying Fund could be re-characterized, or each Fund or an Underlying Fund may receive different securities or other assets, including equity securities. These types of equity securities include, but are not limited to: common stock; preferred stock (including convertible preferred stock); bonds, notes and debentures convertible into common or preferred stock; stock purchase warrants and rights; equity interests in trusts; and depositary receipts. Equity securities are subject to changes in value, and their value may be more volatile than those of other asset classes. Holders of equity securities are subject to more risk than holders of debt securities because the status of equity holders is subordinate to debtholders in an issuer's capital structure. The value of equity securities received by each Fund or an Underlying Fund could decline if the financial condition of the issuer deteriorates or if overall market and economic conditions, or conditions within the issuer's region or industry, deteriorate.

To the extent that a Fund or Underlying Fund receives other assets in connection with a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, a Fund or Underlying Fund may also be subject to additional risks associated with the assets received. One example of assets that a Fund or Underlying Fund could receive is an interest in one or more loans made to the issuer as part of a workout agreed to by a consortium of lienholders and creditors of the issuer. A Fund or Underlying Fund may receive such interests in loans to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act.

Securities or other assets received in a reorganization or restructuring typically entail a higher degree of risk than investments in securities of issuers that have not undergone a reorganization or restructuring and may be subject to heavy selling or

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downward pricing pressure after completion of the reorganization or restructuring. The post-reorganization/restructuring assets and securities may also be illiquid and difficult to sell or value. If a Fund or Underlying Fund participates in negotiations with respect to a plan of reorganization or restructuring with respect to securities of the issuer held by a Fund or Underlying Fund, each Fund or Underlying Fund also may be restricted from disposing such securities for a period of time. If a Fund or Underlying Fund becomes involved in such proceedings, each Fund or an Underlying Fund may have more active participation in the affairs of the issuer than that assumed generally by an investor.

**LIBOR Risk. A Fund or Underlying Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR") to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. A Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. A Fund or Underlying Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by a Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. All other LIBOR settings and certain other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA") ceased to be published after December 31, 2021. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement ("repo") market and has been used increasingly on a voluntary basis in new instruments and transactions. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate Act was signed into law in the U.S., providing a statutory fallback mechanism to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Federal Reserve Board and based on SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR without adequate fallback provisions. On December 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve Board adopted regulations implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate Act by identifying benchmark rates based on SOFR that will replace LIBOR in different categories of financial contracts after June 30, 2023.**

The regulations include provisions that (i) provide a safe harbor for selection or use of a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; (ii) clarify who may choose the replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; and (iii) ensure that contracts adopting a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board will not be interrupted or terminated following the replacement of LIBOR. These regulations apply only contracts governed by U.S. law, among other limitations. Similar legislation and regulations have been and may be further adopted in other jurisdictions.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Parties to contracts, securities or other instruments using LIBOR may disagree on transition rates or the application of applicable transition regulations, potentially resulting in uncertainty of performance and the possibility of litigation. A Fund may have instruments linked to other interbank offered rates and currencies that may also cease to be published in the future.

The effect of these changes on a Fund or Underlying Fund will vary based on, among other things, existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and the potential renegotiation of existing contracts. In many cases, if an instrument falls back to an alternative reference rate, including SOFR, the alternative reference rate will not perform the same as LIBOR because the alternative reference rate does not include a credit-sensitive component in the rate calculation. In the event of a credit crisis, floating rate instruments using certain alternative reference rates could perform differently than those instruments using a rate indexed to the interbank lending market.

**Money Market Instruments Risk. A Fund may hold money market instruments. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changes in interest rates or in the credit ratings of the investments, among other things. If a significant amount of a Fund's assets is invested in money market instruments, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than U.S. government money market funds and retail money market funds "float" their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.**

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**Not a Money Market Fund. Each Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, a Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. The Funds do not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.**

**Operational Risk. BFA and a Fund's or Underlying Fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors such as processing errors or human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, or systems or technology failures, that could negatively impact the Funds or Underlying Funds. While service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, their methods of operational risk management may differ from a Fund's or Underlying Fund's in the setting of priorities, the personnel and resources available or the effectiveness of relevant controls. BFA, through its monitoring and oversight of service providers, seeks to ensure that service providers take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors. However, it is not possible for BFA or the other Fund or Underlying Fund service providers to identify all of the operational risks that may affect a Fund or Underlying Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.**

**Prepayment Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, issuers of certain debt obligations may repay principal prior to the security's maturity, which may cause a Fund or an Underlying Fund to have to reinvest in securities with lower yields or higher risk of default, resulting in a decline in the Fund's or Underlying Fund's income or return potential. Also, if a security subject to prepayment had been purchased at a premium, the value of the premium would be lost in the event of prepayment.**

**Risk of Derivatives. A derivative is a financial contract, the value of which depends on, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, such as a security, a commodity (such as gold or silver), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500<sup>®</sup> or the prime lending rate). A Fund or Underlying Fund may invest in futures contracts, securities options and other derivatives. Compared to securities, derivatives can be more sensitive to changes in interest rates or to sudden fluctuations in market prices and thus a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's losses may be greater if it invests in derivatives than if it invests only in conventional securities. Derivatives are also subject to counterparty risk, which is the risk that the other party in the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations. Derivatives generally involve the incurrence of leverage.**

When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that a Fund or Underlying Fund holds or is committed to purchase, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. While hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains, and in some cases, hedging can cause losses that are not offset by gains, and a Fund or Underlying Fund will recognize losses on both the investment and the hedge. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying security, and there can be no assurance that a Fund's or Underlying Fund's hedging transactions, which entail additional transaction costs, will be effective.

**Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. A position in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be closed only on the exchange on which the contract was made (or a linked exchange). While each Fund or Underlying Fund plans to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time. Futures contracts, by definition, project price levels in the future and not current levels of valuation; therefore, market circumstances may result in a discrepancy between the price of the future and the movement in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio. In the event of adverse price movements, a Fund or Underlying Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if a Fund or Underlying Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, a Fund or Underlying Fund may be required to deliver the instruments underlying the futures contracts it has sold.**

The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (*e.g.*, selling uncovered stock index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Funds do not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor

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relative to the size of a required margin deposit. The Funds, however, intend to utilize futures and options contracts in a manner designed to limit the risk exposure to levels comparable to a direct investment in the types of stocks in which it invests.

Utilization of futures and options on futures by a Fund or Underlying Fund involves the risk of loss of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom a Fund or Underlying Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option. The purchase of put or call options will be based upon predictions by BFA as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect.

Because the futures market generally imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day's settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of futures positions and subjecting each Fund or Underlying Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, each Fund or Underlying Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.

**Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Agency Debt Securities. Uncollateralized bonds issued by agencies, subdivisions or instrumentalities of foreign governments are generally backed only by the creditworthiness and reputation of the entities issuing the bonds and may not be backed by the full faith and credit of the foreign government. Moreover, a foreign government that explicitly provides its full faith and credit to a particular entity may be, due to changed circumstances, unable or unwilling to actually provide that support. If a non-U.S. agency is unable to meet its obligations, the performance of a Fund will be adversely impacted. A non-U.S. agency's operations and financial condition are influenced by the foreign government's economic and other policies. Changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a foreign government may cause the value of debt issued by that particular foreign government's agencies, subdivisions or instrumentalities to decline. During periods of economic uncertainty, the trading of non-U.S. agency bonds may be less liquid while market prices may be more volatile than prices of U.S. agency bonds. Additional risks associated with non-U.S. agency investing include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations, political instability, which could affect U.S. investments in foreign countries and cause restrictions on the flow of international capital.**

**Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Debt Securities. Non-U.S. debt securities are traded on foreign exchanges and OTC in the respective countries covered by a Fund or an Underlying Fund. The risks of investing in non-U.S. debt securities typically include market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic and political developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in bond prices. Investing in a fund whose portfolio contains securities of non-U.S. issuers involves certain risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in the securities of U.S. issuers. These risks include securities markets that may lack sufficient liquidity or may be less efficient; generally greater price volatility; less publicly available information about issuers; the imposition of withholding or other taxes; the imposition of restrictions on the expatriation of funds or other assets of a Fund or an Underlying Fund; higher transaction and custody costs; delays and risks attendant in settlement procedures; difficulties in enforcing contractual obligations; lower liquidity and significantly smaller market capitalization of most non-U.S. securities markets; different accounting and disclosure standards; lower levels of regulation of the securities markets; more substantial government interference with the economy; higher rates of inflation; greater social, economic, and political uncertainty; the risk of nationalization or expropriation of assets; and different bankruptcy and insolvency regimes which may stay or prevent recovery in the event of an issuer's default.**

**Risk of Swap Agreements. The risk of loss with respect to swaps is generally limited to the net amount of payments that a Fund or Underlying Fund is contractually obligated to make. Swap agreements are subject to the risk that the swap counterparty will default on its obligations. If such a default occurs, a Fund or Underlying Fund will have contractual remedies pursuant to the agreements related to the transaction. However, such remedies may be subject to bankruptcy and insolvency laws, which could affect the Fund's or Underlying Fund's rights as a creditor (*e.g.*, a Fund may not receive the net amount of payments that it is contractually entitled to receive).**

A Fund is required to post and collect variation margin and initial margin (comprised of specified liquid securities subject to haircuts) in connection with trading of OTC swaps. These requirements may raise the costs for a Fund's investment in swaps.

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**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of a Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. Treasury securities may cause the value of a Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Because U.S. government debt obligations are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, a downgrade could also result in higher interest rates for a range of borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial adverse effect on the U.S. and global economy.**

A high national debt level may increase market pressures to meet government funding needs, which may drive debt cost higher and lead the government to issue additional debt, thereby increasing refinancing risk. A high national debt also raises concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. If market participants determine that U.S. sovereign debt levels have become unsustainable, the value of the U.S. dollar could decline, thus increasing inflationary pressures, particularly with respect to services outsourced to non-U.S. providers and imported goods and constrain or prevent the U.S. government from implementing effective countercyclical fiscal policy in economic downturns. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity. However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period that shareholders own shares of a Fund. Notwithstanding that U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S., circumstances could arise that would prevent the timely payment of interest or principal, which would result in losses to a Fund.

**Valuation Risk. In certain circumstances, a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's securities may be valued using techniques other than market quotations. The value established for a security may be different from what would be produced through the use of another methodology or if the value had been priced using market quotations. Securities that are valued using methods other than market quotations, including "fair valued" securities, may be subject to greater fluctuation in their value from one day to the next than would be the case if market quotations were used. In addition, there is no assurance that a Fund and an Underlying Fund could sell a security for the value established for it at any time, and it is possible that a Fund or the Underlying Fund could incur a loss if a security is sold for less than its established value.**

**Risk of Investing in Asia. Investments in securities of issuers in certain Asian countries involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in other regions. Such heightened risks include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, piracy of intellectual property, data and other security breaches (especially of data stored electronically), political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision-making, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socio-economic unrest. Certain Asian economies have experienced rapid rates of economic growth and industrialization in recent years, and there is no assurance that these rates of economic growth and industrialization will be maintained.**

Certain Asian countries have democracies with relatively short histories, which may increase the risk of political instability. These countries have faced political and military unrest, and further unrest could present a risk to their local economies and securities markets. Indonesia and the Philippines have each experienced violence and terrorism, which has negatively impacted their economies. North Korea and South Korea each have substantial military capabilities, and historical tensions between the two countries present the risk of war. Escalated tensions involving the two countries and any outbreak of hostilities between the two countries, or even the threat of an outbreak of hostilities, could have a severe adverse effect on the entire Asian region. Certain Asian countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect Asian issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. Political, religious, and border disputes persist in India. India has recently experienced and may continue to experience civil unrest and hostilities with certain of its neighboring countries. Increased political and social unrest in these geographic areas could adversely affect the performance of investments in this region.

Certain governments in this region administer prices on several basic goods, including fuel and electricity, within their respective countries. Certain governments may exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector in their respective countries and may own or control many companies. Future government actions could have a significant effect on the economic conditions in this region, which in turn could have a negative impact on private sector companies. There is also the possibility of diplomatic developments adversely affecting investments in the region.

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Corruption and the perceived lack of a rule of law in dealings with international companies in certain Asian countries may discourage foreign investment and could negatively impact the long-term growth of certain economies in this region. In addition, certain countries in the region are experiencing high unemployment and corruption, and have fragile banking sectors.

Some economies in this region are dependent on a range of commodities, including oil, natural gas and coal. Accordingly, they are strongly affected by international commodity prices and particularly vulnerable to any weakening in global demand for these products. The market for securities in this region may also be directly influenced by the flow of international capital, and by the economic and market conditions of neighboring countries. China is a key trading partner of many Asian countries and any changes in trading relationships between China and other Asian countries may affect the region as a whole. Adverse economic conditions or developments in neighboring countries may increase investors' perception of the risk of investing in the region as a whole, which may adversely impact the market value of the securities issued by companies in the region.

**Risk of Investing in Central and South America. The economies of certain Central and South American countries have experienced high interest rates, economic volatility, inflation, currency devaluations, government defaults, high unemployment rates and political instability which can adversely affect issuers in these countries. In addition, commodities (such as oil, gas and minerals) represent a significant percentage of the region's exports and many economies in this region are particularly sensitive to fluctuations in commodity prices. Adverse economic events in one country may have a significant adverse effect on other countries of this region.**

The governments of certain countries in Central and South America may exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. Future government actions could have a significant effect on the economic conditions in such countries, which could have a negative impact on the securities in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests. Diplomatic developments may also adversely affect investments in certain countries in Central and South America. Some countries in Central and South America may be affected by public corruption and crime, including organized crime.

Certain countries in Central and South America may be heavily dependent upon international trade and, consequently, have been and may continue to be negatively affected by trade barriers, exchange controls, managed adjustments in relative currency values and other protectionist measures imposed or negotiated by the countries with which they trade. These countries also have been and may continue to be adversely affected by economic conditions in the countries with which they trade. In addition, certain issuers located in countries in Central and South America in which a Fund or an Underlying Fund invests may be the subject of sanctions (for example, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on certain Venezuelan individuals, corporate entities and the Venezuelan government) or have dealings with countries subject to sanctions and/or embargoes imposed by the U.S. government and the United Nations and/or countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism. An issuer may sustain damage to its reputation if it is identified as an issuer that has dealings with such countries. A Fund or an Underlying Fund may be adversely affected if it invests in such issuers.

**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Many countries with developed markets have recently experienced significant economic pressures. These countries generally tend to rely on the services sectors (*e.g.*, the financial services sector) as the primary source of economic growth and may be susceptible to the risks of individual service sectors. For example, companies in the financial services sector are subject to governmental regulation and, recently, government intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and amount of capital they must maintain. Dislocations in the financial sector and perceived or actual governmental influence over certain financial companies may lead to credit rating downgrades and, as a result, impact, among other things, revenue growth for such companies. If financial companies experience a prolonged decline in revenue growth, certain developed countries that rely heavily on financial companies as an economic driver may experience a correlative slowdown. Concerns have emerged with respect to the economic health of certain developed countries. These concerns primarily stem from heavy indebtedness of many developed countries and their perceived inability to continue to service high debt loads without simultaneously implementing stringent austerity measures. Such concerns have led to tremendous downward pressure on the economies of these countries. As a result, it is possible that interest rates on debt of certain developed countries may rise to levels that make it difficult for such countries to service such debt. Spending on health care and retirement pensions in most developed countries has risen dramatically. Medical innovation, extended life expectancy and higher public expectations are likely to continue the increase in health care and pension costs. Any increase in health care and pension costs will likely have a negative impact on the economic growth of many developed countries. Certain developed countries rely on imports of certain key items, such as crude oil, natural gas, and other commodities. As a result, an increase in demand for, or price fluctuations of, certain**

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commodities may negatively affect developed country economies. Developed market countries generally are dependent on the economies of certain key trading partners. Changes in any one economy may cause an adverse impact on several developed countries. In addition, heavy regulation of, among others, labor and product markets may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of a Fund's or the Underlying Fund's investments.

**Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets. Investments in emerging market countries may be subject to greater risks than investments in developed countries. These risks include: (i) less social, political, and economic stability; (ii) greater illiquidity and price volatility due to smaller or limited local capital markets for such securities, or low or non-existent trading volumes; (iii) companies, custodians, clearinghouses, foreign exchanges and broker-dealers may be subject to less scrutiny and regulation by local authorities; (iv) local governments may decide to seize or confiscate securities held by foreign investors and/or local governments may decide to suspend or limit an issuer's ability to make dividend or interest payments; (v) local governments may limit or entirely restrict repatriation of invested capital, profits, and dividends; (vi) capital gains may be subject to local taxation, including on a retroactive basis; (vii) issuers facing restrictions on dollar or euro payments imposed by local governments may attempt to make dividend or interest payments to foreign investors in the local currency; (viii) there may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against companies and investors may experience difficulty in enforcing legal claims related to the securities and/or local judges may favor the interests of the issuer over those of foreign parties; (ix) bankruptcy judgments may only be permitted to be paid in the local currency; (x) limited public information regarding the issuer may result in greater difficulty in determining market valuations of the securities; and (xi) lack of financial reporting on a regular basis, substandard disclosure and differences in accounting standards may make it difficult to ascertain the financial health of an issuer. The Funds are not actively managed and do not select investments based on investor protection considerations.**

Emerging market securities markets are typically marked by a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of ownership of such securities by a limited number of investors. In addition, brokerage and other costs associated with transactions in emerging market securities can be higher, sometimes significantly, than similar costs incurred in securities markets in developed countries. Although some emerging markets have become more established and tend to issue securities of higher credit quality, the markets for securities in other emerging market countries are in the earliest stages of their development, and these countries issue securities across the credit spectrum. Even the markets for relatively widely traded securities in emerging market countries may not be able to absorb, without price disruptions, a significant increase in trading volume or trades of a size customarily undertaken by institutional investors in the securities markets of developed countries. The limited size of many of these securities markets can cause prices to be erratic for reasons apart from factors that affect the soundness and competitiveness of the securities issuers. For example, prices may be unduly influenced by traders who control large positions in these markets. Additionally, market making and arbitrage activities are generally less extensive in such markets, which may contribute to increased volatility and reduced liquidity of such markets. The limited liquidity of emerging market country securities may also affect a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's ability to accurately value its portfolio securities or to acquire or dispose of securities at the price and time it wishes to do so or in order to meet redemption requests.

Many emerging market countries suffer from uncertainty and corruption in their legal frameworks. Legislation may be difficult to interpret and laws may be too new to provide any precedential value. Laws regarding foreign investment and private property may be weak or non-existent. Sudden changes in governments may result in policies which are less favorable to investors such as policies designed to expropriate or nationalize "sovereign" assets. Certain emerging market countries in the past have expropriated large amounts of private property, in many cases with little or no compensation, and there can be no assurance that such expropriation will not occur in the future.

Investment in the securities markets of certain emerging market countries is restricted or controlled to varying degrees. These restrictions may limit a Fund's or an Underlying Fund's investment in certain emerging market countries and may increase the expenses of the Fund or the Underlying Fund. Certain emerging market countries require governmental approval prior to investments by foreign persons or limit investment by foreign persons to only a specified percentage of an issuer's outstanding securities or a specific class of securities which may have less advantageous terms (including price) than securities of the company available for purchase by nationals.

Many emerging market countries lack the social, political, and economic stability characteristic of the U.S. Political instability among emerging market countries can be common and may be caused by an uneven distribution of wealth, social unrest,

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labor strikes, civil wars, and religious oppression. Economic instability in emerging market countries may take the form of: (i) high interest rates; (ii) high levels of inflation, including hyperinflation; (iii) high levels of unemployment or underemployment; (iv) changes in government economic and tax policies, including confiscatory taxation; and (v) imposition of trade barriers.

A Fund's or an Underlying Fund's income and, in some cases, capital gains from foreign securities will be subject to applicable taxation in certain of the emerging market countries in which it invests, and treaties between the U.S. and such countries may not be available in some cases to reduce the otherwise applicable tax rates.

Emerging markets also have different clearance and settlement procedures, and in certain of these emerging markets there have been times when settlements have been unable to keep pace with the volume of securities transactions, making it difficult to conduct such transactions.

In the past, certain governments in emerging market countries have become overly reliant on the international capital markets and other forms of foreign credit to finance large public spending programs, which in the past have caused huge budget deficits. Often, interest payments have become too overwhelming for a government to meet, representing a large percentage of total GDP. These foreign obligations have become the subject of political debate and served as fuel for political parties of the opposition, which pressure the government not to make payments to foreign creditors, but instead to use these funds for, among other things, social programs. Either due to an inability to pay or submission to political pressure, foreign governments have been forced to seek a restructuring of their loan and/or bond obligations, have declared a temporary suspension of interest payments or have defaulted. These events have adversely affected the values of securities issued by foreign governments and corporations domiciled in those countries and have negatively affected not only their cost of borrowing, but their ability to borrow in the future as well.

**Risk of Investing in Europe. Investing in European countries may expose a Fund or Underlying Fund to the economic and political risks associated with Europe in general and the specific European countries in which it invests. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one European country can have an adverse impact on other European countries. A Fund or Underlying Fund may make investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, have significant operations in, or that are listed on at least one securities exchange within member states of the European Union (the "EU"). A number of countries within the EU are also members of the Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") and have adopted the euro as their currency. Eurozone membership requires member states to comply with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Changes in import or export tariffs, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro and other currencies of certain EU countries which are not in the eurozone, the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. Although certain European countries are not in the eurozone, many of these countries are obliged to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone.**

Consequently, these countries must comply with many of the restrictions noted above. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns, government debt levels and the possible default of government debt in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. In order to prevent further economic deterioration, certain countries, without prior warning, can institute "capital controls." Countries may use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering and exiting their country. Such controls may negatively affect a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments. A default or debt restructuring by any European country would adversely impact holders of that country's debt and sellers of credit default swaps linked to that country's creditworthiness, which may be located in countries other than those listed above. In addition, the credit ratings of certain European countries were downgraded in the past. These events have adversely affected the value and exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect the economies of every country in Europe, including countries that do not use the euro and non-EU member states. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly

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fashion, is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely impact the value of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments in the region.

The United Kingdom (the "U.K.") left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.

Certain European countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect European issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region also could impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of a Fund's or Underlying Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which a Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.*

**Risk of Investing in the Middle East. Many Middle Eastern countries have little or no democratic tradition, and the political and legal systems in such countries may have an adverse impact on a Fund or Underlying Fund. Many economies in the Middle East are highly reliant on income from the sale of oil and natural gas or trade with countries involved in the sale of oil and natural gas, and their economies are therefore vulnerable to changes in the market for oil and natural gas and foreign currency values. As global demand for oil and natural gas fluctuates, many Middle Eastern economies may be significantly impacted.**

In addition, many Middle Eastern governments have exercised and continue to exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. In certain cases, a Middle Eastern country's government may own or control many companies, including some of the largest companies in the country. Accordingly, governmental actions in the future could have a significant effect on economic conditions in Middle Eastern countries. This could affect private sector companies and a Fund or Underlying Fund, as well as the value of securities in such Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolios.

Certain Middle Eastern markets are in the earliest stages of development. As a result, there may be a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of investors and financial intermediaries. Brokers in Middle Eastern countries typically are fewer in number and less capitalized than brokers in the U.S.

The legal systems in certain Middle Eastern countries also may have an adverse impact on a Fund or an Underlying Fund. For example, the potential liability of a shareholder in a U.S. corporation with respect to acts of the corporation generally is limited to the amount of the shareholder's investment. However, the notion of limited liability is less clear in certain Middle Eastern countries. A Fund or Underlying Fund therefore may be liable in certain Middle Eastern countries for the acts of a corporation in which it invests for an amount greater than their actual investment in that corporation. Similarly, the rights of investors in Middle Eastern issuers may be more limited than those of shareholders of a U.S. corporation. It may be difficult or impossible to obtain or enforce a legal judgment in a Middle Eastern country. Some Middle Eastern countries prohibit or impose substantial restrictions on investments in their capital markets, particularly their equity markets, by foreign entities such as a Fund or Underlying Fund. For example, certain countries may require governmental approval prior to investment by foreign persons or limit the amount of investment by foreign persons in a particular issuer. Certain Middle Eastern countries

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may also limit investment by foreign persons to only a specific class of securities of an issuer that may have less advantageous terms (including price) than securities of the issuer available for purchase by nationals of the relevant Middle Eastern country.

The manner in which foreign investors may invest in companies in certain Middle Eastern countries, as well as limitations on those investments, may have an adverse impact on the operations of a Fund or Underlying Fund. For example, in certain of these countries, a Fund or Underlying Fund may be required to invest initially through a local broker or other entity and then have the shares that were purchased re-registered in the name of a Fund or Underlying Fund. Re-registration in some instances may not be possible on a timely basis. This may result in a delay during which a Fund or Underlying Fund may be denied certain of its rights as an investor, including rights as to dividends or to be made aware of certain corporate actions. There also may be instances where a Fund or Underlying Fund places a purchase order but is subsequently informed, at the time of re-registration, that the permissible allocation of the investment to foreign investors has already been filled and, consequently, a Fund or Underlying Fund may not be able to invest in the relevant company.

Substantial limitations may exist in certain Middle Eastern countries with respect to a Fund's or Underlying Fund's ability to repatriate investment income or capital gains. A Fund or Underlying Fund could be adversely affected by delays in, or a refusal to grant, any required governmental approval for repatriation of capital, as well as by the application to a Fund or Underlying Fund of any restrictions on investment.

Certain Middle Eastern countries may be heavily dependent upon international trade and, consequently, have been and may continue to be negatively affected by trade barriers, exchange controls, managed adjustments in relative currency values and other protectionist measures imposed or negotiated by the countries with which they trade. These countries also have been and may continue to be adversely impacted by economic conditions in the countries with which they trade. In addition, certain issuers located in Middle Eastern countries in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests may operate in, or have dealings with, countries subject to sanctions and/or embargoes imposed by the U.S. government and the United Nations, and/or countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism. As a result, an issuer may sustain damage to its reputation if it is identified as an issuer which operates in, or has dealings with, such countries. A Fund or Underlying Fund, as an investor in such issuers, will be indirectly subject to those risks.

Certain Middle Eastern countries have strained relations with other Middle Eastern countries due to territorial disputes, historical animosities, international alliances, defense concerns or other reasons, which may adversely affect the economies of these Middle Eastern countries. Certain Middle Eastern countries experience significant unemployment, as well as widespread underemployment. There has also been a recent increase in recruitment efforts and an aggressive push for territorial control by terrorist groups in the region, which has led to an outbreak of warfare and hostilities. Warfare in Syria has spread to surrounding areas, including many portions of Iraq and Turkey. Such hostilities may continue into the future or may escalate at any time due to ethnic, racial, political, religious or ideological tensions between groups in the region or foreign intervention or lack of intervention, among other factors.

**Risk of Investing in North America. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests.**

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S., and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities held by a Fund or Underlying Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by a Fund or Underlying Fund.

**Risk of Investing in Russia. Investing in the Russian securities market involves a high degree of risk and special considerations not typically associated with investing in the U.S. securities market, and should be considered highly speculative. Risks include: the absence of developed legal structures governing private and foreign investments and private property; the possibility of the loss of all or a substantial portion of the Fund's assets invested in Russia as a result of expropriation; certain national policies which may restrict the Fund's investment opportunities, including, without limitation, restrictions on investing in issuers or industries deemed sensitive to relevant national interests; and potentially greater price**

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volatility in, significantly smaller capitalization of, and relative illiquidity of, the Russian market. There can also be no assurance that the Fund's investments in the Russian securities market would not be expropriated, nationalized or otherwise confiscated. In the event of the settlement of any such claims or such expropriation, nationalization or other confiscation, the Fund could lose its entire investment. In addition, it may be difficult and more costly to obtain and enforce a judgment in the Russian court system.

Russia may also be subject to a greater degree of economic, political and social instability than is the case in other developed countries. Such instability may result from, among other things, the following: (i) an authoritarian government or military involvement in political and economic decision-making, including changes in government through extra-constitutional means; (ii) popular unrest associated with demands for improved political, economic and social conditions; (iii) internal insurgencies; (iv) hostile relations with neighboring countries; and (v) ethnic, religious and racial disaffection.

The Russian economy is heavily dependent upon the export of a range of commodities including most industrial metals, forestry products and oil and gas. Accordingly, it is strongly affected by international commodity prices and is particularly vulnerable to any weakening in global demand for these products. Any acts of terrorism or armed conflicts in Russia or internationally could have an adverse effect on the financial and commodities markets and the global economy. As Russia produces and exports large amounts of crude oil and gas, any acts of terrorism or armed conflict causing disruptions of Russian oil and gas exports could negatively affect the Russian economy and, thus, adversely affect the financial condition, results of operations or prospects of related companies. Current and future economic sanctions may also adversely affect the Russian oil, banking, mining, metals, rail, pipeline and gas sectors, among other sectors.

The Russian government may exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector and may own or control many companies. Future government actions could have a significant effect on the economic conditions in Russia, which could have a negative impact on private sector companies. There is also the possibility of diplomatic developments that could adversely affect investments in Russia. In recent years, the Russian government has begun to take bolder steps to re-assert its regional geopolitical influence (including military steps). Additionally, Russia is alleged to have participated in state-sponsored cyberattacks against foreign companies and foreign governments. Such steps may increase tensions between Russia and its neighbors and Western countries and may negatively affect economic growth. Actual and threatened responses by other nation-states to Russia's alleged cyber activity may have an adverse impact on the Russian economy and the Russian issuers of securities in which a Fund invests. For example, the U.S. has added certain foreign technology companies to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security's "Entity List," which is a list of companies believed to pose a national security risk to the U.S. Actions like these may have unanticipated and disruptive effects on the Russian economy.

*Russia Sanctions. Governments in the U.S. and many other countries (collectively, the "Sanctioning Bodies") have imposed economic sanctions on certain Russian individuals, including politicians, and Russian corporate and banking entities. The Sanctioning Bodies, or others, could also institute broader sanctions on Russia. These sanctions, or even the threat of further sanctions, may result in the decline of the value and liquidity of Russian securities, a weakening of the ruble or other adverse consequences to the Russian economy. These sanctions could also result in the immediate freeze of Russian securities and/or funds invested in prohibited assets, impairing the ability of a Fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities and/or assets.*

The sanctions against certain Russian issuers include prohibitions on transacting in or dealing in issuances of debt or equity of such issuers. Compliance with each of these sanctions has and may continue to impair the ability of a Fund to buy, sell, hold, receive or deliver the affected securities or other securities of such issuers. If it becomes impracticable or unlawful for a Fund to hold securities subject to, or otherwise affected by, sanctions (collectively, "affected securities"), or if deemed appropriate by BFA, a Fund may prohibit in-kind deposits of the affected securities in connection with creation transactions and instead require a cash deposit, which may also increase a Fund's transaction costs. A Fund may also be legally required to freeze assets in a blocked account.

Also, if an affected security is included in the Underlying Fund's underlying index, the Underlying Fund may, where practicable, seek to eliminate its holdings of the affected security by employing or augmenting its representative sampling strategy to seek to track the investment results of its underlying index. The use of (or increased use of) a representative sampling strategy may increase the Underlying Fund's tracking error risk. If the affected securities constitute a significant percentage of the underlying index, the Underlying Fund may not be able to effectively implement a representative sampling

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strategy, which may result in significant tracking error between the Underlying Fund's performance and the performance of its underlying index.

Sanctions have resulted in Russia taking counter measures or retaliatory actions, which has impaired the value and liquidity of Russian securities. These retaliatory measures include the immediate freeze of Russian assets held by a Fund. Due to such a freeze of any Fund assets, including depositary receipts, a Fund may need to liquidate non-restricted assets in order to satisfy any Fund redemption orders. The liquidation of Fund assets during this time may also result in a Fund receiving substantially lower prices for its securities. Russia may implement additional retaliatory measures, which may further impair the value and liquidity of Russian securities.

These sanctions, the decision by Russia to suspend trading on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and prohibit non-resident investors from executing security sales, recent Russian debt ratings downgrades, and other events have led to changes in the Underlying Index of the Underlying Fund. An Underlying Fund's Index Provider excluded all Russian debt securities from its Underlying Index beginning March 31, 2022. To the extent that an Underlying Fund rebalances its portfolio and trades in non-Russian securities to seek to track the investment results of its Underlying Index, this may result in transaction costs and increased tracking error. An Underlying Fund is currently restricted from trading in Russian securities, including those in its portfolio, while an Underlying Fund's Underlying Index has removed Russian securities. For Underlying Funds with Russian securities, this disparity will also lead to increased tracking error. The inability of an Underlying Fund to trade in Russian securities may adversely affect such an Underlying Fund's ability to meet its investment objective. It is unknown when, or if, sanctions may be lifted or such an Underlying Fund's ability to trade in Russian securities will resume.

*Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Any such disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which a Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing restrictions, sanctions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government or Russian companies, may impact Russia's economy and Russian issuers of securities in which a Fund invests. Actual and threatened responses to such military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy.*

**Risk of Investing in Saudi Arabia. Certain of the Funds' Underlying Indexes include Saudi Arabian securities. The ability of foreign investors (such as the Funds) to invest in the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers is relatively new. Such ability could be restricted by the Saudi Arabian government at any time, and unforeseen risks could materialize with respect to foreign ownership in such securities. In addition, the Capital Market Authority ("CMA") places investment limitations on the ownership of the securities of Saudi Arabian issuers by foreign investors, including a limitation on a Fund's ownership of the securities of any single issuer listed on the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange, which may prevent a Fund from investing in accordance with its strategy and contribute to tracking error against the Underlying Index. These restrictions may be changed or new restrictions, such as licensing requirements, special approvals or additional foreign taxes, may be instituted at any time. A Fund may not be able to obtain or maintain any such licenses or approvals and may not be able to buy and sell securities at full value. Major disruptions or regulatory changes could occur in the Saudi Arabian market, any of which could negatively impact a Fund. These risks may be exacerbated, compared to more developed markets, given the limited history of foreign investment in the Saudi Arabian market. Investments in Saudi Arabia may also be subject to loss due to expropriation or nationalization of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on additional foreign investments and repatriation of capital. Such heightened risks may include, among others, restrictions on and government intervention in international trade, confiscatory taxation, political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision making, armed conflict, crime and instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socioeconomic unrest. Saudi Arabia has privatized, or has begun the process of privatizing, certain entities and industries. Newly privatized companies may face strong competition from government-sponsored competitors that have not been privatized. In some instances, investors in newly privatized entities have suffered losses due to the inability of the newly privatized entities to adjust quickly to a competitive environment or changing regulatory and legal standards or, in some cases, due to re-nationalization of such privatized entities. There is no assurance that similar losses will not recur. Saudi Arabia is highly reliant on income from the sale of petroleum and trade with other countries involved in the sale of petroleum, and its economy is therefore vulnerable to changes in foreign currency values and the market for petroleum, as well as acts targeting petroleum production or**

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processing facilities in Saudi Arabia. As global demand for petroleum fluctuates, Saudi Arabia may be significantly impacted. In the recent past, the Saudi Arabian government has explored privatization and diversification of the economy in the wake of a diminished petroleum market.

Like most Middle Eastern governments, the government of Saudi Arabia exercises substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector. Although liberalization in the wider economy is underway, in many areas it has lagged significantly: restrictions on foreign ownership persist, and the government has an ownership stake in many key industries. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that Saudi Arabia is governed by an absolute monarchy. Saudi Arabia has historically experienced strained relations with economic partners worldwide, including other countries in the Middle East, due to geopolitical events. Incidents involving a Middle Eastern country's or the region's security, including terrorism, may cause uncertainty in their markets and may adversely affect its economy and a Fund's investments.

Governmental actions in the future could have a significant effect on economic conditions in Saudi Arabia, which could affect private sector companies and a Fund, as well as the value of securities in a Fund's portfolio. Any economic sanctions on Saudi Arabian individuals or Saudi Arabian corporate entities, or even the threat of sanctions, may result in the decline of the value and liquidity of Saudi Arabian securities, a weakening of the Saudi riyal or other adverse consequences to the Saudi Arabian economy. Any sanctions could also result in the immediate freeze of Saudi Arabian securities and/or funds investing in prohibited assets, impairing the ability of a Fund to buy, sell, receive or deliver those securities and/or assets. In addition, Saudi Arabia's economy relies heavily on cheap, foreign labor, and changes in the availability of this labor supply could have an adverse effect on the economy.

The securities markets in Saudi Arabia may not be as developed as those in other countries. As a result, securities markets in Saudi Arabia are subject to greater risks associated with market volatility, lower market capitalization, lower trading volume, illiquidity, inflation, greater price fluctuations, uncertainty regarding the existence of trading markets, governmental control and heavy regulation of labor and industry. Shares of certain Saudi Arabian companies tend to trade less frequently than those of companies on exchanges in more developed markets. Such infrequent trading may adversely affect the pricing of these securities and a Fund's ability to sell these securities in the future.

Although the political situation in Saudi Arabia is largely stable, Saudi Arabia has historically experienced political instability, and there remains the possibility that the stability will not hold in the future or that instability in the larger Middle East region could adversely impact the economy of Saudi Arabia. Instability may be caused by military developments, government interventions in the marketplace, terrorism, extremist attitudes, attempted social or political reforms, religious differences, or other factors. Additionally, anti-Western views held by certain groups in the Middle East may influence government policies regarding foreign investment. Further developments in U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia and other Middle-Eastern countries may affect these attitudes and policies. The U.S. is a significant trading partner of, or foreign investor in, Saudi Arabia. As a result, economic conditions of Saudi Arabia may be particularly affected by changes in the U.S. economy. A decrease in U.S. imports or exports, new trade and financial regulations or tariffs, changes in the U.S. dollar exchange rate or an economic slowdown in the U.S. may have a material adverse effect on the economic conditions of Saudi Arabia and, as a result, securities to which a Fund has exposure. Political instability in North Africa and the larger Middle East region has caused significant disruptions to many industries. Continued political and social unrest in these areas may negatively affect the value of securities in a Fund's portfolio.

Certain issuers located in Saudi Arabia may operate in, or have dealings with, countries subject to sanctions and/or embargoes imposed by the U.S. government and the United Nations and/or countries identified by the U.S. government as state sponsors of terrorism. As a result, an issuer may sustain damage to its reputation if it is identified as an issuer which operates in, or has dealings with, such countries. A Fund, as an investor in such issuers, will be indirectly subject to those risks.

**Risk of Investing in the Basic Materials Industry. Issuers in the basic materials industry could be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, exchange rate fluctuations, social and political unrest, import controls and increased competition. Companies in the basic materials industry may be subject to swift fluctuations in supply and demand. Fluctuations may be caused by events relating to political and economic developments, the environmental impact of basic materials operations, and the success of exploration projects. Production of industrial materials often exceeds demand as a result of over-building or economic downturns, leading to poor investment returns. Issuers in the basic materials industry are at risk for**

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environmental damage and product liability claims and may be adversely affected by depletion of resources, delays in technical progress, labor relations, tax and government regulations related to changes to, among other things, energy and environmental policies.

**Risk of Investing in the Capital Goods Industry. Companies in the capital goods industry may be affected by fluctuations in the business cycle and by other factors affecting manufacturing demands. Companies in the capital goods industry depend heavily on corporate spending. Companies in the capital goods industry may perform well during times of economic expansion, and as economic conditions worsen, the demand for capital goods may decrease due to weakening demand, worsening business cash flows, tighter credit controls and deteriorating profitability. During times of economic volatility, corporate spending may fall and adversely affect the capital goods industry. This industry may also be affected by changes in interest rates, corporate tax rates and other government policies. Many capital goods are sold internationally and such companies are subject to market conditions in other countries and regions.**

**Risk of Investing in the Communication Services Sector. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.** 

The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

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**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Cyclical Industry. A Fund or Underlying Fund may invest in consumer cyclical companies, which rely heavily on business cycles and economic conditions. Consumer cyclical companies include automotive manufacturers, retail companies, and housing-related companies. The consumer cyclical industry can be significantly affected by several factors, including, without limitation, the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, changing consumer tastes and trends, marketing campaigns, cyclical revenue generation, consumer confidence, commodity price volatility, labor relations, interest rates, import and export controls, intense competition, technological developments and government regulation.**

**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Services Industry. The success of firms in the consumer services industry and certain retailers (including food and beverage, general retailers, media, and travel and leisure) is tied closely to the performance of the domestic and international economy, interest rates, exchange rates, competition and consumer confidence. The consumer services industry depends heavily on disposable household income and consumer spending. Companies in the consumer services industry may be subject to severe competition, which may also have an adverse impact on their profitability. Companies in the consumer services industry are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. Changes in demographics and consumer preferences may affect the success of consumer service providers.**

**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Staples Sector. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be adversely affected by changes in the global economy, consumer spending, competition, demographics and consumer preferences, and production spending. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be affected by changes in global economic, environmental and political events, economic conditions, the depletion of resources, and government regulation. For instance, government regulations may affect the permissibility of using various food additives and production methods of companies that make food products, which could affect company profitability. In addition, tobacco companies may be adversely affected by the adoption of proposed legislation and/or by litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector also may be subject to risks pertaining to the supply of, demand for and prices of raw materials. The prices of raw materials fluctuate in response to a number of factors, including, without limitation, changes in government agricultural support programs, exchange rates, import and export controls, changes in international agricultural and trading policies, and seasonal and weather conditions. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be subject to severe competition, which may also have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector. Companies in the energy sector are strongly affected by the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, government regulations and policies, energy production and conservation efforts, technological change, development of alternative energy sources, and other factors that they cannot control. These companies may also lack resources and have limited business lines. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in certain energy markets or in the global economy. If an energy company in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio becomes distressed, a Fund or Underlying Fund could lose all or a substantial portion of its investment.**

The energy sector is cyclical and is highly dependent on commodity prices; prices and supplies of energy may fluctuate significantly over short and long periods of time due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") policies, changes in relationships among OPEC members and between OPEC and oil-importing nations, the regulatory environment, taxation policies, the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions, war or other geopolitical conflicts, and the economies of the key energy-consuming countries. Commodity prices have recently been subject to increased volatility, which may negatively affect companies in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests. For example, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of certain crude oil futures contracts falling below zero for a period of time.

Companies in the energy sector may be adversely affected by terrorism, war, cyber incidents, natural disasters or other catastrophes. Companies in the energy sector are at risk of civil liability from accidents resulting in injury, loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental damage claims. Disruptions in the oil industry or shifts in fuel consumption may significantly impact companies in this sector. Significant oil and gas deposits are located in emerging markets countries where corruption and security may raise significant risks, in addition to the other risks of investing in emerging markets. Additionally, the Middle East, where many companies in the energy sector may operate, has historically and recently experienced widespread social unrest.

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Companies in the energy sector may also be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, government regulation and intervention, negative perception, efforts at energy conservation and world events in the regions in which the companies operate (*e.g.,* expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and repatriation of capital, military coups, social unrest, violence or labor unrest). Because a significant portion of revenues of companies in this sector is derived from a relatively small number of customers that are largely composed of governmental entities and utilities, governmental budget constraints may have a significant impact on the stock prices of companies in this sector. The energy sector is highly regulated. Entities operating in the energy sector are subject to significant regulation of nearly every aspect of their operations by governmental agencies. Such regulation can change rapidly or over time in both scope and intensity. Stricter laws, regulations or enforcement policies could be enacted in the future which would likely increase compliance costs and may materially adversely affect the financial performance of companies in the energy sector. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than companies in other sectors to restructure their businesses during economic downturns or adversity in global energy markets.

Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. The U.S. and certain European countries have announced bans or restrictions on imports of hydrocarbon commodities from Russia. The effect of such bans and any similar restrictions by other countries, as well as the extent, scope and duration of the conflict, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of a Fund.

**Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector. Companies in the financials sector include regional and money center banks, securities brokerage firms, asset management companies, savings banks and thrift institutions, specialty finance companies (*e.g.*, credit card, mortgage providers), insurance and insurance brokerage firms, consumer finance firms, financial conglomerates and foreign banking and financial companies.**

Most financial companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which limits their activities and may affect their ability to earn a profit from a given line of business. Government regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by the regulation. Direct governmental intervention in the operations of financial companies and financial markets may materially and adversely affect the companies in which a Fund or Underlying Fund invests, including legislation in many countries that may increase government regulation, repatriation and other intervention. The impact of governmental intervention and legislative changes on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted. The valuation of financial companies has been and continues to be subject to unprecedented volatility and may be influenced by unpredictable factors, including interest rate risk and sovereign debt default. Certain financial businesses are subject to intense competitive pressures, including market share and price competition. Financial companies in foreign countries are subject to market specific and general regulatory and interest rate concerns. In particular, government regulation in certain foreign countries may include taxes and controls on interest rates, credit availability, minimum capital requirements, bans on short sales, limits on prices and restrictions on currency transfers. In addition, companies in the financials sector may be the targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or customer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.

The profitability of banks, savings and loan associations and financial companies is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates change; for instance, when interest rates go up, the value of securities issued by many types of companies in the financials sector generally goes down. In other words, financial companies may be adversely affected in certain market cycles, including, without limitation, during periods of rising interest rates, which may restrict the availability and increase the cost of capital, and during periods of declining economic conditions, which may cause, among other things, credit losses due to financial difficulties of borrowers.

In addition, general economic conditions are important to the operations of these companies, and financial difficulties of borrowers may have an adverse effect on the profitability of financial companies. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products, and who at times may be unable to meet their obligations to the financial services companies. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect

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other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk, including cross-default risk, may result in significant negative impacts to the financial condition and reputation of companies with direct exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Financial companies can be highly dependent upon access to capital markets, and any impediments to such access, such as adverse overall economic conditions or a negative perception in the capital markets of a financial company's financial condition or prospects, could adversely affect its business. Deterioration of credit markets can have an adverse impact on a broad range of financial markets, causing certain financial companies to incur large losses. In these conditions, companies in the financials sector may experience significant declines in the valuation of their assets, take actions to raise capital and even cease operations. Some financial companies may also be required to accept or borrow significant amounts of capital from government sources and may face future government-imposed restrictions on their businesses or increased government intervention. In addition, there is no guarantee that governments will provide any such relief in the future. These actions may cause the securities of many companies in the financials sector to decline in value.

**Risk of Investing in the Healthcare Sector. Companies in the healthcare sector are often issuers whose profitability may be affected by extensive government regulation, restrictions on government reimbursement for medical expenses, rising or falling costs of medical products and services, pricing pressure, an increased emphasis on outpatient services, a limited number of products, industry innovation, changes in technologies and other market developments. Many healthcare companies are heavily dependent on patent protection and the actual or perceived safety and efficiency of their products.**

Patents have a limited duration, and, upon expiration, other companies may market substantially similar "generic" products that are typically sold at a lower price than the patented product, which can cause the original developer of the product to lose market share and/or reduce the price charged for the product, resulting in lower profits for the original developer. As a result, the expiration of patents may adversely affect the profitability of these companies.

In addition, because the products and services of many companies in the healthcare sector affect the health and well-being of many individuals, these companies are especially susceptible to extensive litigation based on product liability and similar claims. Healthcare companies are subject to competitive forces that may make it difficult to raise prices and, in fact, may result in price discounting. Many new products in the healthcare sector may be subject to regulatory approvals. The process of obtaining such approvals may be long and costly, which can result in increased development costs, delayed cost recovery and loss of competitive advantage to the extent that rival companies have developed competing products or procedures, adversely affecting the company's revenues and profitability. In other words, delays in the regulatory approval process may diminish the opportunity for a company to profit from a new product or to bring a new product to market, which could have a material adverse effect on a company's business. Healthcare companies may also be strongly affected by scientific biotechnology or technological developments, and their products may quickly become obsolete. Also, many healthcare companies offer products and services that are subject to governmental regulation and may be adversely affected by changes in governmental policies or laws. Changes in governmental policies or laws may span a wide range of topics, including cost control, national health insurance, incentives for compensation in the provision of healthcare services, tax incentives and penalties related to healthcare insurance premiums, and promotion of prepaid healthcare plans. In addition, a number of legislative proposals concerning healthcare have been considered by the U.S. Congress in recent years. It is unclear what proposals will ultimately be enacted, if any, and what effect they may have on companies in the healthcare sector.

Additionally, the expansion of facilities by healthcare-related providers may be subject to "determinations of need" by certain government authorities. This process not only generally increases the time and costs involved in these expansions, but also makes expansion plans uncertain, limiting the revenue and profitability growth potential of healthcare-related facilities operators and negatively affecting the prices of their securities. Moreover, in recent years, both local and national governmental budgets have come under pressure to reduce spending and control healthcare costs, which could both adversely affect regulatory processes and public funding available for healthcare products, services and facilities.

**Risk of Investing in the Technology Sector. Technology companies are characterized by periodic new product introductions, innovations and evolving industry standards, and, as a result, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins. Companies in the technology sector are often smaller and less experienced companies and may be subject to greater risks than larger companies; these risks may be heightened for technology companies in foreign markets. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face product obsolescence due to rapid technological developments and frequent new product introduction, changes in consumer and business purchasing patterns, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. In addition, a rising interest**

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rate environment tends to negatively affect companies in the technology sector because, in such an environment, those companies with high market valuations may appear less attractive to investors, which may cause sharp decreases in the companies' market prices. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors. Finally, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the technology sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.

**Risk of Investing in the Transportation Industry. Companies in the transportation industry may be adversely affected by changes in the economy, increases in fuel and operating costs, labor relations, technology developments, exchange rates, insurance costs, industry competition and government regulation. Companies in the transportation industry are also affected by severe weather events, mass casualty accidents or environmental catastrophes, acts of terrorism and other similar events that target or damage transportation infrastructure or vessels, war or risk of war, widespread disruption of technology systems and increasing equipment and operational costs. Such global or regional events and conditions may adversely affect the operations, financial condition and liquidity of companies in the transportation industry and cause insurance premiums to increase dramatically or result in insurance coverage becoming unavailable for certain business lines or assets. Securities of companies in the transportation industry are generally cyclical and occasionally subject to sharp price movements.**

**Risk of Investing in the Utilities Sector. The utilities sector may be adversely affected by changing commodity prices, government regulation stipulating rates charged by utilities, increased tariffs, changes in tax laws, interest rate fluctuations and changes in the cost of providing specific utility services. The utilities industry is also subject to potential terrorist attacks, natural disasters and severe weather conditions, as well as regulatory and operational burdens associated with the operation and maintenance of nuclear facilities. Government regulators monitor and control utility revenues and costs, and therefore may limit utility profits. In certain countries, regulatory authorities may also restrict a company's access to new markets, thereby diminishing the company's long-term prospects.**

There are substantial differences among the regulatory practices and policies of various jurisdictions, and any regulatory agency may make major shifts in policy from time to time. There is no assurance that regulatory authorities will, in the future, grant rate increases. Additionally, existing and possible future regulatory legislation may make it even more difficult for utilities to obtain adequate relief. Certain of the issuers of securities held in a Fund's or Underlying Fund's portfolio may own or operate nuclear generating facilities. Governmental authorities may from time to time review existing policies and impose additional requirements governing the licensing, construction and operation of nuclear power plants. Prolonged changes in climate conditions can also have a significant impact on both the revenues of an electric and gas utility as well as the expenses of a utility, particularly a hydro-based electric utility.

The rates that traditional regulated utility companies may charge their customers generally are subject to review and limitation by governmental regulatory commissions. Rate changes may occur only after a prolonged approval period or may not occur at all, which could adversely affect utility companies when costs are rising. The value of regulated utility debt securities (and, to a lesser extent, equity securities) tends to have an inverse relationship to the movement of interest rates. Certain utility companies have experienced full or partial deregulation in recent years. These utility companies are frequently more similar to industrial companies in that they are subject to greater competition and have been permitted by regulators to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business. As a result, some companies may be forced to defend their core business and may be less profitable. Deregulation may also permit a utility company to expand outside of its traditional lines of business and engage in riskier ventures.

## Proxy Voting Policy
For the Funds, the Board has delegated the voting of proxies for each Fund's securities to BFA pursuant to the Funds' Proxy Voting Policy (the "iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy"), and BFA has adopted policies and procedures (the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BFA, including the Funds.

Under the BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies, BFA will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of a Fund and its shareholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of a Fund's shareholders, on the one

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hand, and those of BFA, or any affiliated person of a Fund or BFA, on the other. BFA maintains policies and procedures that are designed to prevent undue influence on BFA's proxy voting activity that might stem from any relationship between the issuer of a proxy (or any dissident shareholder) and BFA, BFA's affiliates, a Fund or a Fund's affiliates. Most conflicts are managed through a structural separation of BFA's Corporate Governance Group from BFA's employees with sales and client responsibilities. In addition, BFA maintains procedures to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BFA's relationship with the issuer of the proxy or the dissident shareholder. In certain instances, BFA may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copies of the iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy, the BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies and the BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies are attached as Appendices A1, A2 and A3, respectively.

Information with respect to how proxies relating to the Funds' portfolio securities were voted during the 12-month period ended June 30 is available: (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or through the Funds' website at *www.iShares.com*; and (ii) on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

## Portfolio Holdings Information
On each Business Day (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI), prior to the opening of regular trading on the Fund's primary listing exchange, a Fund discloses on its website (<u>www.iShares.com</u>) certain information relating to the portfolio holdings that will form the basis of a Fund's next net asset value per share calculation.

In addition, certain information may also be made available to certain parties:

• **Communications of Data Files: A Fund may make available through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") or through posting on the <u>www.iShares.com</u>, prior to the opening of trading on each business day, a list of a Fund's holdings (generally pro-rata) that Authorized Participants could deliver to a Fund to settle purchases of a Fund (*i.e.* Deposit Securities) or that Authorized Participants would receive from a Fund to settle redemptions of a Fund (*i.e.* Fund Securities). These files are known as the Portfolio Composition File and the Fund Data File (collectively, "Files"). The Files are applicable for the next trading day and are provided to the NSCC and/or posted on <u>www.iShares.com</u> after the close of markets in the U.S.** 

• **Communications with Authorized Participants and Liquidity Providers: Certain employees of BFA are responsible for interacting with Authorized Participants and liquidity providers with respect to discussing custom basket proposals as described in the *Custom Baskets* section of this SAI. As part of these discussions, these employees may discuss with an Authorized Participant or liquidity provider the securities a Fund is willing to accept for a creation, and securities that a Fund will provide on a redemption.** 

BFA employees may also discuss portfolio holdings-related information with broker/dealers, in connection with settling a Fund's transactions, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with the disclosure in the Fund's current registration statements.

• **Communications with Listing Exchanges: From time to time, employees of BFA may discuss portfolio holdings information with the applicable primary listing exchange for a Fund as needed to meet the exchange listing standards.** 

• **Communications with Other Portfolio Managers: Certain information may be provided to employees of BFA who manage funds that invest a significant percentage of their assets in shares of an underlying fund as necessary to manage the fund's investment objective and strategy.** 

• **Communication of Other Information: Certain explanatory information regarding the Files is released to Authorized Participants and liquidity providers on a daily basis, but is only done so after the Files are posted to <u>www.iShares.com</u>.** 

• **Third-Party Service Providers: Certain portfolio holdings information may be disclosed to Fund Trustees and their counsel, outside counsel for the Funds, auditors and to certain third-party service providers (*i.e.*, fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure, confidentiality agreement or other obligation is in place with such service providers, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with applicable policies, agreements with the Funds, the terms of the current registration statements and federal securities laws and regulations thereunder.** 

• **Liquidity Metrics: "Liquidity Metrics," which seek to ascertain a Fund's liquidity profile under BlackRock's global liquidity** 

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risk methodology, include but are not limited to: (a) disclosure regarding the number of days needed to liquidate a portfolio or the portfolio's underlying investments; and (b) the percentage of a Fund's NAV invested in a particular liquidity tier under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology. The dissemination of position-level liquidity metrics data and any non-public regulatory data pursuant to the Liquidity Rule (including SEC liquidity tiering) is not permitted unless pre-approved. Disclosure of portfolio-level liquidity metrics prior to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and approval of the Trust's Chief Compliance Officer. Portfolio-level liquidity metrics disclosure subsequent to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires the approval of portfolio management and must be disclosed to all parties requesting the information if disclosed to any party.

The Trust's Chief Compliance Officer or his delegate may authorize disclosure of portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures, subject to restrictions on selective disclosure imposed by applicable law. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of portfolio holdings information at least annually.

## Construction and Maintenance of the Underlying Indexes
Descriptions of the Underlying Indexes are provided below.

The BlackRock Indexes

#### The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond Index
The Underlying Index is maintained by BlackRock Index Services, LLC (the "Index Provider"). The Index Provider will also calculate the Underlying Index. The Fund will use the Underlying Index pursuant to a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. The license states that the Index Provider must provide the use of the Underlying Index and related intellectual property at no cost to the Fund.

#### Number of Components: approximately 12
**Index Description. The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond Index is designed to minimize the interest rate risk exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund. Through a rules-based approach, the Underlying Index will hold up to 10 interest rate swaps, whose weights are adjusted by the Index Provider on a daily basis.**

**Index Methodology. The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the interest-rate risk exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment grade corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by the Index Provider). The different maturities of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure (*i.e.*, sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.**

#### The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond Index
The Underlying Index is maintained by the Index Provider. The Index Provider will also calculate the Underlying Index. The Fund will use the Underlying Index pursuant to a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. The license states that the Index Provider must provide the use of the Underlying Index and related intellectual property at no cost to the Fund.

#### Number of Components: approximately 12
**Index Description. The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond Index is designed to minimize the interest-rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the**

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Underlying Fund. Through a rules-based approach, the Underlying Index will hold up to 10 interest rate swaps, whose weights are adjusted by the Index Provider on a daily basis.

**Index Methodology. The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the interest-rate risk exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield corporate bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by the Index Provider). The different maturities of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure (*i.e.*, sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.**

#### The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond Index
The Underlying Index is maintained by the Index Provider. The Index Provider will also calculate the Underlying Index. The Fund will use the Underlying Index pursuant to a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. The license states that the Index Provider must provide the use of the Underlying Index and related intellectual property at no cost to the Fund.

#### Number of Components: approximately 12
**Index Description. The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond Index is designed to minimize the interest-rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds with remaining maturities greater than ten years, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund. Through a rules-based approach, the Underlying Index will hold up to 10 interest rate swaps, whose weights are adjusted by the Index Provider on a daily basis.**

**Index Methodology. The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the interest-rate risk exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade corporate bonds with remaining maturities greater than ten years, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by the Index Provider). The different maturities of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure (*i.e.*, sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund, and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.**

#### The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index
The Underlying Index is maintained by the Index Provider. The Index Provider will also calculate the Underlying Index. The Fund will use the Underlying Index pursuant to a licensing agreement with the Index Provider. The license states that the Index Provider must provide the use of the Underlying Index and related intellectual property at no cost to the Fund.

#### Number of Components: approximately 12
**Index Description. The BlackRock Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is designed to minimize the interest-rate risk of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund. Through a rules-based approach, the Underlying Index will hold up to 10 interest rate swaps, whose weights are adjusted by the Index Provider on a daily basis.**

**Index Methodology. The Underlying Index is designed to minimize the interest-rate risk exposure of a portfolio composed of U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade bonds, represented in the Underlying Index by the Underlying Fund, by including a series of up to 10 interest rate swap contracts with different maturities (as determined by the Index Provider). The different maturities of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index are intended to hedge the portfolio's duration exposure *(i.e*., sensitivity to changes in interest rates) at key points on the yield curve, as determined by the Index Provider. The Underlying Index includes a fixed number of shares (to be adjusted in the event of any stock splits) of the Underlying Fund,**

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and the Index Provider rebalances the weights of the swap contracts included in the Underlying Index daily. On a monthly basis, the Index Provider will add new swap contracts to the Underlying Index and remove the previous month's swap contracts.

## Investment Policies
The Board has adopted as fundamental policies the following numbered investment policies, which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities. A vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of a Fund is defined in the Investment Company Act as the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a shareholder meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund.Each Fund has also adopted certain non-fundamental investment policies, including its investment objective. Non-fundamental investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval. Therefore, each Fund may change its investment objective without shareholder approval.

#### Fundamental Investment Policies

#### The iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF and iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF will not:
1. Concentrate its investments (*i.e*., invest 25% or more of its total assets in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries), except that the Fund will concentrate to approximately the same extent that an underlying fund concentrates in the securities of such particular industry or group of industries. For purposes of this limitation, securities of the U.S. government (including its agencies and instrumentalities), repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities, and securities of state or municipal governments and their political subdivisions are not considered to be issued by members of any industry.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

8. Make any investment inconsistent with the Fund's classification as a diversified company under the Investment Company Act.

#### The iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF will not:
1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act, except that the Fund will concentrate to approximately the same extent that an underlying fund concentrates in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

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7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

8. Make any investment inconsistent with the Fund's classification as a diversified company under the Investment Company Act.

#### The iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF will not:
1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act, except that the Fund will concentrate to approximately the same extent that its Underlying Index concentrates in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of real estate investment trusts, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

#### Notations Regarding each Fund's Fundamental Investment Policies
The following notations are not considered to be part of each Fund's fundamental investment policies and are subject to change without shareholder approval.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to concentration set forth in (1) above, the Investment Company Act does not define what constitutes "concentration" in an industry. The SEC staff has taken the position that investment of 25% or more of a fund's total assets in one or more issuers conducting their principal activities in the same industry or group of industries constitutes concentration. It is possible that interpretations of concentration could change in the future. The policy in (1) above will be interpreted to refer to concentration as that term may be interpreted from time to time. The policy also will be interpreted to permit investment without limit in the following: securities of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities; securities of state, territory, possession or municipal governments and their authorities, agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and repurchase agreements collateralized by any such obligations. Accordingly, issuers of the foregoing securities will not be considered to be members of any industry. There also will be no limit on investment in issuers domiciled in a single jurisdiction or country. Finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Each foreign government will be considered to be a member of a separate industry. With respect to each Fund's industry classifications, each Fund currently utilizes any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. The policy also will be interpreted to give broad authority to each Fund as to how to classify issuers within or among industries.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to borrowing money set forth in (2) above, the Investment Company Act permits each Fund to borrow money in amounts of up to one-third of the Fund's total assets from banks for any purpose, and to borrow up to 5% of the Fund's total assets from banks or other lenders for temporary purposes. (The Fund's total assets include the amounts being borrowed.) To limit the risks attendant to borrowing, the Investment Company Act requires each Fund to maintain at all times an "asset coverage" of at least 300% of the amount of its borrowings. Asset coverage means the ratio that the value of each Fund's total assets (including amounts borrowed), minus liabilities other than borrowings, bears to the aggregate amount of all borrowings. Borrowing money to increase portfolio holdings is known as "leveraging." Certain trading practices and investments, such as reverse repurchase agreements, may be considered to be borrowings or involve leverage and thus are subject to the Investment Company Act restrictions. In accordance with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act, when each Fund engages in reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, the Fund may either (i) maintain asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treat such transactions as "derivatives transactions" and comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to such transactions. Short-term credits necessary for the settlement of securities transactions and

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arrangements with respect to securities lending will not be considered to be borrowings under the policy. Practices and investments that may involve leverage but are not considered to be borrowings are not subject to the policy.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to underwriting set forth in (5) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit each Fund from engaging in the underwriting business or from underwriting the securities of other issuers; in fact, in the case of diversified funds, the Investment Company Act permits each Fund to have underwriting commitments of up to 25% of its assets under certain circumstances. Those circumstances currently are that the amount of each Fund's underwriting commitments, when added to the value of each Fund's investments in issuers where each Fund owns more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of those issuers, cannot exceed the 25% cap. A fund engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act. Although it is not believed that the application of the 1933 Act provisions described above would cause each Fund to be engaged in the business of underwriting, the policy in (5) above will be interpreted not to prevent each Fund from engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities, regardless of whether each Fund may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act or is otherwise engaged in the underwriting business to the extent permitted by applicable law.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to lending set forth in (7) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit each Fund from making loans (including lending its securities); however, SEC staff interpretations currently prohibit funds from lending more than one-third of their total assets (including lending its securities), except through the purchase of debt obligations or the use of repurchase agreements. In addition, collateral arrangements with respect to options, forward currency and futures transactions and other derivative instruments (as applicable), as well as delays in the settlement of securities transactions, will not be considered loans.

Each of the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF, iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF and iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF is currently classified as a diversified fund under the Investment Company Act. This means that each Fund may not purchase securities of an issuer (other than (i) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities and (ii) securities of other investment companies) if, with respect to 75% of its total assets, (a) more than 5% of each Fund's total assets would be invested in securities of that issuer or (b) each Fund would hold more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of that issuer. With respect to the remaining 25% of its total assets, each Fund can invest more than 5% of its assets in one issuer. Under the Investment Company Act, each Fund cannot change its classification from diversified to non-diversified without shareholder approval.

#### Non-Fundamental Investment Policies
Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to purchase securities of other investment companies, except to the extent permitted by the Investment Company Act. As a matter of policy, however, each Fund will not purchase shares of any registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust, in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or (G) (the "fund of funds" provisions) of the Investment Company Act, at any time each Fund has knowledge that its shares are purchased by another investment company investor in reliance on the provisions of subparagraph (G) of Section 12(d)(1).

Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to invest in the securities of a company for the purpose of exercising management or control, or purchase or otherwise acquire any illiquid investment, except as permitted under the 1940 Act, which currently limits each Fund's holdings in illiquid investments to 15% of a Fund's net assets. BFA monitors Fund holdings in illiquid investments pursuant to the Liquidity Program. Except with regard to the fundamental policy relating to senior securities set forth in (3) above, if any percentage restriction described above is complied with at the time of an investment, a later increase or decrease in percentage resulting from a change in values of assets will not constitute a violation of such restriction.

#### iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF and iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF
Each of the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF and the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF has adopted a non-fundamental investment policy in accordance with Rule 35d-1 under the 1940 Act to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index and/or bonds included in the underlying index of its Underlying Fund.

#### All Funds

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Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except to the extent permitted by each Fund's Prospectus and SAI, as amended from time to time, and applicable law.

Each Fund, except for the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF and the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF, has adopted a non-fundamental investment policy in accordance with Rule 35d-1 under the 1940 Act to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in component securities and instruments in the Fund's Underlying Index. Each Fund also has adopted a policy to provide its shareholders with at least 60 days' prior written notice of any change in such policy. If, subsequent to an investment, an 80% requirement is no longer met, a Fund's future investments will be made in a manner that will bring the Fund into compliance with this policy.

Unless otherwise indicated, all limitations under each Fund's fundamental or non-fundamental investment policies apply only at the time that a transaction is undertaken. Any change in the percentage of each Fund's assets invested in certain securities or other instruments resulting from market fluctuations or other changes in each Fund's total assets will not require each Fund to dispose of an investment until BFA determines that it is practicable to sell or close out the investment without undue market or tax consequences.

## Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Funds on an ongoing basis, at any point a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the 1933 Act must take into account all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, generally are required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Funds are reminded that, pursuant to Rule 153 under the 1933 Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the 1933 Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Listing Exchange generally is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Listing Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available only with respect to transactions on an exchange.

## Management
**Trustees and Officers. The Board has responsibility for the overall management and operations of the Funds, including general supervision of the duties performed by BFA and other service providers. Each Trustee serves until he or she resigns, is removed, dies, retires or becomes incapacitated. The President, Chief Compliance Officer, Treasurer and Secretary shall each hold office until their successors are chosen and qualify, and all other officers shall hold office until he or she resigns or is removed. Trustees who are not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust are referred to as independent trustees ("Independent Trustees").**

The registered investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates (the "BlackRock-advised Funds") are organized into one complex of open-end equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds and ETFs (the "BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex"), one complex of closed-end funds and open-end non-index fixed-income funds (including ETFs) (the "BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex") and one complex of ETFs ("Exchange-Traded Fund Complex") (each, a "BlackRock Fund Complex"). Each

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Fund is included in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex. Each Trustee also serves as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust, and, as a result, oversees all of the funds within the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, which consists of 381 funds as of March 1, 2023. With the exception of Robert S. Kapito, Salim Ramji and Charles Park, the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of Mr. Kapito, Mr. Ramji and Mr. Park is c/o BlackRock, Inc., Park Avenue Plaza, 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055. The Board has designated John E. Kerrigan as its Independent Board Chair. Additional information about the Funds' Trustees and officers may be found in this SAI, which is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

#### Interested Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Robert S. Kapito<sup>1</sup><br> (1957) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;President, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (since its formation in 1998) and BlackRock, Inc.'s predecessor entities (since 1988); Trustee, University of Pennsylvania (since 2009); President of Board of Directors, Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2009); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2009). |
| Salim Ramji<sup>2</sup><br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2014); Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments Business (since 2019); Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business (2015-2019); Global Head of Corporate Strategy, BlackRock, Inc. (2014-2015); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (2010-2014). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2019); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2019). |

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<sup>1</sup> Robert S. Kapito is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

<sup>2</sup> Salim Ramji is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

#### Independent Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Kerrigan<br> (1955) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Independent Board Chair<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Investment Officer, Santa Clara University (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005); Independent Board Chair of iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. (since 2022). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Jane D. Carlin<br> (1956) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2015); Risk Committee Chair (since 2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Consultant (since 2012); Member of the Audit Committee (2012-2018), Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee (2017-2018) and Director of PHH Corporation (mortgage solutions) (2012-2018); Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley (2006-2012). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2015); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2015); Member of the Audit Committee (since 2016), Chair of the Audit Committee (since 2020) and Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (since 2016). |
| Richard L. Fagnani<br> (1954) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); Audit Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Partner, KPMG LLP (2002-2016); Director of One Generation Away (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017). |
| Cecilia H. Herbert<br> (1949) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Nominating and Governance and Equity Plus Committee Chairs<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair of the Finance Committee (since 2019) and Trustee and Member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees of Stanford Health Care (since 2016); Trustee of WNET, New York's public media company (since 2011) and Member of the Audit Committee (since 2018), Investment Committee (since 2011) and Personnel Committee (since 2022); Chair (1994-2005) and Member (1992-2021) of the Investment Committee, Archdiocese of San Francisco; Trustee of Forward Funds (14 portfolios) (2009-2018); Trustee of Salient MF Trust (4 portfolios) (2015-2018); Director (1998-2013) and President (2007-2011) of the Board of Directors, Catholic Charities CYO; Trustee (2002-2011) and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (2006-2010) of the Thacher School; Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole (since 2020); Director of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts (since 2021); Member of the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005). |
| Drew E. Lawton<br> (1959) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); 15(c) Committee Chair (since 2017). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director of New York Life Insurance Company (2010-2015). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017); Director of Jackson Financial Inc. (since 2021). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Martinez<br> (1961) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011);<br> Securities Lending Committee Chair<br> (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc. (since 2005); Director of Cloudera Foundation (2017-2020); and Director of Reading Partners (2012-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2003); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2003). |
| Madhav V. Rajan<br> (1964) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Fixed Income Plus Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Dean, and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (since 2017); Advisory Board Member (since 2016) and Director (since 2020) of C.M. Capital Corporation; Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (since 2020); Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2001-2017); Professor of Law (by courtesy), Stanford Law School (2005-2017); Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA Program, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2010-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2011);<br> Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2011). |

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#### Officers

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Armando Senra<br> (1971) | &nbsp;&nbsp;President (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2007); Head of U.S., Canada and Latin America iShares, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2019); Head of Latin America Region, BlackRock, Inc. (2006-2019); Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (1994-2006). |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Trent Walker<br> (1974) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer<br> (since 2020). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since September 2019); Chief Financial Officer of iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, BlackRock Funds, BlackRock Funds II, BlackRock Funds IV, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Funds VI (since 2021); Executive Vice President of PIMCO (2016-2019); Senior Vice President of PIMCO (2008-2015); Treasurer (2013-2019) and Assistant Treasurer (2007-2017) of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds. |
| Charles Park<br> (1967) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex (since 2014); Chief Compliance Officer of BFA (since 2006). |
| Marisa Rolland<br> (1980) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Secretary (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2023); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2018-2022); Vice President, BlackRock, Inc. (2010-2017). |
| Rachel Aguirre<br> (1982) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2018); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2009-2018); Head of U.S. iShares Product (since 2022); Head of EII U.S. Product Engineering (since 2021); Co-Head of EII's Americas Portfolio Engineering (2020-2021); Head of Developed Markets Portfolio Engineering (2016-2019). |
| Jennifer Hsui<br> (1976) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2009); Co-Head of Index Equity (since 2022). |
| James Mauro<br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2010); Head of Fixed Income Index Investments in the Americas and Head of San Francisco Core Portfolio Management (since 2020). |

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The Board has concluded that, based on each Trustee's experience, qualifications, attributes or skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees, each Trustee should serve as a Trustee of the Board. Among the attributes common to all Trustees are their ability to review critically, evaluate, question and discuss information provided to

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them, to interact effectively with the Funds' investment adviser, other service providers, counsel and the independent registered public accounting firm, and to exercise effective business judgment in the performance of their duties as Trustees. A Trustee's ability to perform his or her duties effectively may have been attained through the Trustee's educational background or professional training; business, consulting, public service or academic positions; experience from service as a Board member of the Funds and the other funds in the Trust (and any predecessor funds), other investment funds, public companies, or non-profit entities or other organizations; and/or other life experiences. Also, set forth below is a brief discussion of the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of each Trustee that led the Board to conclude that he or she should serve (or continue to serve) as a Trustee.

Robert S. Kapito has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011. Mr. Kapito has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2009 and a Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. Mr. Kapito served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. In addition, he has over 20 years of experience as part of BlackRock, Inc. and BlackRock's predecessor entities. Mr. Kapito serves as President of BlackRock, Inc., and is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Chairman of the Global Operating Committee. He is responsible for day-to-day oversight of BlackRock's key operating units, including Investment Strategies, Client Businesses, Technology & Operations, and Risk & Quantitative Analysis. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2007, Mr. Kapito served as Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all portfolio management within BlackRock, including the Fixed Income, Equity, Liquidity, and Alternative Investment Groups. Mr. Kapito serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's Advisors. He has also been President of the Board of Directors for the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund since 2002. Mr. Kapito earned a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Salim Ramji has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji is the Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments business. In addition, he is a member of BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors. Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the Asset and Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London and Hong Kong. He has served as a Trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency, since 2007. Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

John E. Kerrigan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Trust's Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board from 2019 to 2021, and as Chair of each Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Kerrigan has served as Chief Investment Officer of Santa Clara University since 2002. Mr. Kerrigan was formerly a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., including the following responsibilities: Managing Director, Institutional Client Division, Western United States. Mr. Kerrigan has been a Director, since 1999, of The BASIC Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner City Children). Mr. Kerrigan has a BA degree from Boston College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder.

Jane D. Carlin has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2015 and Chair of the Risk Committee since 2016. Ms. Carlin has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2015, and Chair of the Risk Committee of each Board since 2016. Ms. Carlin has served as a consultant since 2012 and formerly served as Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012. In addition, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Global Head of the Bank Operational Risk Oversight Department of Credit Suisse Group from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Carlin has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector and has served in a number of legal, regulatory, and risk management positions. Ms. Carlin has served as a member of the Audit Committee and as a Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., each since 2016, and as Chair of the Audit Committee since 2020. Ms. Carlin served as a member of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2018, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2017 to 2018 and as an Independent Director on the Board of PHH Corporation from 2012 to 2018. She previously served as a Director on the Boards of Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank. Ms. Carlin was appointed by

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the United States Treasury to the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, where she served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2012 and Vice Chair and Chair of the Cyber Security Committee from 2009 to 2010. Ms. Carlin has a BA degree in political science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Richard L. Fagnani has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2017, and Chair of the Audit Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Fagnani served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. from April 2017 to June 2017. Mr. Fagnani served as a Senior Audit Partner at KPMG LLP from 2002 to 2016, most recently as the U.S. asset management audit practice leader responsible for setting strategic direction and execution of the operating plan for the asset management audit practice. In addition, from 1977 to 2002, Mr. Fagnani served as an Audit Partner at Andersen LLP, where he developed and managed the asset management audit practice in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fagnani served as a Trustee on the Board of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2014 and as a member of the School of Business Advisory Board at LaSalle University from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of One Generation Away, a non-profit which works to bring healthy food directly to people in need, since 2021. Mr. Fagnani has a BS degree in Accounting from LaSalle University.

Cecilia H. Herbert has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of the Trust since 2022. Ms. Herbert has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Trust's Board from 2016 to 2021, and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board since 2022. Ms. Herbert served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Ms. Herbert served as Trustee of the Montgomery Funds from 1992 to 2003, the Pacific Select Funds from 2004 to 2005, the Forward Funds from 2009 to 2018, the Salient Funds from 2015 to 2018 and the Thrivent Church Loan and Income Fund from 2019 to 2022. She has served as a member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees and Trustee of Stanford Health Care since 2016 and became Chair of the Finance Committee of Stanford Health Care in 2019. She has served as a Trustee of WNET, New York's public media station, since 2011 and a Member of its Audit Committee since 2018. She was appointed to the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee in 2022. She became a member of the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Forum in 2018. She has served as a Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole since 2020 and of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts since 2021. She was President of the Board of Catholic Charities CYO, the largest social services agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 2007 to 2011 and a member of that board from 1992 to 2013. She worked from 1973 to 1990 at J.P. Morgan/Morgan Guaranty Trust doing international corporate finance and corporate lending, retiring as Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Office. Ms. Herbert has been on numerous non-profit boards, chairing investment and finance committees. She holds a double major in economics and communications from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Drew E. Lawton has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of the Trust since 2017. Mr. Lawton has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust, and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of each Board since 2017. Mr. Lawton also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares, Inc. and iShares Trust from 2016 to 2017. Mr. Lawton served as Director of Principal Funds, Inc., Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc. and Principal Exchange-Traded Funds from March 2016 to October 2016. Mr. Lawton has also served as a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk Committees and Director of Jackson Financial Inc. since 2021. Mr. Lawton served in various capacities at New York Life Insurance Company from 2010 to 2015, most recently as a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life Investment Management. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Lawton was the President of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC. Mr. Lawton previously held multiple roles at Fidelity Investments from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Lawton has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas since 2021. Mr. Lawton has a BA degree in Administrative Science from Yale University and an MBA from University of North Texas.

John E. Martinez has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Martinez has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2003, and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Martinez served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Martinez is a Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., providing governance oversight and consulting services to this privately held firm that develops products and strategies for homeowners in managing the equity in their homes. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Martinez served as a Board member for the Cloudera Foundation. Mr. Martinez previously served as Director of Barclays Global Investors ("BGI") UK Holdings, where he provided governance oversight representing BGI's shareholders (Barclays PLC, BGI management shareholders) through oversight of BGI's worldwide activities. Mr. Martinez also previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Index and Markets Group of BGI,

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Chairman of Barclays Global Investor Services and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Group of BGI. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Director and Executive Committee Member for Larkin Street Youth Services. He now serves on the Larkin Street Honorary Board. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Martinez served as a Director for Reading Partners. Mr. Martinez has an AB degree in economics from The University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA degree in finance and statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Madhav V. Rajan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Rajan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2011, and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Rajan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Rajan is the Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also serves as Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, since 2020. He has served on the Advisory Board of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2016 and as a Director of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2020. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Rajan was the Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In April 2017, he received the school's Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service. He has taught accounting for over 25 years to undergraduate, MBA and law students, as well as to senior executives. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Rajan served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and head of the MBA Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rajan served as editor of "The Accounting Review" from 2002 to 2008 and is co-author of "Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis," a leading cost accounting textbook. From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Rajan served on the Board of Directors of Cavium Inc., a semiconductor company. Mr. Rajan holds MS and PhD degrees in Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University.

<u>Board – Leadership Structure and Oversight Responsibilities</u>

Overall responsibility for oversight of the Funds rests with the Board. The Board has engaged BFA to manage the Funds on a day-to-day basis. The Board is responsible for overseeing BFA and other service providers in the operations of the Funds in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act, applicable provisions of state and other laws and the Trust's charter. The Board is currently composed of nine members, seven of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board currently conducts regular in person meetings four times a year. In addition, the Board frequently holds special in person or telephonic meetings or informal conference calls to discuss specific matters that may arise or require action between regular meetings. The Independent Trustees meet regularly outside the presence of management, in executive session or with other service providers to the Trust.

The Board has appointed an Independent Trustee to serve in the role of Board Chair. The Board Chair's role is to preside at all meetings of the Board and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys, and other Trustees generally between meetings. The Board Chair may also perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Board from time to time. The Board has established seven standing Committees: a Nominating and Governance Committee, an Audit Committee, a 15(c) Committee, a Securities Lending Committee, a Risk Committee, an Equity Plus Committee and a Fixed Income Plus Committee to assist the Board in the oversight and direction of the business and affairs of the Funds, and from time to time the Board may establish ad hoc committees or informal working groups to review and address the policies and practices of the Funds with respect to certain specified matters. The Chair of each standing Committee is an Independent Trustee. The role of the Chair of each Committee is to preside at all meetings of the Committee and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys and other Trustees between meetings. Each standing Committee meets regularly to conduct the oversight functions delegated to the Committee by the Board and reports its finding to the Board. The Board and each standing Committee conduct annual assessments of their oversight function and structure. The Board has determined that the Board's leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise independent judgment over management and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees of Independent Trustees and the full Board to enhance effective oversight.

Day-to-day risk management with respect to the Funds is the responsibility of BFA or other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk), subject to the supervision of BFA. Each Fund is subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, reputational, counterparty and valuation risks, among others. While there are a number of risk management functions performed by BFA and other service providers, as applicable, it is not possible to identify and eliminate all of the risks applicable to the Funds. The Trustees have an oversight role in this area, satisfying themselves that risk management processes and controls are in place and operating effectively. Risk oversight forms part of the Board's general oversight of each Fund and is addressed as part of various Board and committee activities. In some cases, risk management issues are specifically addressed in presentations and discussions. For example, BFA has an independent

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dedicated Risk and Quantitative Analysis Group ("RQA") that assists BFA in managing fiduciary and corporate risks, including investment, operational, counterparty credit and enterprise risk. Representatives of RQA meet with the Board to discuss their analysis and methodologies, as well as specific risk topics such as operational and counterparty risks relating to the Funds. The Board, directly or through a committee, also reviews reports from, among others, management and the independent registered public accounting firm for the Trust, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by each Fund and management's risk functions. The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer who oversees the implementation and testing of the Trust's compliance program, including assessments by independent third parties, and reports to the Board regarding compliance matters for the Trust and its principal service providers. In testing and maintaining the compliance program, the Chief Compliance Officer (and his or her delegates) assesses key compliance risks affecting each Fund, and addresses them in periodic reports to the Board. In addition, the Audit Committee meets with both the Funds' independent registered public accounting firm and BFA's internal audit group to review risk controls in place that support each Fund as well as test results. Board oversight of risk is also performed as needed between meetings through communications between BFA and the Board. The Independent Trustees have engaged independent legal counsel to assist them in performing their oversight responsibilities. From time to time, the Board may modify the manner in which it conducts risk oversight. The Board's oversight role does not make it a guarantor of the Funds' investment performance or other activities.

**Committees of the Board of Trustees. The members of the Audit Committee are Richard L. Fagnani (Chair), Cecilia H. Herbert and Madhav V. Rajan, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The purposes of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board (i) in its oversight of the Trust's accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and related controls and procedures maintained by or on behalf of the Trust; (ii) in its oversight of the Trust's financial statements and the independent audit thereof; (iii) in selecting, evaluating and, where deemed appropriate, replacing the independent accountants (or nominating the independent accountants to be proposed for shareholder approval in any proxy statement); (iv) in evaluating the independence of the independent accountants; (v) in complying with legal and regulatory requirements that relate to the Trust's accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, compliance controls and independent audits; and (vi) to assume such other responsibilities as may be delegated by the Board. The Audit Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.**

The members of the Nominating and Governance Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), Madhav V. Rajan and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The Nominating and Governance Committee nominates individuals for Independent Trustee membership on the Board and recommends appointments to the Advisory Board. The Nominating and Governance Committee functions include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) reviewing the qualifications of any person properly identified or nominated to serve as an Independent Trustee; (ii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the nominee(s) for appointment as an Independent Trustee by the Board and current Independent Trustees and/or for election as Independent Trustees by shareholders to fill any vacancy for a position of Independent Trustee(s) on the Board; (iii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the size and composition of the Board and Board committees and whether they comply with applicable laws and regulations; (iv) recommending a current Independent Trustee to the Board and current Independent Trustees to serve as Board Chair; (v) periodic review of the Board's retirement policy; and (vi) recommending an appropriate level of compensation for the Independent Trustees for their services as Trustees, members or chairpersons of committees of the Board, Board Chair and any other positions as the Nominating and Governance Committee considers appropriate. The Nominating and Governance Committee does not consider Board nominations recommended by shareholders (acting solely in their capacity as a shareholder and not in any other capacity). The Nominating and Governance Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Each Independent Trustee serves on the 15(c) Committee. The Chair of the 15(c) Committee is Drew E. Lawton. The principal responsibilities of the 15(c) Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for the annual review and renewal of the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements. These responsibilities include: (i) meeting with BlackRock, Inc. in advance of the Board meeting at which the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements are to be considered to discuss generally the process for providing requested information to the Board and the format in which information will be provided; and (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to evaluate the investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements of the Trust. The 15(c) Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Securities Lending Committee are John E. Martinez (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Securities Lending Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of the Trust's securities lending activities. These responsibilities include: (i) requesting that certain information be provided to the Committee for its review and consideration prior to such

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information being provided to the Board; (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to oversee the Trust's securities lending activities and make required findings and approvals; and (iii) providing a recommendation to the Board regarding the annual approval of the Trust's Securities Lending Guidelines and the required findings with respect to, and annual approval of, the Trust's agreement with the securities lending agent. The Securities Lending Committee met five times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Equity Plus Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), John E. Martinez and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Equity Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for equity funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Equity Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are Madhav V. Rajan (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Richard L. Fagnani, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for fixed-income or multi-asset funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Fixed Income Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Risk Committee are Jane D. Carlin (Chair), Richard L. Fagnani and John E. Martinez, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibility of the Risk Committee is to consider and organize on behalf of the Board risk related matters of the Funds so the Board may most effectively structure itself to oversee them. The Risk Committee commenced on January 1, 2016. The Risk Committee met seven times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

As the Chair of the Board, John E. Kerrigan may serve as an ex-officio member of each Committee.

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2022, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by each Trustee in the Funds and in other registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee within the same family of investment companies as the Trust. If a fund is not listed below, the Trustee did not own any securities in that fund as of the date indicated above:

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
| Robert S. Kapito |  |  |  |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares High Yield Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares TIPS Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Technology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Select Dividend ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares California Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares National Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Biotechnology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 2000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

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As of December 31, 2022, none of the Independent Trustees or their immediate family members owned beneficially or of record any securities of BFA (the Funds' investment adviser), the Distributor or any person controlling, controlled by or under common control with BFA or the Distributor.

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**Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members. Effective January 1, 2023, each current Independent Trustee is paid an annual retainer of $440,000 for his or her services as a Board member to the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, together with out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with the Board's policy on travel and other business expenses relating to attendance at meetings. The annual retainer for services as an Advisory Board Member is the same as the annual retainer for services as a Board member. The Independent Chair of the Board is paid an additional annual retainer of $125,000. The Chair of each of the Equity Plus Committee, Fixed Income Plus Committee, Securities Lending Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and 15(c) Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $30,000. The Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $45,000. Each Independent Trustee that served as a director of subsidiaries of the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex is paid an additional annual retainer of $10,000 (plus an additional $1,765 paid annually to compensate for taxes due in the Republic of Mauritius in connection with such Trustee's service on the boards of certain Mauritius-based subsidiaries).**

The tables below set forth the compensation earned by each Independent Trustee and Interested Trustee for services to each Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the aggregate compensation paid to them for services to the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022.

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged Corporate<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged High Yield<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged Long-Term<br> Corporate Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged U.S. Aggregate<br> Bond ETF<sup>1</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;$166 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$25 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$23 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;167 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;25 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;23 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;173 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;26 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;180 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;27 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;25 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;162 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;162 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;162 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1_ |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Pension or<br> Retirement Benefits<br> Accrued As Part of<br> Trust<br> Expenses<sup>2</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Estimated Annual<br> Benefits Upon<br> Retirement<sup>2</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total<br> Compensation<br> From the Funds<br> and Fund Complex<sup>3</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;465000 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;476764 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;475000 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;505000 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;461764 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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<sup>1</sup> Compensation reported is from the Fund's inception to October 31, 2022.

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<sup>2</sup> No Trustee or Officer is entitled to any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust. <br> <sup>3</sup> Also includes compensation for service on the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc.

#### Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities.
The Trustees and officers of the Trust collectively owned less than 1% of each Fund's outstanding shares as of January 31, 2023.

Although the Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants (as defined below), as of January 31, 2023, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of a Fund were as follows:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage of<br> Ownership** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;34.31% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;19.30% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;LPL Financial Corporation<br> 9785 Towne Centre Drive<br> San Diego, CA 92121-1968 | &nbsp;&nbsp;10.71% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7.88% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.92% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;23.09% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;22.24% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;11.81% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.81% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Pershing LLC<br> One Pershing Plaza<br> Jersey City, NJ 07399 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.98% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;LPL Financial Corporation<br> 9785 Towne Centre Drive<br> San Diego, CA 92121-1968 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.70% |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage of<br> Ownership** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;49.10% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17.55% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.62% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;State Street Bank and Trust Company<br> 1776 Heritage Drive<br> North Quincy, MA 02171 | &nbsp;&nbsp;90.00% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.04% |

---

**Conflicts of Interest. Certain activities of BFA, BlackRock, Inc. and the other subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. (collectively referred to in this section as "BlackRock") and their respective directors, officers and employees, with respect to the Funds and/or other accounts managed by BlackRock, may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest such as those described below.**

BlackRock is one of the world's largest asset management firms. BlackRock, its subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers and employees, including the business units or entities and personnel who may be involved in the investment activities and business operations of a Fund, are engaged worldwide in businesses, including managing equities, fixed-income securities, cash and alternative investments, and have interests other than that of managing the Funds. These are considerations of which investors in a Fund should be aware, and which may cause conflicts of interest that could disadvantage a Fund and its shareholders. These businesses and interests include potential multiple advisory, financial and other relationships with, or interests in, companies and interests in securities or other instruments that may be purchased or sold by a Fund.

BlackRock has proprietary interests in, and may manage or advise with respect to, accounts or funds (including separate accounts and other funds and collective investment vehicles) that have investment objectives similar to those of a Fund and/or that engage in transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and instruments as the Funds. BlackRock is also a major participant in the global currency, equities, swap and fixed income markets, in each case, for the accounts of clients and, in some cases, on a proprietary basis. As such, BlackRock is or may be actively engaged in transactions in the same securities, currencies, and instruments in which a Fund invests. Such activities could affect the prices and availability of the securities, currencies, and instruments in which a Fund invests, which could have an adverse impact on a Fund's performance. Such transactions, particularly in respect of most proprietary accounts or client accounts, will be executed independently of a Fund's transactions and thus at prices or rates that may be more or less favorable than those obtained by the Funds.

When BlackRock seeks to purchase or sell the same assets for managed accounts, including a Fund, the assets actually purchased or sold may be allocated among the accounts on a basis determined in its good faith discretion to be equitable. In some cases, this system may adversely affect the size or price of the assets purchased or sold for a Fund. In addition, transactions in investments by one or more other accounts managed by BlackRock may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of a Fund, particularly, but not limited to, with respect to small-capitalization, emerging market or less liquid strategies. This may occur with respect to BlackRock-advised accounts when investment decisions regarding a Fund are based on research or other information that is also used to support decisions for other accounts. When BlackRock implements a portfolio decision or strategy on behalf of another account ahead of, or contemporaneously with, similar decisions or strategies for a Fund, market impact, liquidity constraints, or other factors could result in the Fund receiving less favorable trading results and the costs of implementing such decisions or strategies could be increased or the Fund could otherwise be disadvantaged. BlackRock may, in certain cases, elect to

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implement internal policies and procedures designed to limit such consequences, which may cause a Fund to be unable to engage in certain activities, including purchasing or disposing of securities, when it might otherwise be desirable for it to do so.

Conflicts may also arise because portfolio decisions regarding a Fund may benefit other accounts managed by BlackRock. For example, the sale of a long position or establishment of a short position by a Fund may impair the price of the same security sold short by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds, and the purchase of a security or covering of a short position in a security by a Fund may increase the price of the same security held by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds. In addition, to the extent permitted by applicable law, certain Funds may invest their assets in other funds advised by BlackRock, including funds that are managed by one or more of the same portfolio managers, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of Fund purchases and sales, and increased remuneration and profitability for BlackRock, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.

In certain circumstances, BlackRock, on behalf of the Funds, may seek to buy from or sell securities to another fund or account advised by BlackRock. BlackRock may (but is not required to) effect purchases and sales between BlackRock clients ("cross trades"), including the Funds, if BlackRock believes such transactions are appropriate based on each party's investment objectives and guidelines, subject to applicable law and regulation. There may be potential conflicts of interest or regulatory issues relating to these transactions which could limit BlackRock's decision to engage in these transactions for the Funds. BlackRock may have a potentially conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the parties in such transactions. On any occasion when a Fund participates in a cross trade, BlackRock will comply with procedures adopted under applicable rules and SEC guidance.

BlackRock and its clients may pursue or enforce rights with respect to an issuer in which a Fund has invested, and those activities may have an adverse effect on the Fund. As a result, prices, availability, liquidity and terms of a Fund's investments may be negatively impacted by the activities of BlackRock or its clients, and transactions for the Fund may be impaired or effected at prices or terms that may be less favorable than would otherwise have been the case.

The results of a Fund's investment activities may differ significantly from the results achieved by BlackRock for its proprietary accounts or other accounts (including investment companies or collective investment vehicles) which it manages or advises. It is possible that one or more accounts managed or advised by BlackRock and such other accounts will achieve investment results that are substantially more or less favorable than the results achieved by a Fund. Moreover, it is possible that a Fund will sustain losses during periods in which one or more proprietary or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock achieve significant profits. The opposite result is also possible.

From time to time, a Fund may be restricted from purchasing or selling securities, or from engaging in other investment activities because of regulatory, legal or contractual requirements applicable to BlackRock or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock, and/or the internal policies of BlackRock designed to comply with such requirements. As a result, there may be periods, for example, when BlackRock will not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions in certain securities or instruments with respect to which BlackRock is performing services or when position limits have been reached. For example, the investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and accounts under its management may limit the investment opportunities for a Fund in certain emerging and other markets in which limitations are imposed upon the amount of investment, in the aggregate or in individual issuers, by affiliated foreign investors.

In connection with its management of a Fund, BlackRock may have access to certain fundamental analysis and proprietary technical models developed by BlackRock. BlackRock will not be under any obligation, however, to effect transactions on behalf of a Fund in accordance with such analysis and models. In addition, BlackRock will not have any obligation to make available any information regarding its proprietary activities or strategies, or the activities or strategies used for other accounts managed by them, for the benefit of the management of a Fund and it is not anticipated that BlackRock will have access to such information for the purpose of managing the Fund. The proprietary activities or portfolio strategies of BlackRock, or the activities or strategies used for accounts managed by BlackRock or other client accounts could conflict with the transactions and strategies employed by BlackRock in managing a Fund.

The Funds may be included in investment models developed by BlackRock for use by clients and financial advisors. To the extent clients invest in these investment models and increase the assets under management of the Funds, the investment management fee amounts paid by the Funds to BlackRock may also increase. The price, availability and liquidity of a Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by model-driven investment portfolios, as well as by BlackRock itself and by its advisory clients.

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In addition, certain principals and certain employees of a Fund's investment adviser are also principals or employees of other business units or entities within BlackRock. As a result, these principals and employees may have obligations to such other business units or entities or their clients and such obligations to other business units or entities or their clients may be a consideration of which investors in a Fund should be aware.

BlackRock may enter into transactions and invest in securities, instruments and currencies on behalf of a Fund in which clients of BlackRock or, to the extent permitted by the SEC and applicable law, BlackRock serves as the counterparty, principal or issuer. In such cases, such party's interests in the transaction will be adverse to the interests of the Fund, and such party may have no incentive to assure that the Fund obtains the best possible prices or terms in connection with the transactions. In addition, the purchase, holding and sale of such investments by a Fund may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock may also create, write or issue derivatives for clients based on the underlying securities, currencies or instruments in which a Fund may invest or on the performance of the Fund. An entity in which BlackRock has a significant minority interest will create, write or issue options which may be based on the performance of certain Funds. BlackRock has the right to receive a portion of the gross revenue earned by such entity. Options writing by such entity on a Fund could potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to the Fund and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

BlackRock has entered into an arrangement with Markit Indices Limited, the index provider for underlying fixed-income indexes used by certain iShares funds, related to derivative fixed-income products that are based on such iShares funds. BlackRock may receive certain payments for licensing intellectual property belonging to BlackRock and for facilitating the provision of data in connection with such derivative products, which may include payments based on the trading volumes of, or revenues generated by, the derivative products. However, BlackRock will not receive any such payments on those derivative products utilized by the Funds or other BlackRock funds or accounts. Other funds and accounts managed by BlackRock may from time to time transact in such derivative products, which could contribute to the viability or success of such derivative products by making them more appealing to funds and accounts managed by third parties, and in turn lead to increased payments to BlackRock. Trading activity in such derivative products could also potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to these iShares funds and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

A Fund may, subject to applicable law, purchase investments that are the subject of an underwriting or other distribution by BlackRock and may also enter into transactions with other clients of BlackRock where such other clients have interests adverse to those of the Fund.

At times, these activities may cause business units or entities within BlackRock to give advice to clients that may cause these clients to take actions adverse to the interests of a Fund. To the extent such transactions are permitted, a Fund will deal with BlackRock on an arm's-length basis.

To the extent authorized by applicable law, BlackRock may act as broker, dealer, agent, lender or adviser or in other commercial capacities for a Fund. It is anticipated that the commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs, financial advisory fees, underwriting and placement fees, sales fees, financing and commitment fees, brokerage fees, other fees, compensation or profits, rates, terms and conditions charged by BlackRock will be in its view commercially reasonable, although BlackRock, including its sales personnel, will have an interest in obtaining fees and other amounts that are favorable to BlackRock and such sales personnel, which may have an adverse effect on the Funds. Index based funds may use an index provider that is affiliated with another service provider of a Fund or BlackRock that acts as a broker, dealer, agent, lender or in other commercial capacities for a Fund or BlackRock.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock (and its personnel and other distributors) will be entitled to retain fees and other amounts that they receive in connection with their service to the Funds as broker, dealer, agent, lender, adviser or in other commercial capacities. No accounting to the Funds or their shareholders will be required, and no fees or other compensation payable by the Funds or their shareholders will be reduced by reason of receipt by BlackRock of any such fees or other amounts.

When BlackRock acts as broker, dealer, agent, adviser or in other commercial capacities in relation to the Funds, BlackRock may take commercial steps in its own interests, which may have an adverse effect on the Funds. A Fund will be required to establish business relationships with its counterparties based on the Fund's own credit standing. BlackRock will not have any obligation to allow its credit to be used in connection with a Fund's establishment of its business relationships, nor is it expected that the Fund's counterparties will rely on the credit of BlackRock in evaluating the Fund's creditworthiness.

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BTC, an affiliate of BFA pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, acts as securities lending agent to, and receives a share of securities lending revenues from, the Funds. BlackRock will also receive compensation for managing the reinvestment of the cash collateral from securities lending. There are potential conflicts of interests in managing a securities lending program, including but not limited to: (i) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to increase or decrease the amount of securities on loan or to lend particular securities in order to generate additional risk-adjusted revenue for BlackRock and its affiliates; and (ii) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to allocate loans to clients that would provide more revenue to BlackRock. As described further below, BlackRock seeks to mitigate this conflict by providing its securities lending clients with equal lending opportunities over time in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation.

As part of its securities lending program, BlackRock indemnifies the Funds and certain other clients and/or funds against a shortfall in collateral in the event of borrower default. On a regular basis, BlackRock calculates the potential dollar exposure of collateral shortfall resulting from a borrower default ("shortfall risk") in the securities lending program. BlackRock establishes program-wide borrower limits ("credit limits") to actively manage borrower-specific credit exposure. BlackRock oversees the risk model that calculates projected collateral shortfall values using loan-level factors such as loan and collateral type and market value as well as specific borrower credit characteristics. When necessary, BlackRock may adjust securities lending program attributes by restricting eligible collateral or reducing borrower credit limits. As a result, the management of program-wide exposure as well as BlackRock-specific indemnification exposure may affect the amount of securities lending activity BlackRock may conduct at any given point in time by reducing the volume of lending opportunities for certain loans (including by asset type, collateral type and/or revenue profile).

BlackRock uses a predetermined systematic process in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation over time. In order to allocate a loan to a portfolio: (i) BlackRock as a whole must have sufficient lending capacity pursuant to the various program limits (*i.e.,* indemnification exposure limit and borrower credit limits); (ii) the lending portfolio must hold the asset at the time a loan opportunity arrives; and (iii) the lending portfolio must also have enough inventory, either on its own or when aggregated with other portfolios into one single market delivery, to satisfy the loan request. In doing so, BlackRock seeks to provide equal lending opportunities for all portfolios, independent of whether BlackRock indemnifies the portfolio. Equal opportunities for lending portfolios does not guarantee equal outcomes. Specifically, short and long-term outcomes for individual clients may vary due to asset mix, asset/liability spreads on different securities, and the overall limits imposed by the firm.

BlackRock may decline to make a securities loan on behalf of a Fund, discontinue lending on behalf of a Fund or terminate a securities loan on behalf of a Fund for any reason, including but not limited to regulatory requirements and/or market rules, liquidity considerations, or credit considerations, which may impact Funds by reducing or eliminating the volume of lending opportunities for certain types of loans, loans in particular markets, loans of particular securities or types of securities, or for loans overall.

Purchases and sales of securities and other assets for a Fund may be bunched or aggregated with orders for other BlackRock client accounts, including with accounts that pay different transaction costs solely due to the fact that they have different research payment arrangements. BlackRock, however, is not required to bunch or aggregate orders if portfolio management decisions for different accounts are made separately, or if they determine that bunching or aggregating is not practicable or required, or in cases involving client direction.

Prevailing trading activity frequently may make impossible the receipt of the same price or execution on the entire volume of securities purchased or sold. When this occurs, the various prices may be averaged, and the Funds will be charged or credited with the average price. Thus, the effect of the aggregation may operate on some occasions to the disadvantage of the Funds. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Funds will not be charged the same commission or commission equivalent rates in connection with a bunched or aggregated order.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock may select brokers that furnish BlackRock, the Funds, other BlackRock client accounts or personnel, directly or through correspondent relationships, with research or other appropriate services which provide, in BlackRock's view, appropriate assistance to BlackRock in the investment decision-making process (including with respect to futures, fixed-price offerings and OTC transactions). Such research or other services may include, to the extent permitted by law, research reports on companies, industries and securities; economic and financial data; financial publications; proxy analysis; trade industry seminars; computer data bases; research-oriented software and other services and products. Research or other services obtained in this manner may be used in servicing any or all of the Funds and other BlackRock client accounts, including in connection with BlackRock client accounts other than those that pay commissions to the broker

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relating to the research or other service arrangements. Such products and services may disproportionately benefit other BlackRock client accounts relative to the Funds based on the amount of brokerage commissions paid by the Funds and such other BlackRock client accounts. For example, research or other services that are paid for through one client's commissions may not be used in managing that client's account. In addition, other BlackRock client accounts may receive the benefit, including disproportionate benefits, of economies of scale or price discounts in connection with products and services that may be provided to the Funds and to such other BlackRock client accounts. To the extent that BlackRock uses soft dollars, it will not have to pay for those products and services itself.

BlackRock does not currently enter into arrangements to use the Funds' assets for, or participate in, soft dollars, although BlackRock may receive research that is bundled with the trade execution, clearing, and/or settlement services provided by a particular broker-dealer. To the extent that BlackRock receives research on this basis, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist. For example, the research effectively will be paid by client commissions that also will be used to pay for the execution, clearing, and settlement services provided by the broker-dealer and will not be paid by BlackRock. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may endeavor to execute trades through brokers who, pursuant to such arrangements, provide research or other services in order to ensure the continued receipt of research or other services BlackRock believes are useful in its investment decision-making process. BlackRock may from time to time choose not to engage in the above described arrangements to varying degrees. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may also enter into commission sharing arrangements under which BlackRock may execute transactions through a broker-dealer, and request that the broker-dealer allocate a portion of the commissions or commission credits to another firm that provides research to BlackRock. To the extent that BlackRock engages in commission sharing arrangements, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist.

BlackRock may utilize certain electronic crossing networks ("ECNs") (including, without limitation, ECNs in which BlackRock has an investment or other interest, to the extent permitted by applicable law) in executing client securities transactions for certain types of securities. These ECNs may charge fees for their services, including access fees and transaction fees. The transaction fees, which are similar to commissions or markups/markdowns, will generally be charged to clients and, like commissions and markups/markdowns, would generally be included in the cost of the securities purchased. Access fees may be paid by BlackRock even though incurred in connection with executing transactions on behalf of clients, including the Funds. In certain circumstances, ECNs may offer volume discounts that will reduce the access fees typically paid by BlackRock. BlackRock will only utilize ECNs consistent with its obligation to seek to obtain best execution in client transactions.

BlackRock owns a minority interest in, and is a member of, Members Exchange ("MEMX"), a newly created U.S. stock exchange. Transactions for a Fund may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for execution of orders placed by BlackRock traders on behalf of such Funds. In addition, transactions in Fund shares may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for the execution of such orders.

BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing proxy voting decisions that it makes on behalf of advisory clients, including the Funds, and to help ensure that such decisions are made in accordance with BlackRock's fiduciary obligations to its clients. Nevertheless, notwithstanding such proxy voting policies and procedures, actual proxy voting decisions of BlackRock may have the effect of favoring the interests of other clients or businesses of other divisions or units of BlackRock, provided that BlackRock believes such voting decisions to be in accordance with its fiduciary obligations. For a more detailed discussion of these policies and procedures, see the *Proxy Voting Policy* section of this SAI.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of a Fund. Increasing a Fund's assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification and may contribute to economies of scale that tend to reduce the Fund's expense ratio. BlackRock reserves the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell into the market or redeem in Creation Units through an Authorized Participant at any time some or all of the shares of a Fund acquired for its own accounts or the account of a BlackRock advisory client. A large sale or redemption of shares of a Fund by BlackRock itself or a BlackRock advisory client could significantly reduce the asset size of the Fund, which might have an adverse effect on the Fund's liquidity, investment flexibility, portfolio diversification, expense ratio or ability to comply with the listing requirements for the Fund.

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It is possible that a Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in transactions with, companies in which BlackRock has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. A Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which BlackRock provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. In making investment decisions for a Fund, BlackRock is not permitted to obtain or use material non-public information acquired by any unit of BlackRock in the course of these activities. In addition, from time to time, the activities of BlackRock may limit a Fund's flexibility in purchases and sales of securities. As indicated below, BlackRock may engage in transactions with companies in which BlackRock-advised funds or other clients of BlackRock have an investment.

BlackRock, its personnel and other financial service providers may have interests in promoting sales of the Funds. With respect to BlackRock and its personnel, the remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of the Funds or other products may be greater than remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of certain funds or other products that might be provided or offered. BlackRock and its sales personnel may directly or indirectly receive a portion of the fees and commissions charged to the Funds or their shareholders. BlackRock and its advisory or other personnel may also benefit from increased amounts of assets under management. Fees and commissions may also be higher than for other products or services, and the remuneration and profitability to BlackRock and such personnel resulting from transactions on behalf of or management of the Funds may be greater than the remuneration and profitability resulting from other funds or products.

Third parties, including service providers to BlackRock or a Fund, may sponsor events (including, but not limited to, marketing and promotional activities and presentations, educational training programs and conferences) for registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors. There is a potential conflict of interest as such sponsorships may defray the costs of such activities to BlackRock, and may provide an incentive to BlackRock to retain such third parties to provide services to a Fund.

BlackRock may provide valuation assistance to certain clients with respect to certain securities or other investments and the valuation recommendations made for such clients' accounts may differ from the valuations for the same securities or investments assigned by a Fund's pricing vendors, especially if such valuations are based on broker-dealer quotes or other data sources unavailable to the Fund's pricing vendors. While BlackRock will generally communicate its valuation information or determinations to a Fund's pricing vendors and/or fund accountants, there may be instances where the Fund's pricing vendors or fund accountants assign a different valuation to a security or other investment than the valuation for such security or investment determined or recommended by BlackRock.

As disclosed in more detail in the *Determination of Net Asset Value* section in this SAI, when market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, each Fund's investments are valued at fair value by BFA. BFA has been designated as each Fund's valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act and acts through BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee (the "2a-5 Committee"), with assistance from other BFA pricing committees and in accordance with BFA's policies and procedures (the "Valuation Procedures"). When determining a "fair value price," the 2a-5 Committee seeks to determine the price that a Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction. The price generally may not be determined based on what a Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. While fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models, fair value represents only a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining a Fund's NAV. As a result, a Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued by the 2a-5 Committee at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders and may affect the amount of revenue received by BFA with respect to services for which it receives an asset-based fee.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, a Fund may invest all or some of its short-term cash investments in any money market fund or similarly-managed private fund advised or managed by BlackRock. In connection with any such investments, a Fund, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, may pay its share of expenses of a money market fund or other similarly-managed private fund in which it invests, which may result in a Fund bearing some additional expenses.

BlackRock and its directors, officers and employees, may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on behalf of a Fund. As a result of differing trading and

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investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by directors, officers and employees that are the same, different from or made at different times than positions taken for a Fund. To lessen the possibility that a Fund will be adversely affected by this personal trading, each Fund, BFA and BlackRock have each adopted a code of ethics in compliance with Section 17(j) of the 1940 Act that restricts securities trading in the personal accounts of investment professionals and others who normally come into possession of information regarding a Fund's portfolio transactions. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of each Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.

BlackRock will not purchase securities or other property from, or sell securities or other property to, a Fund, except that a Fund may in accordance with rules or guidance adopted under the 1940 Act engage in transactions with another Fund or accounts that are affiliated with a Fund as a result of common officers, directors, or investment advisers or pursuant to exemptive orders granted to the Funds and/or BlackRock by the SEC. These transactions would be effected in circumstances in which BlackRock determined that it would be appropriate for a Fund to purchase and another client of BlackRock to sell, or a Fund to sell and another client of BlackRock to purchase, the same security or instrument on the same day. From time to time, the activities of a Fund may be restricted because of regulatory requirements applicable to BlackRock and/or BlackRock's internal policies designed to comply with, limit the applicability of, or otherwise relate to such requirements. A client not advised by BlackRock would not be subject to some of those considerations. There may be periods when BlackRock may not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions, or may otherwise restrict or limit its advice in certain securities or instruments issued by or related to companies for which BlackRock is performing advisory or other services or has proprietary positions. For example, when BlackRock is engaged to provide advisory or risk management services for a company, BlackRock may be prohibited from or limited in purchasing or selling securities of that company on behalf of a Fund, particularly where such services result in BlackRock obtaining material non-public information about the company (*e.g.*, in connection with participation in a creditors' committee). Similar situations could arise if personnel of BlackRock serve as directors of companies the securities of which a Fund wishes to purchase or sell. However, if permitted by applicable law, and where consistent with BlackRock's policies and procedures (including the necessary implementation of appropriate information barriers), the Funds may purchase securities or instruments that are issued by such companies, are the subject of an advisory or risk management assignment by BlackRock, or where personnel of BlackRock are directors or officers of the issuer.

The investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and for client accounts may also limit the investment strategies and rights of the Funds. For example, in certain circumstances where the Funds invest in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, or are subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invest in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount invested by BlackRock for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Funds) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BlackRock, the Funds or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

If certain aggregate ownership thresholds are reached either through the actions of BlackRock or a Fund or as a result of third-party transactions, the ability of BlackRock, on behalf of clients (including the Funds), to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. As a result, BlackRock, on behalf of its clients (including the Funds), may limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise restrict, forgo or limit the exercise of rights (including transferring, outsourcing or limiting voting rights or forgoing the right to receive dividends) when BlackRock, in its sole discretion, deems it appropriate in light of potential regulatory or other restrictions on ownership or other consequences resulting from reaching investment thresholds.

In those circumstances where ownership thresholds or limitations must be observed, BlackRock seeks to allocate limited investment opportunities equitably among clients (including the Funds), taking into consideration benchmark weight and investment strategy. BlackRock has adopted certain controls designed to prevent the occurrence of a breach of any applicable ownership threshold or limits, including, for example, when ownership in certain securities nears an applicable threshold, BlackRock may remove such securities from the list of Deposit Securities to be delivered to the Fund in connection with purchases of Creation Units of such Fund and may limit purchases in such securities to the issuer's weighting in the applicable benchmark used by BlackRock to manage such Fund. If client (including Fund) holdings of an issuer exceed an applicable threshold and BlackRock is unable to obtain relief to enable the continued holding of such investments, it may be necessary to sell down these positions to meet the applicable limitations. In these cases, benchmark overweight positions will be sold prior to benchmark positions being reduced to meet applicable limitations.

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In addition to the foregoing, other ownership thresholds may trigger reporting requirements to governmental and regulatory authorities, and such reports may entail the disclosure of the identity of a client or BlackRock's intended strategy with respect to such security or asset.

BlackRock may not serve as an Authorized Participant in the creation and redemption of iShares ETFs.

BlackRock may maintain securities indices. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, the Funds may seek to license and use such indices as part of their investment strategy. Index based funds that seek to track the performance of securities indices also may use the name of the index or index provider in the fund name. Index providers, including BlackRock (to the extent permitted by applicable law), may be paid licensing fees for use of their index or index name. BlackRock may benefit from the Funds using BlackRock indices by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock is not obligated to license its indices to a Fund and the Funds are under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. Any Fund that enters into a license for a BlackRock index cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The custody arrangement described in "Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services" may lead to potential conflicts of interest with BlackRock where BlackRock has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse ordinary operating expenses in order to cap expenses of the Funds (or where BlackRock charges a unitary management fee). This is because the custody arrangements with certain Funds' custodian may have the effect of reducing custody fees when the Funds leave cash balances uninvested. This could be viewed as having the potential to provide BlackRock an incentive to keep high positive cash balances for Funds in order to offset fund custody fees that BlackRock might otherwise reimburse or pay. However, BlackRock's portfolio managers do not intentionally keep uninvested balances high, but rather make investment decisions that they anticipate will be beneficial to fund performance. For funds without a unitary management fee, when a fund's actual operating expense ratio exceeds a stated cap, a reduction in custody fees reduces the amount of waivers and/or reimbursements BlackRock would be required to make to the fund.

BlackRock may enter into contractual arrangements with third-party service providers to a Fund (*e.g.*, custodians, administrators and index providers) pursuant to which BlackRock receives fee discounts or concessions in recognition of BlackRock's overall relationship with such service providers. BlackRock may also enter into contractual arrangements with such service providers pursuant to which BlackRock incurs additional costs if the service provider's services are terminated with respect to a Fund. To the extent that BlackRock is responsible for paying these service providers out of its management fee, the benefits of any such fee discounts or concessions, or any additional costs, may accrue, in whole or in part, to BlackRock, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to the use or termination of service providers to a Fund.

BlackRock owns or has an ownership interest in certain trading, portfolio management, operations and/or information systems used by Fund service providers. These systems are, or will be, used by a Fund service provider in connection with the provision of services to accounts managed by BlackRock and funds managed and sponsored by BlackRock, including the Funds, that engage the service provider (typically the custodian). A Fund's service provider remunerates BlackRock for the use of the systems. A Fund service provider's payments to BlackRock for the use of these systems may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock's receipt of fees from a service provider in connection with the use of systems provided by BlackRock may create an incentive for BlackRock to recommend that a Fund enter into or renew an arrangement with the service provider.

In recognition of a BlackRock client's overall relationship with BlackRock, BlackRock may offer special pricing arrangements for certain services provided by BlackRock. Any such special pricing arrangements will not apply to the client's investment in a Fund.

Present and future activities of BlackRock (including BFA), its directors, officers and employees, in addition to those described in this section, may give rise to additional conflicts of interest.

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## Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services
**Investment Adviser. BFA serves as investment adviser to each Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between the Trust, on behalf of each Fund, and BFA. BFA is a California corporation indirectly owned by BlackRock, Inc. and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Under the investment advisory agreement, BFA, subject to the supervision of the Board and in conformity with the stated investment policies of each Fund, manages and administers the Trust and the investment of each Fund's assets. BFA is responsible for placing purchase and sale orders and providing continuous supervision of the investment portfolio of each Fund.**

Pursuant to the investment advisory agreement, BFA may, from time to time, in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory or other services with respect to a Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the investment advisory agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion upon appropriate notice at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Funds, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Funds will bear the cost of the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Independent Trustees).

BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses to reduce the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

The following table sets forth the management fee at the annual rate (as a percentage of each Fund's average daily net assets) BFA received from each Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the management fees (net of waivers) each Fund paid BFA for the fiscal years noted:

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|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fee for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid<br> Net of Waivers<br> for Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2020** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF <sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/27/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1008144 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$546844 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$200320 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF<sup>2</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.05% | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/27/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;69891 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;46392 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;43869 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF<sup>3</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;07/22/15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;378328 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;706398 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;70561 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF<sup>4</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1487 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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<sup>1</sup> For the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.30% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.14%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF ("LQD"), after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.10% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $2,016,940, $1,093,688 and $400,642 of its management fees, respectively.

<sup>2</sup> For the iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | the annual rate of 0.65% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.05%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.46%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF ("HYG"), after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $841,520, $556,699 and $526,426 of its management fees, respectively. |
| <sup>3</sup> | For the iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.35% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.06%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF ("IGLB"), after taking into account any fee waivers by IGLB, plus 0.10% through February 28, 2027. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2027 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020, BFA waived $946,579, $1,765,996 and $176,402 of its management fees, respectively. |
| <sup>4</sup> | For the iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement, BFA is entitled to a management fee at the annual rate of 0.13% of the Fund's average daily net assets. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA was paid a management fee from the Fund, as a percentage of the Fund's average daily net assets, net of any applicable waivers, at the annual rate of 0.10%. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses of the Fund amounted to an annual rate of 0.03%. BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after the fee waiver are equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF ("AGG"), after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 29, 2028 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022, BFA waived $446 of its management fees. |

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The investment advisory agreement with respect to each Fund continues in effect for two years from its effective date, and thereafter is subject to annual approval by (i) the Board, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the applicable Fund, provided that in either event such continuance also is approved by a majority of the Board members who are not interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the applicable Fund, by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

The investment advisory agreement with respect to each Fund is terminable without penalty, on 60 days' notice, by the Board or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the applicable Fund's outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act). The investment advisory agreement is also terminable upon 60 days' notice by BFA and will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

**Portfolio Managers. As of October 31, 2022, the individuals named as Portfolio Managers in the Funds' Prospectuses were also primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of other iShares funds and certain other types of portfolios and/or accounts as follows:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **James Mauro** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;119 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$537491000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;31695000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7414000000 |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Karen Uyehara** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;112 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$531750000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6134000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6415000000 |

---

Pursuant to BFA's policy, investment opportunities are allocated equitably among the Funds and other portfolios and accounts. For example, under certain circumstances, an investment opportunity may be restricted due to limited supply in the market, legal constraints or other factors, in which event the investment opportunity will be allocated equitably among those portfolios and accounts, including the Funds, seeking such investment opportunity. As a consequence, from time to

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time each Fund may receive a smaller allocation of an investment opportunity than it would have if the Portfolio Managers and BFA and its affiliates did not manage other portfolios or accounts.

Like the Funds, the other portfolios or accounts for which the Portfolio Managers are primarily responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management generally pay an asset-based fee to BFA or its affiliates, as applicable, for its advisory services. One or more of those other portfolios or accounts, however, may pay BFA or its affiliates a performance-based fee in lieu of, or in addition to, an asset-based fee for its advisory services. A portfolio or account with a performance-based fee would pay BFA or its affiliates a portion of that portfolio's or account's gains, or would pay BFA or its affiliates more for its services than would otherwise be the case if BFA or any of its affiliates meets or exceeds specified performance targets. Performance-based fee arrangements could present an incentive for BFA or its affiliates to devote greater resources, and allocate more investment opportunities, to the portfolios or accounts that have those fee arrangements, relative to other portfolios or accounts, in order to earn larger fees. Although BFA and each of its affiliates have an obligation to allocate resources and opportunities equitably among portfolios and accounts and intend to do so, shareholders of the Funds should be aware that, as with any group of portfolios and accounts managed by an investment adviser and/or its affiliates pursuant to varying fee arrangements, including performance-based fee arrangements, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, which may result in the Portfolio Managers favoring those portfolios or accounts with performance-based fee arrangements.

The tables below show, for each Portfolio Manager, the number of portfolios or accounts of the types set forth in the above tables and the aggregate of total assets in those portfolios or accounts with respect to which the investment management fees are based on the performance of those portfolios or accounts as of October 31, 2022:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **James Mauro** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with<br> Performance-Based<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Karen Uyehara** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with<br> Performance-Based<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1331000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2450000000 |

---

*Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview*

The discussion below describes the Portfolio Managers' compensation as of October 31, 2022.

BlackRock, Inc.'s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock, Inc.

Each portfolio manager receives base compensation based on their position with the firm, as well as retirement and other benefits offered to all BlackRock employees. Additionally, each portfolio manager receives discretionary incentive compensation, determined based on several components, including: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the performance of portfolios managed by the portfolio manager and the team relative to the portfolios' investment objectives (which in the case of index ETFs would be how closely the ETF tracks its Underlying Index), and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. Discretionary incentive compensation is paid in cash up to a certain threshold with the remaining portion represented by deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock awards. In some cases, additional deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock may be

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granted to certain key employees as part of a long-term incentive award to aid in retention, align interests with long-term shareholders and motivate performance.

The discretionary incentive income for James Mauro and Karen Uyehara includes as an additional consideration the performance of actively-managed portfolios they manage over 1, 3 and 5 year periods measured against the respective benchmark of each portfolio as well as peer group performance. A portion of the discretionary incentive compensation for James Mauro and Karen Uyehara is distributed in the form of deferred cash awards that notionally track the returns of select BlackRock, Inc. investment products they manage, which provides direct alignment of portfolio manager discretionary incentive compensation with investment product results. Deferred cash awards vest ratably over a number of years and, once vested, settle in the form of cash.

As of October 31, 2022, the Portfolio Managers did not beneficially own shares of the Funds.

**Codes of Ethics. The Trust, BFA and the Distributor have adopted codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. The codes of ethics permit personnel subject to the codes of ethics to invest in securities, subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Funds. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of each Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.**

**Anti-Money Laundering Requirements. The Funds are subject to the USA PATRIOT Act (the "Patriot Act"). The Patriot Act is intended to prevent the use of the U.S. financial system in furtherance of money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities. Pursuant to requirements under the Patriot Act, a Fund may request information from Authorized Participants to enable it to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of its Authorized Participants. This information will be used to verify the identity of Authorized Participants or, in some cases, the status of financial professionals; it will be used only for compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.**

The Funds reserve the right to reject purchase orders from persons who have not submitted information sufficient to allow the Fund to verify their identity. Each Fund also reserves the right to redeem any amounts in a Fund from persons whose identity it is unable to verify on a timely basis. It is the Funds' policy to cooperate fully with appropriate regulators in any investigations conducted with respect to potential money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities.

#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.
State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") serves as administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Funds under the Master Services Agreement and related Service Schedule (the "Service Module"). State Street's principal address is 1 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111. Pursuant to the Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services with the Trust, State Street provides necessary administrative, legal, tax and accounting and financial reporting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and each Fund. In addition, State Street makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services. Pursuant to the Service Module for Custodial Services with the Trust, State Street maintains, in separate accounts, cash, securities and other assets of the Trust and each Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records and provides other services. State Street is required, upon the order of the Trust, to deliver securities held by State Street and to make payments for securities purchased by the Trust for each Fund. State Street is authorized to appoint certain foreign custodians or foreign custody managers for Fund investments outside the U.S. Pursuant to the Service Module for Transfer Agency Services with the Trust, State Street acts as a transfer agent for each Fund's authorized and issued shares of beneficial interest, and as dividend disbursing agent of the Trust. As compensation for these services, State Street receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset-based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by BFA from its management fee.

The following table sets forth the administration, custodian and transfer agency expenses of each Fund paid by BFA to State Street for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund Inception Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Administration, Custody<br> & Transfer Agency<br> Expenses Paid<br> During Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Administration, Custody<br> & Transfer Agency<br> Expenses Paid<br> During Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Administration, Custody<br> & Transfer Agency<br> Expenses Paid<br> During Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2020** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/27/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$20053 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$21215 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$19701 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/27/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;18481 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16019 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;15991 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;07/22/15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24880 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24019 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19900 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8472 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

JPMorgan serves as custodian for the Funds in connection with certain securities lending activities under a Custody Services Agreement. JPMorgan's principal address is 383 Madison Avenue, 11<sup>th</sup> Floor, New York, NY 10179. Pursuant to the Custody Services Agreement with BTC and the Trust, JPMorgan provides custody and related services required to facilitate securities lending by each Fund. JPMorgan maintains custody as may be necessary to facilitate Fund securities lending activity in coordination with other funds, maintains custodial records and provides other services. As compensation for these services, JPMorgan receives certain fees and expenses paid by BTC from its compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

**Distributor. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Funds through the Distributor or its agent only in Creation Units, as described in the applicable Prospectus and below in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Fund shares in amounts less than Creation Units are generally not distributed by the Distributor or its agent. The Distributor or its agent will arrange for the delivery of the applicable Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it or its agents and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it or its agents. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "1934 Act"), and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The Distributor is also licensed as a broker-dealer in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.**

The Distribution Agreement for each Fund provides that it may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days' prior written notice to the other party following (i) the vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the relevant Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers ("Soliciting Dealers") who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Fund shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as described below), DTC participants and/or investor services organizations.

BFA or its affiliates may, from time to time and from its own resources, pay, defray or absorb costs relating to distribution, including payments out of its own resources to the Distributor, or to otherwise promote the sale of shares.

**Securities Lending. To the extent that a Fund engages in securities lending, each Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, and BTC acts as securities lending agent for the Funds, subject to the overall supervision of BFA, pursuant to a written agreement (the "Securities Lending Agency Agreement").**

Each Fund and Underlying Fund retains a portion of the securities lending income and remits the remaining portion to BTC as compensation for its services as securities lending agent. Securities lending income is generally equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral (and excludes collateral investment fees as defined below), and any fees or other payments to and from borrowers of securities. As securities lending agent, BTC bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending, including custodial costs of JPMorgan. Each Fund and Underlying Fund are responsible for fees in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan in a money market fund managed by BFA (the "collateral investment fees"); however, BTC has agreed to reduce the amount of securities lending income it receives in order to effectively limit the collateral investment fees the Fund bears to an annual rate of 0.04%. Such money market fund shares will not be subject to a sales load, redemption fee, distribution fee or service fee.

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Under the securities lending program, the Funds are categorized into one of several specific asset classes. The determination of a Fund's asset class category (fixed-income, domestic equity, international equity or fund-of-funds), each of which may be subject to a different fee arrangement, is based on a methodology agreed to by the Trust and BTC.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement:

(i) fund-of-funds, such as the Funds, retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees), and (ii) this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income (which includes, for this purpose, collateral investment fees) earned across the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex (as defined in the *Management — Trustees and Officers* section of this SAI) in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, each applicable fund-of-fund, pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, will receive for the remainder of that calendar year securities lending income as follows:

(i) 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and (ii) this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

The services provided to the Funds by BTC in the most recent fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 primarily included the following:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) selecting borrowers from an approved list of borrowers and executing a securities lending agreement as agent on behalf of the Funds with each such borrower;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2) negotiating the terms of securities loans, including the amount of fees;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3) directing the delivery of loaned securities;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4) monitoring the daily value of the loaned securities and directing the payment of additional collateral or the return of excess collateral, as necessary;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5) investing cash collateral received in connection with any loaned securities;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6) monitoring distributions on loaned securities (for example, interest and dividend activity);

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(7) in the event of default by a borrower with respect to any securities loan, using the collateral or the proceeds of the liquidation of collateral to purchase replacement securities of the same issue, type, class and series as that of the loaned securities; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(8) terminating securities loans and arranging for the return of loaned securities to the Funds at loan termination.

The following tables show the dollar amounts of income and fees/compensation related to the securities lending activities of each Fund during its most recent fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged Corporate<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged High Yield<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged Long-Term<br> Corporate Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged U.S. Aggregate<br> Bond ETF** |
| **Gross income from securities<br> lending activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$4569045** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$1514922** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$9773** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** |
| *Fees and/or compensation for securities lending<br> activities and<br> related services*  |  |  |  |  |

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged Corporate<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged High Yield<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged Long-Term<br> Corporate Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**iShares Interest Rate<br> Hedged U.S. Aggregate<br> Bond ETF** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Securities lending income paid to<br> BTC for services as securities<br> lending agent | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;466868 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;260293 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1394 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cash collateral management<br> expenses not included in<br> securities lending income paid to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;149245 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;23570 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1140 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Administrative fees not included in securities lending income paid<br> to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Indemnification fees not included<br> in securities lending income paid<br> to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rebates (paid to borrowers) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1824183 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;45279 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;23 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other fees not<br> included in<br> securities lending<br> income paid to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| **Aggregate fees/compensation for securities lending activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$2440296** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$329142** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$2557** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** |
| **Net income from securities lending activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$2128749** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$1185780** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$7216** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** |

---

**Payments by BFA and its Affiliates. BFA and/or its affiliates ("BFA Entities") may pay certain broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks and other financial intermediaries ("Intermediaries") for certain activities related to the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products in general. BFA Entities make these payments from their own assets and not from the assets of the Funds. Although a portion of BFA Entities' revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, these payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. BFA Entities make payments for Intermediaries' participation in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Funds and other iShares funds, or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations,**

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educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems ("Education Costs"). BFA Entities also make payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs or materials relating to the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products ("Publishing Costs"). In addition, BFA Entities make payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products available to their clients, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, develop new products that feature iShares, create educational content about the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products that is featured on an Intermediary's platform, or otherwise promote the Funds, other iShares funds and exchange-traded products. BFA Entities may also reimburse expenses or make payments from their own assets to Intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services or other activities that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.

Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients, what services to provide for various products, or what marketing content to make available to its clients based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, such payments may create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients. These financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products over other investments. The same conflicts of interest and financial incentives exist with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

In addition to the payments described above, BFA Entities have developed proprietary tools, calculators and related interactive or digital content that is made available through the www.BlackRock.com website at no additional cost to Intermediaries. BlackRock may configure these tools and calculators and localize the content for Intermediaries as part of its customary digital marketing support and promotion of the Funds, other iShares funds, exchange-traded products and BlackRock mutual funds.

As of March 1, 2013, BFA Entities have contractual arrangements to make payments (in addition to payments for Education Costs or Publishing Costs) to one Intermediary, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC ("FBS"). Effective June 4, 2016, this relationship was expanded to include National Financial Services, LLC ("NFS"), an affiliate of FBS. Pursuant to this special, long-term and significant arrangement (the "Marketing Program"), FBS, NFS and certain of their affiliates (collectively "Fidelity") have agreed, among other things, to actively promote iShares funds to customers, investment professionals and other intermediaries and in advertising campaigns as the preferred exchange-traded product, to offer certain iShares funds in certain Fidelity platforms and investment programs, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, and to provide marketing data to BFA Entities. BFA Entities have agreed to facilitate the Marketing Program by, among other things, making certain payments to FBS and NFS for marketing and implementing certain brokerage and investment programs. Upon termination of the arrangement, the BFA Entities will make additional payments to FBS and/or NFS based upon a number of criteria, including the overall success of the Marketing Program and the level of services provided by FBS and NFS during the wind-down period.

In addition, BFA Entities may enter into other contractual arrangements with Intermediaries and certain other third parties that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in iShares funds. Such agreements may include payments by BFA Entities to such Intermediaries and third parties for data collection and provision, technology support, platform enhancement, or educational content, co-marketing and cross-promotional efforts. Payments made pursuant to such arrangements may vary in any year and may be different for different Intermediaries and third parties. In certain cases, the payments described in the preceding sentence may be subject to certain minimum payment levels. As of the date of this SAI, the Intermediaries and other third parties receiving one or more types of the contractual payments described above include (in addition to FBS and NFS): Advisor Credit Exchange, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics, LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, Dorsey Wright and Associates, LLC, Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., Envestnet Asset Management, Inc., FDx Advisors, Inc., LPL Financial LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, Pershing LLC, Public Holdings, Inc., Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Riskalyze, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. Any additions, modifications, or deletions to Intermediaries and other third parties listed above that have occurred since the date of this SAI are not included in the list.

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Further, BFA Entities make Education Costs and Publishing Costs payments to other Intermediaries that are not listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. BFA Entities may determine to make such payments based on any number of metrics. For example, BFA Entities may make payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary's services at defined levels or an amount based on the Intermediary's net sales of one or more iShares funds in a year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, BFA anticipates that the payments paid by BFA Entities in connection with the Funds, iShares funds and exchange-traded products in general will be immaterial to BFA Entities in the aggregate for the next year. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments or financial incentives his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made, or financial incentives offered, by the BFA Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for the Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of the Funds, other iShares funds or other exchange-traded products.**

The Funds may participate in certain market maker incentive programs of a national securities exchange in which an affiliate of the Funds would pay a fee to the exchange used for the purpose of incentivizing one or more market makers in the securities of a Fund to enhance the liquidity and quality of the secondary market of securities of a Fund. The fee would then be credited by the exchange to one or more market makers that meet or exceed liquidity and market quality standards with respect to the securities of a Fund. Each market maker incentive program is subject to approval from the SEC. Any such fee payments made to an exchange will be made by an affiliate of a Fund solely for the benefit of a Fund and will not be paid from any Fund assets. Other funds managed by BFA may also participate in such programs.

## Determination of Net Asset Value
**Valuation of Shares. The NAV for each Fund is generally calculated as of the close of regular trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each business day the NYSE is open. Valuation of assets held by a Fund is as follows:**

**Equity Investments. Equity securities traded on a recognized securities exchange (*e.g.*, NYSE), on separate trading boards of a securities exchange or through a market system that provides contemporaneous transaction pricing information (each an "Exchange") are valued using information obtained via independent pricing services, generally at the closing price or, if an Exchange closing price is not available, the last traded price on that Exchange prior to the time as of which the assets or liabilities are valued. However, under certain circumstances, other means of determining current market value may be used. If an equity security is traded on more than one Exchange, the current market value of the security where it is primarily traded generally will be used. In the event that there are no sales involving an equity security held by a Fund on a day on which a Fund values such security, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the security, in which case such asset would be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

**Fixed-Income Investments. Fixed-income securities for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued using such securities' current market value. A Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using the last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by a Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. The pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values, including transaction data (*e.g*., recent representative bids and offers), credit quality information, perceived market movements, news, and other relevant information and by other methods, which may include consideration of: yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type; indications as to values from dealers; general market conditions; and/or other factors and assumptions. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but a Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. The amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with 60 days or less remaining to maturity unless such method does not represent fair value. Certain fixed-income investments, including asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, may be valued based on valuation models that consider the estimated cash flows of each tranche of the issuer, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.**

**Options, Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Exchange-traded equity options (except those that are customized) for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the mean of the last bid and ask prices as quoted on the Exchange or the board of trade on which such options are traded. In the event that there is no mean price available for an**

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exchange traded equity option held by a Fund on a day on which a Fund values such option, the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price, if available, will be used as the value of such option. If no bid or ask price is available on a day on which a Fund values such option, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the option, in which case such option will be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below). Customized exchange-traded equity options, as well as OTC derivatives, may be valued using a mathematical model which may incorporate a number of market data factors. Financial futures contracts and options thereon, which are traded on exchanges, are valued at their last sale price or settle price as of the close of such exchanges. Swap agreements and other derivatives are generally valued daily based upon quotations from market makers or by a pricing service in accordance with the Valuation Procedures.

**Underlying Funds. Shares of underlying open-end funds (including money market funds) are valued at NAV. Shares of underlying exchange-traded closed-end funds or other ETFs will be valued at their most recent closing price.**

**General Valuation Information. Prices obtained from independent third-party pricing services, broker-dealers or market makers to value a Fund's securities and other assets and liabilities are based on information available at the time a Fund values its assets and liabilities. In the event that a pricing service quotation is revised or updated subsequent to the day on which a Fund valued such security, the revised pricing service quotation generally will be applied prospectively. Such determination will be made considering pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding the revision.**

The price a Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from a Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for assets that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by a Fund, and a Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. A Fund's ability to value its investment may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

All cash, receivables and current payables are carried on a Fund's books at their fair value.

In the event that application of the methods of valuation discussed above result in a price for a security which is deemed not to be representative of the fair market value of such security, the security will be valued by, under the direction of or in accordance with a method approved by BFA, each Fund's valuation designee, as reflecting fair value. All other assets and liabilities (including securities for which market quotations are not readily available) held by a Fund (including restricted securities) are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by BFA pursuant to the Valuation Procedures. Any assets and liabilities which are denominated in a foreign currency are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates.

Use of fair value prices and certain current market valuations could result in a difference between the prices used to calculate a Fund's NAV and the prices used in the Underlying Index, which, in turn, could result in a difference between a Fund's performance and the performance of the Underlying Index.

**Fair Value. When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, a Fund's investments are valued at fair value ("Fair Value Assets"). Fair Value Assets are valued by BFA in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act, the Board of Trustees has designated BFA as the valuation designee for the respective Funds for which it serves as investment adviser. BFA may reasonably conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if, among other things, a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its complete lack of trading, if BFA believes a market quotation from a broker-dealer or other source is unreliable (*e.g.*, where it varies significantly from a recent trade, or no longer reflects the fair value of the security or other asset or liability subsequent to the most recent market quotation), or where the security or other asset or liability is only thinly traded or due to the occurrence of a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation. For this purpose, a "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment, that an event has occurred after the close of trading for an asset or liability but prior to or at the time of pricing a Fund's assets or liabilities, is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, a Fund. On any day the NYSE is open and a foreign market or the primary exchange on which a foreign asset or liability is traded is closed, such asset or liability will be valued using the prior day's price, provided that BFA is not aware of any significant event or other information that would cause such price to no longer reflect the fair value of the asset or liability, in which case such asset or liability would be treated as a Fair Value Asset.**

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BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving methodologies by investment type and significant inputs used in the fair valuation of Fund assets or liabilities. In addition, a Fund's accounting agent assists BFA by periodically endeavoring to confirm the prices it receives from all third-party pricing services, index providers and broker-dealers and regularly evaluating the values assigned to the securities and other assets and liabilities of a Fund. The pricing of all Fair Value Assets is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof.

When determining the price for a Fair Value Asset, BFA will seek to determine the price that a Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction on the date on which the asset or liability is being valued, and does not seek to determine the price a Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. Fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. When determining the fair value of an investment, one or more fair value methodologies may be used (depending on certain factors, including the asset type). For example, the investment may be initially priced based on the original cost of the investment or, alternatively, using proprietary or third-party models that may rely upon one or more unobservable inputs. Prices of actual, executed or historical transactions in the relevant investment (or comparable instruments) or, where appropriate, an appraisal by a third-party experienced in the valuation of similar instruments, may also be used as a basis for establishing the fair value of an investment.

The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining a Fund's NAV. As a result, a Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

Each Fund's annual audited financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), follow the requirements for valuation set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"), which defines and establishes a framework for measuring fair value under US GAAP and expands financial statement disclosure requirements relating to fair value measurements.

Generally, ASC 820 and other accounting rules applicable to funds and various assets in which they invest are evolving. Such changes may adversely affect a Fund. For example, the evolution of rules governing the determination of the fair market value of assets or liabilities, to the extent such rules become more stringent, would tend to increase the cost and/or reduce the availability of third-party determinations of fair market value. This may in turn increase the costs associated with selling assets or affect their liquidity due to a Fund's inability to obtain a third-party determination of fair market value.

## Brokerage Transactions
Subject to policies established by the Board, BFA is primarily responsible for the execution of a Fund's portfolio transactions and the allocation of brokerage. BFA does not execute transactions through any particular broker or dealer, but seeks to obtain the best net results for the Funds, taking into account such factors as price (including the applicable brokerage commission or dealer spread), size of order, difficulty of execution, operational facilities of the firm and the firm's risk and skill in positioning blocks of securities. While BFA generally seeks reasonable trade execution costs, a Fund does not necessarily pay the lowest spread or commission available, and payment of the lowest commission or spread is not necessarily consistent with obtaining the best price and execution in particular transactions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, BFA may select a broker based partly upon brokerage or research services provided to BFA and its clients, including a Fund. In return for such services, BFA may cause a Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if BFA determines in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to the services provided.

In selecting brokers or dealers to execute portfolio transactions, BFA seeks to obtain the best price and most favorable execution for a Fund and may take into account a variety of factors including: (i) the size, nature and character of the security or instrument being traded and the markets in which it is purchased or sold; (ii) the desired timing of the transaction; (iii) BFA's knowledge of the expected commission rates and spreads currently available; (iv) the activity existing and expected in the market for the particular security or instrument, including any anticipated execution difficulties; (v) the full range of

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brokerage services provided; (vi) the broker's or dealer's capital; (vii) the quality of research and research services provided; (viii) the reasonableness of the commission, dealer spread or its equivalent for the specific transaction; and (ix) BFA's knowledge of any actual or apparent operational problems of a broker or dealer. Brokers may also be selected because of their ability to handle special or difficult executions, such as may be involved in large block trades, thinly traded securities, or other circumstances.

Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act ("Section 28(e)") permits a U.S. investment adviser, under certain circumstances, to cause an account to pay a broker or dealer a commission for effecting a transaction in securities that exceeds the amount another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting the same transaction in recognition of the value of brokerage and research services provided by that broker or dealer. This includes commissions paid on riskless principal transactions in securities under certain conditions.

From time to time, a Fund may purchase new issues of securities in a fixed price offering. In these situations, the broker may be a member of the selling group that will, in addition to selling securities, provide BFA with research services. FINRA has adopted rules expressly permitting these types of arrangements under certain circumstances. Generally, the broker will provide research "credits" in these situations at a rate that is higher than that available for typical secondary market transactions. These arrangements may not fall within the safe harbor of Section 28(e).

OTC issues, including most fixed-income securities such as corporate debt and U.S. Government securities, are normally traded on a "net" basis without a stated commission, through dealers acting for their own account and not as brokers. The Funds will primarily engage in transactions with these dealers or deal directly with the issuer unless a better price or execution could be obtained by using a broker. Prices paid to a dealer with respect to both foreign and domestic securities will generally include a "spread," which is the difference between the prices at which the dealer is willing to purchase and sell the specific security at the time, and includes the dealer's normal profit.

Under the 1940 Act, persons affiliated with a Fund and persons who are affiliated with such affiliated persons are prohibited from dealing with the Fund as principal in the purchase and sale of securities unless a permissive order allowing such transactions is obtained from the SEC. Since transactions in the OTC market usually involve transactions with the dealers acting as principal for their own accounts, the Funds will not deal with affiliated persons and affiliated persons of such affiliated persons in connection with such transactions. The Funds will not purchase securities during the existence of any underwriting or selling group relating to such securities of which BFA, BRIL or any affiliated person (as defined in the 1940 Act) thereof is a member except pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board in accordance with Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act.

Purchases of money market instruments by the Funds are made from dealers, underwriters and issuers. The Funds do not currently expect to incur any brokerage commission expense on such transactions because money market instruments are generally traded on a "net" basis with dealers acting as principal for their own accounts without a stated commission. The price of the security, however, usually includes a profit to the dealer.

BFA may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Funds with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions.

Securities purchased in underwritten offerings include a fixed amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter's concession or discount. When securities are purchased or sold directly from or to an issuer, no commissions or discounts are paid.

Investment decisions for the Funds and for other investment accounts managed by BFA and the other Affiliates are made independently of each other in light of differing conditions. A variety of factors will be considered in making investment allocations. These factors include: (i) investment objectives or strategies for particular accounts, including sector, industry, country or region and capitalization weightings; (ii) tax considerations of an account; (iii) risk or investment concentration parameters for an account; (iv) supply or demand for a security at a given price level; (v) size of available investment; (vi) cash availability and liquidity requirements for accounts; (vii) regulatory restrictions; (viii) minimum investment size of an account; (ix) relative size of account; and (x) such other factors as may be approved by BlackRock's general counsel. Moreover, investments may not be allocated to one client account over another based on any of the following considerations: (i) to favor one client account at the expense of another; (ii) to generate higher fees paid by one client account over another

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or to produce greater performance compensation to BlackRock; (iii) to develop or enhance a relationship with a client or prospective client; (iv) to compensate a client for past services or benefits rendered to BlackRock or to induce future services or benefits to be rendered to BlackRock; or (v) to manage or equalize investment performance among different client accounts. BFA and the other Affiliates may deal, trade and invest for their own respective accounts in the types of securities in which the Funds may invest.

Initial public offerings ("IPOs") of securities may be over-subscribed and subsequently trade at a premium in the secondary market. When BFA is given an opportunity to invest in such an initial offering or "new" or "hot" issue, the supply of securities available for client accounts is often less than the amount of securities the accounts would otherwise take. In order to allocate these investments fairly and equitably among client accounts over time, each portfolio manager or a member of his or her respective investment team will indicate to BFA's trading desk their level of interest in a particular offering with respect to eligible clients' accounts for which that team is responsible. IPOs of U.S. equity securities will be identified as eligible for particular client accounts that are managed by portfolio teams who have indicated interest in the offering based on market capitalization of the issuer of the security and the investment mandate of the client account and in the case of international equity securities, the country where the offering is taking place and the investment mandate of the client account. Generally, shares received during the IPO will be allocated among participating client accounts within each investment mandate on a *pro rata* basis. This *pro rata* allocation may result in a Fund receiving less of a particular security than if pro-rating had not occurred. All allocations of securities will be subject, where relevant, to share minimums established for accounts and compliance constraints. In situations where supply is too limited to be allocated among all accounts for which the investment is eligible, portfolio managers may rotate such investment opportunities among one or more accounts so long as the rotation system provides for fair access for all client accounts over time. Other allocation methodologies that are considered by BFA to be fair and equitable to clients may be used as well.

Because different accounts may have differing investment objectives and policies, BFA may buy and sell the same securities at the same time for different clients based on the particular investment objective, guidelines and strategies of those accounts. For example, BFA may decide that it may be entirely appropriate for a growth fund to sell a security at the same time a value fund is buying that security. To the extent that transactions on behalf of more than one client of BFA or the other Affiliates during the same period increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, there may be an adverse effect on price. For example, sales of a security by BlackRock on behalf of one or more of its clients may decrease the market price of such security, adversely impacting other BlackRock clients that still hold the security. If purchases or sales of securities arise for consideration at or about the same time that would involve the Funds or other clients or funds for which BFA or another Affiliate act as investment manager, transactions in such securities will be made, insofar as feasible, for the respective funds and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all.

In certain instances, BFA may find it efficient for purposes of seeking to obtain best execution, to aggregate or "bunch" certain contemporaneous purchases or sale orders of its advisory accounts and advisory accounts of affiliates. In general, all contemporaneous trades for client accounts under management by the same portfolio manager or investment team will be bunched in a single order if the trader believes the bunched trade would provide each client with an opportunity to achieve a more favorable execution at a potentially lower execution cost. The costs associated with a bunched order will be shared *pro rata* among the clients in the bunched order. Generally, if an order for a particular portfolio manager or management team is filled at several different prices through multiple trades, all accounts participating in the order will receive the average price (except in the case of certain international markets where average pricing is not permitted). While in some cases this practice could have a detrimental effect upon the price or value of the security as far as the Funds are concerned, in other cases it could be beneficial to the Funds. Transactions effected by BFA or the other Affiliates on behalf of more than one of its clients during the same period may increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, causing an adverse effect on price. The trader will give the bunched order to the broker-dealer that the trader has identified as being able to provide the best execution of the order. Orders for purchase or sale of securities will be placed within a reasonable amount of time of the order receipt and bunched orders will be kept bunched only long enough to execute the order.

The table below sets forth the brokerage commissions paid by each Fund for the fiscal years noted. Any differences in brokerage commissions paid by a Fund from year to year are principally due to increases or decreases in that Fund's assets over those periods or the magnitude of changes to the components of a Fund's Underlying Index:

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| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Brokerage<br> Commissions<br> Paid During<br> Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2020** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/27/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50004 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$4230 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1471 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;05/27/14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3953 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;308 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;404 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;07/22/15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;58378 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;38556 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3829 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;06/22/22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;211 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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None of the Funds paid any brokerage commissions to BRIL, an affiliate of BFA, or to any other broker-dealer that is part of the BlackRock group of companies, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The Funds' purchase and sale orders for securities may be combined with those of other investment companies, clients or accounts that BlackRock manages or advises. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities of the Funds and one or more other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Funds and the other accounts in a manner deemed equitable to all by BlackRock. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Funds are concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower transaction costs will be beneficial to the Funds. BlackRock may deal, trade and invest for its own account in the types of securities in which the Funds may invest. BlackRock may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Funds with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions. The Funds will not deal with affiliates in principal transactions unless permitted by applicable SEC rules or regulations, or by SEC exemptive order.

Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year. High turnover rates may result in comparatively greater brokerage expenses. The table below sets forth the portfolio turnover rates of the Funds for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;20% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;42% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;14% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;14%<sup>1,2</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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<sup>1</sup> The portfolio turnover for the iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF relates to the period of June 22, 2022 to October 31, 2022 and is not annualized. <br> <sup>2</sup> The inception date for the iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF was June 22, 2022.

## Additional Information Concerning the Trust
**Shares. The Trust currently consists of 16 separate investment series or portfolios called funds. The Trust issues shares of beneficial interests in the funds with no par value. The Board may designate additional iShares funds.**

Each share issued by a fund has a *pro rata* interest in the assets of that fund. Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the relevant fund, and in the net distributable assets of such fund on liquidation.

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Each share has one vote with respect to matters upon which the shareholder is entitled to vote. In any matter submitted to shareholders for a vote, each fund shall hold a separate vote, provided that shareholders of all affected funds will vote together when: (i) required by the 1940 Act, or (ii) the Trustees determine that the matter affects the interests of more than one fund.

Under Delaware law, the Trust is not required to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. The policy of the Trust is not to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. All shares (regardless of the fund) have noncumulative voting rights in the election of members of the Board. Under Delaware law, Trustees of the Trust may be removed by vote of the shareholders.

Following the creation of the initial Creation Unit(s) of shares of a fund and immediately prior to the commencement of trading in such fund's shares, a holder of shares may be a "control person" of the fund, as defined in Rule 0-1 under the 1940 Act. A fund cannot predict the length of time for which one or more shareholders may remain a control person of the fund.

Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to iShares U.S. ETF Trust, c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC, 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, beneficial owners of more than 5% of the shares of a fund may be subject to the reporting provisions of Section 13 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. In addition, absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, officers and trustees of a fund and beneficial owners of 10% of the shares of a fund ("Insiders") may be subject to the insider reporting, short-swing profit and short sale provisions of Section 16 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. Beneficial owners and Insiders should consult with their own legal counsel concerning their obligations under Sections 13 and 16 of the 1934 Act and existing guidance provided by the SEC staff.

In accordance with the Trust's current Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust"), the Board may, without shareholder approval (unless such shareholder approval is required by the Declaration of Trust or applicable law, including the 1940 Act), authorize certain funds to merge, reorganize, consolidate, sell all or substantially all of their assets, or take other similar actions with, to or into another fund. The Trust or a fund may be terminated by a majority vote of the Board, or the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders of the Trust or such fund entitled to vote on termination; however, in certain circumstances described in the Declaration of Trust, only a majority vote of the Board is required. Although the shares are not automatically redeemable upon the occurrence of any specific event, the Declaration of Trust provides that the Board will have the unrestricted power to alter the number of shares in a Creation Unit. Therefore, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Board, in its sole discretion, could determine to permit the shares to be redeemable in aggregations smaller than Creation Units or to be individually redeemable. In such circumstance, the Trust or a fund may make redemptions in-kind, for cash or for a combination of cash or securities. Further, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Trust or a fund might elect to pay cash redemptions to all shareholders, with an in-kind election for shareholders owning in excess of a certain stated minimum amount.

**DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Funds. Shares of each Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.**

DTC was created in 1973 to enable electronic movement of securities between its participants ("DTC Participants"), and NSCC was established in 1976 to provide a single settlement system for securities clearing and to serve as central counterparty for securities trades among DTC Participants. In 1999, DTC and NSCC were consolidated within The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") and became wholly-owned subsidiaries of DTCC. The common stock of DTCC is owned by the DTC Participants, but NYSE and FINRA, through subsidiaries, hold preferred shares in DTCC that provide them with the right to elect one member each to the DTCC board of directors. Access to the DTC system is available to entities, such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly ("Indirect Participants").

Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as "Beneficial Owners") is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain

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purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in shares of the Fund.

Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee to be charged to the Trust a listing of the shares of each Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Share distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares of the Trust. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall credit immediately DTC Participants' accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in shares of each Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a "street name," and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.

The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants. DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to shares of the Trust at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.

**Distribution of Shares. In connection with each Fund's launch, each Fund was seeded through the sale of one or more Creation Units by each Fund to one or more initial investors. Initial investors participating in the seeding may be Authorized Participants, a lead market maker or other third party investor or an affiliate of each Fund or each Fund's adviser. Each such initial investor may sell some or all of the shares underlying the Creation Unit(s) held by them pursuant to the registration statement for each Fund (each, a "Selling Shareholder"), which shares have been registered to permit the resale from time to time after purchase. Each Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale by the Selling Shareholders of these shares.**

Selling Shareholders may sell shares owned by them directly or through broker-dealers, in accordance with applicable law, on any national securities exchange on which the shares may be listed or quoted at the time of sale, through trading systems, in the OTC market or in transactions other than on these exchanges or systems at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected through brokerage transactions, privately negotiated trades, block sales, entry into options or other derivatives transactions or through any other means authorized by applicable law. Selling Shareholders may redeem the shares held in Creation Unit size by them through an Authorized Participant.

Any Selling Shareholder and any broker-dealer or agents participating in the distribution of shares may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act, in connection with such sales.

Any Selling Shareholder and any other person participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

## Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
**General. The Trust issues and sells shares of each Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor or its agent, without a sales load, at a price based on each Fund's NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order received by the Distributor or its agent in proper form. On days when the Listing Exchange or the**

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bond markets close earlier than normal, a Fund may require orders to be placed earlier in the day. The following table sets forth the number of shares of a Fund that constitute a Creation Unit for such Fund and the approximate value of such Creation Unit as of November 30, 2022:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Shares Per<br> Creation Unit** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Approximate<br> Value Per<br> Creation<br> Unit (U.S.$)** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$4600292.25 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4189632.00 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1174874.10 |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2537841.40 |

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In its discretion, the Trust reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of a Fund's shares that constitute a Creation Unit. The Board reserves the right to declare a split or a consolidation in the number of shares outstanding of any Fund, and to make a corresponding change in the number of shares constituting a Creation Unit, in the event that the per share price in the secondary market rises (or declines) to an amount that falls outside the range deemed desirable by the Board.

A "Business Day" with respect to each Fund is any day the Fund is open for business, including any day when it satisfies redemption requests as required by Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act. Each Fund is open for business any day on which the Listing Exchange on which the Fund is listed for trading is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, each Listing Exchange observes the following holidays, as observed: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

**Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of Creation Units of a Fund generally consists of Deposit Securities and the Cash Component computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to creation requests received in proper form. The Fund Deposit represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of a Fund. Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, to purchases of Creation Units of shares of a given Fund until such time as the next-announced Fund Deposit is made available.**

The "Cash Component" is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares (per Creation Unit) and the "Deposit Amount," which is an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities, and serves to compensate for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the Deposit Amount. Payment of any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities are the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant purchasing the Creation Unit. The Funds generally offer Creation Units partially for cash, but may, in certain circumstances, offer Creation Units solely for cash or solely in-kind.

The identity and number or par value of the Deposit Securities change pursuant to changes in the composition of a Fund's portfolio and as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by BFA with a view to the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities constituting the relevant Underlying Index.

The Fund Deposit may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Deposit Securities portion of the Fund Deposit through "systematic rounding." The rounding methodology "rounds up" position sizes of securities in the Deposit Securities (which in turn reduces the cash portion). However, the methodology limits the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Fund Deposit.

Fund Deposits may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when instruments are not available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) when instruments are not eligible for transfer through DTC or the clearing process (as discussed below); (iii) when instruments that the Authorized Participant (or an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) are not able to be traded due to a trading restriction; (iv) when delivery of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant (or by an

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investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws; (v) in connection with distribution payments to be made by a Fund; or (vi) in certain other situations.

**Cash Purchase Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit full cash purchases of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified (Creation Units of the Funds are generally offered partially for cash), they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof. In the case of a partial or full cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser.**

**Procedures for Creation of Creation Units. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit of the Funds, an entity must be: (i) a "Participating Party," *i.e*., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the "Clearing Process"), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC, or (ii) a DTC Participant, and must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units ("Authorized Participant Agreement") (discussed below). A member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC which has a written agreement with the Funds or one of their service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units is referred to as an "Authorized Participant." All shares of the Funds, however created, will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.**

**Role of the Authorized Participant. Creation Units may be purchased only by or through a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Funds or one of their service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units. Such Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of such Authorized Participant Agreement and on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that such Authorized Participant will make available in advance of each purchase of shares an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component, once the NAV of a Creation Unit is next determined after receipt of the purchase order in proper form, together with the transaction fees described below. An Authorized Participant, acting on behalf of an investor, may require the investor to enter into an agreement with such Authorized Participant with respect to certain matters, including payment of the Cash Component. Investors who are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not be a DTC Participant or may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that orders to purchase Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant. As a result, purchase orders placed through an Authorized Participant may result in additional charges to such investor. The Trust does not expect to enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with more than a small number of DTC Participants. A list of current Authorized Participants may be obtained from the Distributor. The Distributor has adopted guidelines regarding Authorized Participants' transactions in Creation Units that are made available to all Authorized Participants. These guidelines set forth the processes and standards for Authorized Participants to transact with the Distributor and its agents in connection with creation and redemption transactions. In addition, the Distributor may be appointed as the proxy of the Authorized Participant and may be granted a power of attorney under its Authorized Participant Agreement.**

**Placement of Creation Orders. Fund Deposits must be delivered through the Federal Reserve System (for cash and U.S. government securities), through DTC (for corporate and municipal securities) or through a central depository account, such as with Euroclear or DTC, maintained by State Street or a sub-custodian (a "Central Depository Account"). Any portion of a Fund Deposit that may not be delivered through the Federal Reserve System or DTC must be delivered through a Central Depository Account. The Fund Deposit transfers made through DTC must be ordered by the DTC Participant in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number of Deposit Securities through DTC to the accounts of the Funds generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. Fund Deposit transfers made through the Federal Reserve System must be deposited by the participant institution in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number or amount of Deposit Securities or cash through the Federal Reserve System to the account of the Funds generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. Fund Deposit transfers made through a Central Depository Account must be completed pursuant to the requirements established by the custodian or sub-custodian for such Central Depository Account generally before 2:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. The "Settlement Date" for all funds is generally the second business day after the Transmittal Date. All questions as to the number of Deposit Securities to be delivered, and the validity, form and eligibility (including time of receipt) for the deposit of any tendered securities, will be determined by the Trust, whose determination shall be final and binding. The amount of cash equal to the Cash Component must be transferred directly to State Street through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system in a timely manner so as to be received by State**

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Street generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. If the Cash Component and the Deposit Securities are not received by 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date, the creation order may be canceled. Upon written notice to the Distributor, such canceled order may be resubmitted the following Business Day using the Fund Deposit as newly constituted to reflect the then current NAV of the Funds. The delivery of Creation Units so created generally will occur no later than the second Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor, provided that the relevant Fund Deposit has been received by the Funds prior to such time.

**Purchase Orders. To initiate an order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit to the Distributor or its agent an irrevocable order to purchase shares of a Fund, in proper form, generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day to receive that day's NAV. The Distributor or its agent will notify BFA and the custodian of such order. The custodian will then provide such information to any appropriate sub-custodian. Procedures and requirements governing the delivery of the Fund Deposit are set forth in the procedures handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a creation request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request. Those placing orders to purchase Creation Units through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor or its agent by the Cutoff Time (as defined below) on such Business Day.**

The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the Funds, immediately available or same day funds estimated by the Funds to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with the applicable purchase transaction fees. Those placing orders should ascertain the applicable deadline for cash transfers by contacting the operations department of the broker or depositary institution effectuating the transfer of the Cash Component. This deadline is likely to be significantly earlier than the Cutoff Time of the Funds. Investors should be aware that an Authorized Participant may require orders for purchases of shares placed with it to be in the particular form required by the individual Authorized Participant.

The Authorized Participant is responsible for any and all expenses and costs incurred by a Fund, including any applicable cash amounts, in connection with any purchase order.

**Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable order to purchase shares of a Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. Creation Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant in the form required by the Funds to the Distributor or its agent pursuant to procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure, may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or its agent or an Authorized Participant. Orders to create shares of a Fund that are submitted on the Business Day immediately preceding a holiday or a day (other than a weekend) when the equity markets in the relevant non-U.S. market are closed may not be accepted. Each Fund's deadline specified above for the submission of purchase orders is referred to as that Fund's "Cutoff Time." The Distributor or its agent, in their discretion, may permit the submission of such orders and requests by or through an Authorized Participant at any time (including on days on which the Listing Exchange is not open for business) via communication through the facilities of the Distributor's or its agent's proprietary website maintained for this purpose. Purchase orders and redemption requests, if accepted by the Trust, will be processed based on the NAV next determined after such acceptance in accordance with a Fund's Cutoff Times as provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement and disclosed in this SAI.**

**Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. Subject to the conditions that (i) an irrevocable purchase order has been submitted by the Authorized Participant (either on its own or another investor's behalf) and (ii) arrangements satisfactory to the Funds are in place for payment of the Cash Component and any other cash amounts which may be due, the Funds will accept the order, subject to each Fund's right (and the right of the Distributor and BFA) to reject any order until acceptance, as set forth below.**

Once a Fund has accepted an order, upon the next determination of the NAV of the shares, the Fund will confirm the issuance of a Creation Unit, against receipt of payment, at such NAV. The Distributor or its agent will then transmit a confirmation of acceptance to the Authorized Participant that placed the order.

Each Fund reserves the right to reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent provided that a rejection or revocation of a creation order does not violate Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act. For example, a Fund may reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent if (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of the

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Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered do not conform to the identity and number of shares specified, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities is not legally required or would, in the opinion of the Trust, be unlawful or have an adverse effect on the Fund or its shareholders (*e.g*., jeopardize the Fund's tax status); or (v) circumstances outside the control of the Fund, the Distributor or its agent and BFA make it impracticable to process purchase orders. The Distributor or its agent shall notify a prospective purchaser of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such purchaser of its rejection of such order. The Funds, State Street, the sub-custodian and the Distributor or its agent are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for failure to give such notification.

**Issuance of a Creation Unit. Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the applicable Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When the sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the securities included in the Fund Deposit (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian or sub-custodians, the Distributor or its agent and BFA shall be notified of such delivery and the applicable Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit. Creation Units are generally issued on a "T+2 basis" (*i.e.*, two Business Days after trade date). Each Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law.**

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor, each Fund will issue Creation Units to such Authorized Participant, notwithstanding the fact that the corresponding Fund Deposits have not been received in part or in whole, in reliance on the undertaking of the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Deposit Securities as soon as possible, which undertaking shall be secured by such Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to buy Deposit Securities for the Funds. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the contractual settlement date. Information concerning the Funds' current procedures for collateralization of missing Deposit Securities is available from the Distributor or its agent. The Authorized Participant Agreement will permit the Funds to buy the missing Deposit Securities at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Funds of purchasing such securities and the collateral including, without limitation, liability for related brokerage, borrowings and other charges.

In certain cases, Authorized Participants may create and redeem Creation Units on the same trade date and in these instances, the Funds reserve the right to settle these transactions on a net basis or require a representation from the Authorized Participants that the creation and redemption transactions are for separate beneficial owners. All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by each Fund and the Fund's determination shall be final and binding.

#### Costs Associated with Creation Transactions.
A standard creation transaction fee is imposed to offset the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant creates a Creation Unit, and is the same, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a purchase consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Deposit Securities to the Funds. Certain fees/costs associated with creation transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to acquire Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth each Fund's standard creation transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge for Creations\*** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$150 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;150 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge for Creations\*** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;300 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit.

**Redemption of Creation Units. Shares of a Fund may be redeemed by Authorized Participants only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Distributor or its agent and only on a Business Day. The Funds will not redeem shares in amounts less than Creation Units. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the secondary market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of shares to constitute a Creation Unit that could be redeemed by an Authorized Participant. Beneficial owners also may sell shares in the secondary market.**

The Funds generally redeem Creation Units partially for cash. However, the Funds reserve the right to distribute securities and other portfolio instruments in-kind as payment for Creation Units being redeemed. Please see the *Cash Redemption Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the in-kind method for further information on redeeming Creation Units of the Funds.

Each Fund publishes the designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) that will be applicable to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day ("Fund Securities" or "Redemption Basket"), and an amount of cash (the "Cash Amount," as described below) in order to effect redemptions of Creation Units of a Fund. Such Fund Securities and Cash Amount will remain in effect until such time as the next announced composition of the Fund Securities and Cash Amount is made available. The Fund Securities and Cash Amount are subject to possible amendment or correction. Fund Securities received on redemption may not be identical to Deposit Securities that are applicable to creations of Creation Units. Procedures and requirements governing redemption transactions are set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time.

Unless cash redemptions are available or specified for a Fund, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of Fund Securities, plus the Cash Amount, which is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares being redeemed, as next determined after the receipt of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of Fund Securities, less a redemption transaction fee (as described below).

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant (or to an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws or due to a trading restriction; (ii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Fund Security by the Authorized Participant due to restrictions under applicable securities or other local laws; (iii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in unfavorable tax treatment; (iv) when a Fund Security cannot be settled or otherwise delivered in time to facilitate an in-kind redemption; or (v) in certain other situations. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder. Each Fund generally redeems Creation Units partially for cash. Each Fund may, in its sole discretion, provide such redeeming Authorized Participant a portfolio of securities that differs from the exact composition of the Fund Securities, but does not differ in NAV. The Redemption Basket may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Fund Securities portion of the Redemption Basket through systematically rounding. The rounding methodology allows position sizes of securities in the Fund Securities to be "rounded up," while limiting the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Redemption Basket. Redemption Baskets may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

**Cash Redemption Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit full cash redemptions of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash redemptions of Creation Units are available or specified (*e.g.,* Creation Units of the Funds are generally redeemed partially for cash), to the extent that partial or full cash redemptions are offered, they will be effected in**

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essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof. In the case of partial or full cash redemption, the Authorized Participant receives the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities and other instruments it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.

#### Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions.
A standard redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by the relevant Fund. The standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and is the same regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed by an Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a redemption consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from a Fund to their account on their order. Certain fees/costs associated with redemption transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to dispose of Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth each Fund's standard redemption transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Redemption<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge for Redemptions\*** |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$150 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;150 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;300 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |
| iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;100 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit, inclusive of the standard redemption transaction fee.

**Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemption requests for Creation Units of the Funds must be submitted to the Distributor or its agent by or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable request to redeem shares of the Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, a Fund may require orders to redeem Creation Units to be placed earlier that day. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a redemption request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request.**

The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption in the form required by the Funds to the Distributor or its agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant who has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement. At any time, only a limited number of broker-dealers will have an Authorized Participant Agreement in effect. Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant. Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the shares to the Funds' transfer agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.

A redemption request is considered to be in "proper form" if: (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Funds' transfer agent the Creation Unit redeemed through the book-entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the Listing Exchange closing time on any Business Day on which the redemption request is submitted; (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the applicable Fund is received by the Distributor or its agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified above; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement are properly followed.

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Upon receiving a redemption request, the Distributor or its agent shall notify the applicable Fund and the Fund's transfer agent of such redemption request. The tender of an investor's shares for redemption and the distribution of the securities and/or cash included in the redemption payment made in respect of Creation Units redeemed will be made through DTC and the relevant Authorized Participant to the Beneficial Owner thereof as recorded on the book-entry system of DTC or the DTC Participant through which such investor holds, as the case may be, or by such other means specified by the Authorized Participant submitting the redemption request.

A redeeming Authorized Participant, whether on its own account or acting on behalf of a Beneficial Owner, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the portfolio securities are customarily traded, to which account such portfolio securities will be delivered.

Deliveries of redemption proceeds by a Fund are generally made within two Business Days (*i.e*., "T+2"). Each Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, as applicable. For example, each Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions and deliver redemption proceeds on another basis to accommodate non-U.S. market holiday schedules, to account for different treatment among non-U.S. and U.S. markets of dividend record dates and dividend ex-dates (*i.e*., the last date the holder of a security can sell the security and still receive dividends payable on the security sold) and in certain other circumstances consistent with applicable law.

Although the Trust does not ordinarily permit cash redemptions of Creation Units, in the event that cash redemptions are permitted or required by the Trust (*e.g.*, Creation Units of the Funds are generally redeemed partially for cash), proceeds will be paid to the Authorized Participant redeeming shares as soon as practicable after the date of redemption (within seven calendar days thereafter). If a Fund includes a foreign investment in its basket, and if a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming Authorized Participants prevents timely delivery of the foreign investment in response to a redemption request, a Fund may delay delivery of the foreign investment more than seven days if a Fund delivers the foreign investment as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 days.

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant's agreement with the Distributor or its agent, in the event an Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation Unit to be redeemed to a Fund, at or prior to the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request, the Distributor or its agent will accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request and shall be held by State Street and marked-to-market daily. The fees of State Street and any sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant Agreement permits the Funds to acquire shares of the Funds at any time and subjects the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the aggregate of the cost to the Funds of purchasing such shares, plus the value of the Cash Amount, and the value of the collateral together with liability for related brokerage and other charges.

Because the U.S. bond market may be open on days that the Listing Exchange for a Fund is closed or are otherwise not Business Days for such Fund, shareholders may not be able to redeem their shares of such Fund or purchase or sell shares of such Fund on the Listing Exchange on days when the NAV of such a Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant market.

The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to any Fund: (i) for any period during which the Listing Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the Listing Exchange is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the shares of the Fund's portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.

**Custom Baskets. Creation and Redemption baskets may differ and each Fund may accept "custom baskets." A custom basket may include any of the following: (i) a basket that is composed of a non-representative selection of a Fund's portfolio holdings; (ii) a representative basket that is different from the initial basket used in transactions on the same business day; or (iii) a basket that contains bespoke cash substitutions for a single Authorized Participant. Each Fund has adopted policies and procedures that govern the construction and acceptance of baskets, including heightened requirements for certain types of**

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custom baskets. Such policies and procedures provide the parameters for the construction and acceptance of custom baskets that are in the best interests of a Fund and its shareholders, establish processes for revisions to, or deviations from, such parameters, and specify the titles and roles of the employees of BFA who are required to review each custom basket for compliance with those parameters. In addition, when constructing custom baskets for redemptions, the tax efficiency of a Fund may be taken into account. The policies and procedures distinguish among different types of custom baskets that may be used for each Fund and impose different requirements for different types of custom baskets in order to seek to mitigate against potential risks of conflicts and/or overreaching by an Authorized Participant. BlackRock has established a governance process to oversee basket compliance for the Funds, as set forth in each Fund's policies and procedures.

**Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units. An Authorized Participant generally will recognize either gain or loss upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units. This gain or loss is calculated by taking the market value of the Creation Units purchased over the Authorized Participant's aggregate basis in the Deposit Securities exchanged therefor. However, the IRS may apply the wash sales rules to determine that any loss realized upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units is not currently deductible. Authorized Participants should consult their own tax advisors.**

Current U.S. federal income tax laws dictate that capital gain or loss realized from the redemption of Creation Units will generally create long-term capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the Creation Units for more than one year, or short-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Units were held for one year or less, if the Creation Units are held as capital assets.

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## Taxes
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of a Fund. This summary does not address all of the potential U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be applicable to a Fund or to all categories of investors, some of which may be subject to special tax rules. Current and prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the specific federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of investing in a Fund. The summary is based on the laws and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof in effect on the date of this SAI, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect. References to the Funds will also generally apply to the Underlying Funds as well.

**Regulated Investment Company Qualifications. Each Fund intends to qualify for and to elect treatment as a separate RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, each Fund must annually distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (which includes dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements. Among such other requirements are the following: (i) at least 90% of each Fund's annual gross income must be derived from dividends, interest, payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock or securities or non-U.S. currencies, other income (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect to its business of investing in such stock, securities or currencies, and net income derived from interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships (*i.e.*, partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than a partnership that derives at least 90% of its income from interest, dividends, capital gains and other traditionally permitted RIC income); and (ii) at the close of each quarter of each Fund's taxable year, (a) at least 50% of the market value of each Fund's total assets must be represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs and other securities, with such other securities limited for purposes of this calculation in respect of any one issuer to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund's assets and not greater than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (b) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund's total assets may be invested in the securities of any one issuer, of two or more issuers of which 20% or more of the voting stock is held by the Fund and that are engaged in the same or similar trades or businesses or related trades or businesses (other than the securities of other RICs) or the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships.**

A Fund may be able to cure a failure to derive at least 90% of its income from the sources specified above or a failure to diversify its holdings in the manner described above by paying a tax and/or by disposing of certain assets. If, in any taxable year, a Fund fails one of these tests and does not timely cure the failure, that Fund will be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation and distributions to its shareholders will not be deductible by that Fund in computing its taxable income.

Although in general the passive loss rules of the Internal Revenue Code do not apply to RICs, such rules do apply to a RIC with respect to items attributable to an interest in a qualified publicly-traded partnership. A Fund's investments in partnerships, including in qualified publicly-traded partnerships, may result in the Fund being subject to state, local, or non-U.S. income, franchise or withholding tax liabilities.

**Taxation of RICs. As a RIC, a Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders, provided that it satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. To satisfy the minimum distribution requirement, a Fund must distribute to its shareholders at least the sum of (i) 90% of its "investment company taxable income" (*i.e.*, income other than its net realized long-term capital gain over its net realized short-term capital loss), plus or minus certain adjustments, and (ii) 90% of its net tax-exempt income for the taxable year. A Fund will be subject to income tax at regular corporate rates on any taxable income or gains that it does not distribute to its shareholders. If a Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC or fails to meet the distribution requirement, all of its taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, distributions to individuals should be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income and distributions to corporate shareholders generally should be eligible for the dividends-received deduction. Although each Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and its capital gains for each taxable year, a Fund may decide to retain a portion of its income or gains if the Fund determines that**

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doing so is in the interest of its shareholders. Each Fund will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent any such income or gains are not distributed. Moreover, if a Fund fails to qualify as a RIC in any year, it must pay out its earnings and profits accumulated in that year in order to qualify again as a RIC. If a Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two taxable years, the Fund may be required to recognize any net built-in gains with respect to certain of its assets (*i.e.*, the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if the Fund had been liquidated) if it qualifies as a RIC in a subsequent year.

Short-term capital gain earned by the Underlying Fund will be ordinary income when distributed to the Fund and will not be offset by the Fund's capital losses. Upon the sale or other disposition by the Fund of shares of the Underlying Fund, the Fund will realize a capital gain or loss which will be long-term or short-term, generally depending on the Fund's holding period for the shares. Losses realized upon such redemptions may result in a substantial number of "wash sales" and deferral, perhaps indefinitely, of realized losses to the Fund.

**Net Capital Loss Carryforwards. Net capital loss carryforwards may be applied against any net realized capital gains in each succeeding year, until they have been reduced to zero.**

In the event that a Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Internal Revenue Code, the loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of a Fund and the Underlying Funds, if any, may be subject to limitation.

The following Funds had tax basis net capital loss carryforwards as set forth in the table below as of October 31, 2022, the tax year-end for the Funds listed:

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Non-Expiring Capital Loss<br> Carryforward** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | $10497777 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;25731 |

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**Excise Tax. A Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus at least 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the 12 months ended October 31 of such year. For this purpose, however, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by a Fund that is subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed by year-end. In addition, the minimum amounts that must be distributed in any year to avoid the excise tax will be increased or decreased to reflect any underdistribution or overdistribution, as the case may be, from the previous year. Each Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax. Long-term capital distributions from the Underlying Fund paid in December or, in certain cases, January in satisfaction of this rule will be subject to potential distribution by the Fund in the following calendar year.**

**Taxation of U.S. Shareholders. Dividends and other distributions by a Fund are generally treated under the Internal Revenue Code as received by the shareholders at the time the dividend or distribution is made. However, any dividend or capital gain distribution declared by a Fund in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in such a month shall be deemed to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year and to have been paid by the Fund not later than such December 31, provided such dividend is actually paid by the Fund during January of the following calendar year.**

Each Fund intends to distribute annually to its shareholders substantially all of its net tax-exempt income, investment company taxable income and any net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers). However, if a Fund retains for investment an amount equal to all or a portion of its net long-term capital gains in excess of its net short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers), it will be subject to a corporate tax (at a flat rate of 21%) on the amount retained. In that event, the Fund will report such retained amounts as undistributed capital gains in a notice to its shareholders who (a) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gains, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount, (b) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on the undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent their credits exceed their liabilities, if any, and (c) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in their shares by an amount equal to the excess of the amount

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in clause (a) over the amount in clause (b). Organizations or persons not subject to U.S. federal income tax on such capital gains will be entitled to a refund of their *pro rata* share of such taxes paid by the Fund upon filing appropriate returns or claims for refund with the IRS.

Distributions of net realized long-term capital gains, if any, that a Fund reports as capital gain dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, whether paid in cash or in shares and regardless of how long a shareholder has held shares of the Fund. All other dividends of a Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits ("regular dividends") are generally subject to tax as ordinary income. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.

If an individual receives a regular dividend qualifying for the long-term capital gain rates and such dividend constitutes an "extraordinary dividend," and the individual subsequently recognizes a loss on the sale or exchange of stock in respect of which the extraordinary dividend was paid, then the loss will be long-term capital loss to the extent of such extraordinary dividend. An "extraordinary dividend" on common stock for this purpose is generally a dividend (i) in an amount greater than or equal to 10% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within an 85-day period, or (ii) in an amount greater than 20% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within a 365-day period.

Distributions in excess of a Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of a shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund, and as a capital gain thereafter (if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets). Distributions in excess of a Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. Shareholders receiving dividends or distributions in the form of additional shares should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of money that the shareholders receiving cash dividends or distributions will receive and should have a cost basis in the shares received equal to such amount. No deduction would be allowed to an investor for interest on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry shares of the Fund to the extent the interest deduction would relate to exempt-interest dividends received.

A 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on net investment income, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain from investments, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly), and of estates and trusts.

Investors considering buying shares just prior to a dividend or capital gain distribution should be aware that, although the price of shares purchased at that time may reflect the amount of the forthcoming distribution, such dividend or distribution may nevertheless be taxable to them. If a Fund is the holder of record of any security on the record date for any dividends payable with respect to such security, such dividends will be included in the Fund's gross income not as of the date received but as of the later of (i) the date such security became ex-dividend with respect to such dividends (*i.e*., the date on which a buyer of the security would not be entitled to receive the declared, but unpaid, dividends); or (ii) the date the Fund acquired such security. Accordingly, in order to satisfy its income distribution requirements, a Fund may be required to pay dividends based on anticipated earnings, and shareholders may receive dividends in an earlier year than would otherwise be the case.

In certain situations, a Fund may, for a taxable year, defer all or a portion of its net capital loss (or if there is no net capital loss, then any net long-term or short-term capital loss) realized after October and its late-year ordinary loss (defined as the sum of the excess of post-October foreign currency and passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") losses over post-October foreign currency and PFIC gains, plus the excess of post-December ordinary losses over post-December ordinary income) until the next taxable year in computing its investment company taxable income and net capital gain, which will defer the recognition of such realized losses. Such deferrals and other rules regarding gains and losses realized after October (or December) may affect the tax character of shareholder distributions.

**Sales of Shares. Upon the sale or exchange of shares of a Fund, a shareholder will realize a taxable gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund. A redemption of shares by a Fund will be treated as a sale for this purpose. Such gain or loss will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder's hands and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for more than one year and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized on a sale or exchange will be disallowed to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced, including replacement through the reinvesting of dividends or capital gains distributions, or by an option, or contract to acquire substantially identical shares, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days**

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before and ending 30 days after the disposition of the shares. In such a case, the basis of the shares acquired will be increased to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss realized by a shareholder on the sale of Fund shares held by the shareholder for six months or less will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any distributions or deemed distributions of long-term capital gains received by the shareholder with respect to such share. The Medicare contribution tax described above will apply to the sale of Fund shares.

If a shareholder incurs a sales charge in acquiring shares of a Fund, disposes of those shares within 90 days and then, on or before January 31 of the following calendar year, acquires shares in a mutual fund for which the otherwise applicable sales charge is reduced by reason of a reinvestment right (*e.g.*, an exchange privilege), the original sales charge will not be taken into account in computing gain/loss on the original shares to the extent the subsequent sales charge is reduced. Instead, the disregarded portion of the original sales charge will be added to the tax basis of the newly acquired shares. Furthermore, the same rule also applies to a disposition of the newly acquired shares made within 90 days of the second acquisition. This provision prevents a shareholder from immediately deducting the sales charge by shifting his or her investment within a family of mutual funds.

**Backup Withholding. In certain cases, a Fund will be required to withhold at a 24% rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury such amounts withheld from any distributions paid to a shareholder who: (i) has failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; (ii) is subject to backup withholding by the IRS; (iii) has failed to certify to a Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding; or (iv) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amount withheld may be credited against a shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability.**

**Sections 351 and 362. The Trust, on behalf of each Fund, has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Sections 351 and 362 of the Internal Revenue Code, that Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. If a Fund's basis in such securities on the date of deposit was less than market value on such date, the Fund, upon disposition of the securities, would recognize more taxable gain or less taxable loss than if its basis in the securities had been equal to market value. It is not anticipated that the Trust will exercise the right of rejection except in a case where the Trust determines that accepting the order could result in material adverse tax consequences to a Fund or its shareholders. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.**

**Taxation of Certain Derivatives. A Fund's transactions in zero coupon securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward contracts, options and futures contracts (including options and futures contracts on non-U.S. currencies), to the extent permitted, will be subject to special provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to "hedging transactions" and "straddles") that, among other consequences, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (*i.e.*, may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer Fund losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also (a) will require the Fund to mark-to-market certain types of the positions in its portfolio (*i.e.*, treat them as if they were closed out at the end of each year) and (b) may cause the Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to pay dividends or make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. The Fund will monitor its transactions, will make the appropriate tax elections and will make the appropriate entries in its books and records when it acquires any zero coupon security, non-U.S. currency, forward contract, option, futures contract or hedged investment in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and prevent disqualification of the Fund as a RIC.** 

A Fund's investments in so-called "section 1256 contracts," such as regulated futures contracts, most non-U.S. currency forward contracts traded in the interbank market and options on most security indexes, are subject to special tax rules. All section 1256 contracts held by the Fund at the end of its taxable year are required to be marked to their market value, and any unrealized gain or loss on those positions will be included in the Fund's income as if each position had been sold for its fair market value at the end of the taxable year. The resulting gain or loss will be combined with any gain or loss realized by the Fund from positions in section 1256 contracts closed during the taxable year. Provided such positions were held as capital assets and were not part of a "hedging transaction" nor part of a "straddle," 60% of the resulting net gain or loss will be treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% of such net gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, regardless of the period of time the positions were actually held by the Fund.

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As a result of entering into swap contracts, a Fund may make or receive periodic net payments. A Fund may also make or receive a payment when a swap is terminated prior to maturity through an assignment of the swap or other closing transaction. Periodic net payments will generally constitute ordinary income or deductions, while termination of a swap will generally result in capital gain or loss (which will be a long-term capital gain or loss if the Fund has been a party to the swap for more than one year). The cost of any payments made by the Fund on a swap transaction will be netted *pro rata* against both tax exempt and taxable gross income. With respect to certain types of swaps, a Fund may be required to currently recognize income or loss with respect to future payments on such swaps or may elect under certain circumstances to mark such swaps to market annually for tax purposes as ordinary income or loss.

**Market Discount. Any market discount recognized on a bond is taxable as ordinary income. A market discount bond is a bond acquired in the secondary market at a price below redemption value or adjusted issue price if issued with original issue discount ("OID"). To the extent a Fund does not include the market discount in income as it accrues, gain on the Fund's disposition of such an obligation will be treated as ordinary income rather than capital gain to the extent of the accrued market discount.**

**Non-U.S. Investments. Income (including, in some cases, capital gains) received by the Fund from investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes in some cases. If more than 50% of the Fund's total assets at the close of its taxable year consists of securities of non-U.S. corporations, the Fund may elect for U.S. income tax purposes to treat non-U.S. income taxes paid by it as paid by its shareholders. The Fund may qualify for and make this election in some, but not necessarily all, of its taxable years. If the Fund were to make an election, shareholders of the Fund would be required to take into account an amount equal to their *pro rata* portions of such non-U.S. taxes in computing their taxable income and then treat an amount equal to those non-U.S. taxes as a U.S. federal income tax deduction or as a foreign tax credit against their U.S. federal income taxes. Shortly after any year for which it makes such an election, the Fund will report to its shareholders the amount per share of such non-U.S. income tax that must be included in each shareholder's gross income and the amount which will be available for the deduction or credit. No deduction for non-U.S. taxes may be claimed by a shareholder who does not itemize deductions. Certain limitations will be imposed on the extent to which the credit (but not the deduction) for non-U.S. taxes may be claimed.** 

Under Section 988 of the Internal Revenue Code, gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the time the Fund accrues income or receivables or expenses or other liabilities denominated in a non-U.S. currency and the time the Fund actually collects such income or pays such liabilities are generally treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss. In general, gains (and losses) realized on debt instruments will be treated as Section 988 gain (or loss) to the extent attributable to changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the instruments are denominated. Similarly, gain or losses on non-U.S. currency, non-U.S. currency forward contracts, certain non-U.S. currency options or futures contracts and the disposition of debt securities denominated in non-U.S. currency, to the extent attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the acquisition and disposition dates, are also treated as ordinary income or loss unless the Fund were to elect otherwise.

The Underlying Fund, if invested in non-U.S. securities, may be subject to non-U.S. income taxes and non U.S. financial transactions taxes. Each Underlying Fund that is permitted to do so may elect to "pass through" to its investors, including the Fund, the amount of non-U.S. income taxes paid by the Underlying Fund. The Fund itself will be eligible to elect to "pass through" such amounts to its stockholders and may do so, depending upon circumstances.

**Original Issue Discount. OID on tax-exempt bonds is recognized over the term of the bond and is tax-exempt to the holder of the bond. Special U.S. federal income tax rules apply to inflation-indexed bonds. Generally, all stated interest on such bonds is taken into income by a Fund under its regular method of accounting for interest income. The amount of a positive inflation adjustment, which results in an increase in the inflation-adjusted principal amount of the bond, is treated as OID. The OID is included in a Fund's gross income ratably during the period ending with the maturity of the bond, under the general OID inclusion rules. The amount of a Fund's OID in a taxable year with respect to a bond will increase a Fund's taxable income for such year without a corresponding receipt of cash, until the bond matures. As a result, a Fund may need to use other sources of cash to satisfy its distributions for such year. The amount of negative inflation adjustment, which results in a decrease in the inflation-adjusted principal amount of the bond, reduces the amount of interest (including stated, interest, OID, and market discount, if any) otherwise includible in a Fund's income with respect to the bond for the taxable year.**

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**Reporting. If a shareholder recognizes a loss with respect to a Fund's shares of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a RIC are not exempted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer's treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.**

#### Other Taxes. Dividends, distributions and redemption proceeds may also be subject to additional state, local and non-U.S. taxes depending on each shareholder's particular situation.
**Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders. Dividends paid by a Fund to non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or a reduced rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty to the extent derived from investment income and short-term capital gains. Dividends paid by a Fund from net tax-exempt income or long-term capital gains are generally not subject to such withholding tax. In order to obtain a reduced rate of withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will be required to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E certifying its entitlement to benefits under a treaty. The withholding tax does not apply to regular dividends paid to a non-U.S. shareholder who provides an IRS Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the non-U.S. shareholder were a U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to additional "branch profits tax" imposed at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate). A non-U.S. shareholder who fails to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form may be subject to backup withholding at the appropriate rate.**

Properly-reported dividends are generally exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax where they (i) are paid in respect of a Fund's "qualified net interest income" (generally, a Fund's U.S. source interest income, other than certain contingent interest and interest from obligations of a corporation or partnership in which a Fund is at least a 10% shareholder or partner, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income); or (ii) are paid in respect of a Fund's "qualified short-term capital gains" (generally, the excess of a Fund's net short-term capital gain over a Fund's long-term capital loss for such taxable year). However, depending on its circumstances, a Fund may report all, some or none of its potentially eligible dividends as such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains and/or treat such dividends, in whole or in part, as ineligible for this exemption from withholding. In order to qualify for this exemption from withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will need to comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its non-U.S. status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or substitute Form). In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if a Fund reports the payment as qualified net interest income or qualified short-term capital gain. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.

Special rules may apply to a foreign shareholder receiving a Fund distribution if at least 50% of the Fund's assets consist of interests in U.S. real property interests, including certain REITs and U.S. real property holding corporations (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations). Fund distributions that are attributable to gain from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest will be taxable as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding at a 30% or lower treaty rate if the foreign shareholder held no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. If the foreign shareholder held at least 5% of the Fund's shares, the distribution would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business within the U.S. and the foreign shareholder would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 21% and would generally be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return.

Similar consequences would generally apply to a foreign shareholder's gain on the sale of Fund shares unless the Fund is domestically controlled (meaning that more than 50% of the value of the Fund's shares is held by U.S. shareholders) or the foreign shareholder owns no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of sale. Finally, a domestically controlled Fund may be required to recognize a portion of its gain on the in-kind distribution of certain U.S. real property interests. Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in the Fund.

The rules laid out in the previous paragraph, other than the withholding rules, will apply notwithstanding the Fund's participation in a wash sale transaction or its payment of a substitute dividend.

Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in a Fund.

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Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to: (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to: (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information as to their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities will need to provide the name, address and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

Shares of a Fund held by a non-U.S. shareholder at death will be considered situated within the U.S. and subject to the U.S. estate tax.

The foregoing discussion is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such shares, including consequences under state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date of this SAI. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.

## Financial Statements
Each Fund's audited Financial Statements, including the Financial Highlights, appearing in the applicable [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) to Shareholders and the report therein of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, are hereby incorporated by reference in this SAI. The applicable Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the referenced audited financial statements, is available upon request and without charge.

## Miscellaneous Information

#### Counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, located at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, is counsel to the Trust.
**Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, located at Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, serves as the Trust's independent registered public accounting firm, audits the Funds' financial statements, and may perform other services.**

**Shareholder Communications to the Board. The Board has established a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders may contact the Board by mail. Correspondence should be addressed to iShares Board of Trustees, c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors, iShares Fund Administration, 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Shareholder communications to the Board should include the following information: (i) the name and address of the shareholder; (ii) the number of shares owned by the shareholder; (iii) the Fund(s) of which the shareholder owns shares; and (iv) if these shares are owned indirectly through a broker, financial intermediary or other record owner, the name of the broker, financial intermediary or other record owner. All correspondence received as set forth above shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Trust and reported to the Board.**

**Investors' Rights. Each Fund relies on the services of BFA and its other service providers, including the Distributor, administrator, custodian and transfer agent. Further information about the duties and roles of these service providers is set out in this SAI. Investors who acquire shares of a Fund are not parties to the relevant agreement with these service providers and do not have express contractual rights against the Fund or its service providers, except certain institutional investors that are Authorized Participants may have certain express contractual rights with respect to the Distributor under the terms of the**

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relevant Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors may have certain legal rights under federal or state law against a Fund or its service providers. In the event that an investor considers that it may have a claim against a Fund, or against any service provider in connection with its investment in a Fund, such investor should consult its own legal advisor.

By contract, Authorized Participants irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State or U.S. federal court sitting in New York City over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Authorized Participant Agreement. Jurisdiction over other claims, whether by investors or Authorized Participants, will turn on the facts of the particular case and the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is brought.

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## Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy

#### BlackRock U.S. Registered Funds

#### Open-End Fund Proxy Voting Policy

#### Procedures Governing Delegation of Proxy Voting to Fund Advisers

#### August 1, 2022

#### Open-End Mutual Funds (including money market funds)

#### iShares and BlackRock ETFs
The Boards of Trustees/Directors ("Directors") of open-end funds (the "Funds") advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors or BlackRock Advisors, LLC ("BlackRock"), have the responsibility for the oversight of voting proxies relating to portfolio securities of the Funds, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to delegate the responsibility to vote proxies to BlackRock, subject to the principles outlined in this Policy, as part of BlackRock's authority to manage, acquire and dispose of account assets, all as contemplated by the Funds' respective investment management agreements.

BlackRock has adopted guidelines and procedures (together and as from time to time amended, the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BlackRock.

BlackRock will cast votes on behalf of each of the Funds on specific proxy issues in respect of securities held by each such Fund (or may refrain from voting) in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines.

BlackRock will report on an annual basis to the Directors on (1) a summary of all proxy votes that BlackRock has made on behalf of the Funds in the preceding year together with a representation that all votes were in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines, and (2) any changes to the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines that have not previously been reported.

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## Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| [Introduction to BlackRock](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Philosophy on corporate governance](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Corporate governance, engagement and voting](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [- Boards and directors](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-5 |
| [- Auditors and audit-related issues](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-6 |
| [- Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Compensation and benefits](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Environmental and social issues](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-8 |
| [- General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Oversight](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Vote execution](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-10 |
| [- Conflicts management policies and procedures](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-11 |
| [- Voting guidelines](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |
| [- Reporting and vote transparency](#xx_79517621-1e67-4a2f-9b4c-76de08ffe35e_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |

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#### INTRODUCTION TO BLACKROCK
BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. We manage assets on behalf of institutional and individual clients, across a full spectrum of investment strategies, asset classes and regions. Our client base includes pension plans, endowments, foundations, charities, official institutions, insurers and other financial institutions, as well as individuals around the world.

#### PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") activities are focused on maximizing long-term value for our clients. BIS does this through engagement with boards and management of investee companies and, for those clients who have given us authority, through voting at shareholder meetings.

We believe that there are certain fundamental rights attached to shareholding. Companies and their boards should be accountable to shareholders and structured with appropriate checks and balances to ensure that they operate in shareholders' best interests. Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and there should be one vote for one share. Shareholders should have the right to elect, remove and nominate directors, approve the appointment of the auditor and to amend the corporate charter or by-laws. Shareholders should be able to vote on matters that are material to the protection of their investment, including but not limited to, changes to the purpose of the business, dilution levels and pre-emptive rights, and the distribution of income and capital structure. In order to make informed decisions, we believe that shareholders have the right to sufficient and timely information.

Our primary focus is on the performance of the board of directors. As the agent of shareholders, the board should set the company's strategic aims within a framework of prudent and effective controls, which enables risk to be assessed and managed. The board should provide direction and leadership to management and oversee management's performance. Our starting position is to be supportive of boards in their oversight efforts on shareholders' behalf and we would generally expect to support the items of business they put to a vote at shareholder meetings. Votes cast against or withheld from resolutions proposed by the board are a signal that we are concerned that the directors or management have either not acted in the best interests of shareholders or have not responded adequately to shareholder concerns. We assess voting matters on a case-by-case basis and in light of each company's unique circumstances taking into consideration regional best practices and long-term value creation.

These principles set out our approach to engaging with companies, provide guidance on our position on corporate governance and outline how our views might be reflected in our voting decisions. Corporate governance practices can vary internationally, so our expectations in relation to individual companies are based on the legal and regulatory framework of each local market. However, we believe there are overarching principles of corporate governance that apply globally and provide a framework for more detailed, market-specific assessments.

We believe BlackRock has a responsibility in relation to monitoring and providing feedback to companies, sometimes known as "stewardship." These ownership responsibilities include engaging with management or board members on corporate governance matters, voting proxies in the best long-term economic interests of our clients, and engaging with regulatory bodies to ensure a sound policy framework consistent with promoting long-term shareholder value creation. We also believe in the responsibility to our clients to have appropriate resources and oversight structures. Our approach is set out in the section below titled "BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities" and is further detailed in a <u>team profile on our website</u>.

#### CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING
We recognize that accepted standards of corporate governance differ between markets, but we believe there are sufficient common threads globally to identify an overarching set of principles. The objective of our investment stewardship activities is the protection and enhancement of the value of our clients' investments in public corporations. Thus, these principles focus on practices and structures that we consider to be supportive of long-term value creation. We discuss below the principles under six key themes. In our regional and market-specific voting guidelines we explain how these principles inform our voting decisions in relation to specific resolutions that may appear on the agenda of a shareholder meeting in the relevant market.

The six key themes are:

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• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions

• Compensation and benefits

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections

At a minimum, we expect companies to observe the accepted corporate governance standards in their domestic market or to explain why doing so is not in the interests of shareholders. Where company reporting and disclosure is inadequate or the approach taken is inconsistent with our view of what is in the best interests of shareholders, we will engage with the company and/or use our vote to encourage a change in practice. In making voting decisions, we perform independent research and analysis, such as reviewing relevant information published by the company and apply our voting guidelines to achieve the outcome we believe best protects our clients' long-term economic interests. We also work closely with our active portfolio managers, and may take into account internal and external research.

BlackRock views engagement as an important activity; engagement provides us with the opportunity to improve our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that investee companies are facing and their governance structures. Engagement also allows us to share our philosophy and approach to investment and corporate governance with companies to enhance their understanding of our objectives. Our engagements often focus on providing our feedback on company disclosures, particularly where we believe they could be enhanced. There are a range of approaches we may take in engaging companies depending on the nature of the issue under consideration, the company and the market.

BlackRock's engagements emphasize direct dialogue with corporate leadership on the governance issues identified in these principles that have a material impact on financial performance. These engagements enable us to cast informed votes aligned with clients' long-term economic interests. We generally prefer to engage in the first instance where we have concerns and give management time to address or resolve the issue. As a long-term investor, we are patient and persistent in working with our portfolio companies to have an open dialogue and develop mutual understanding of governance matters, to promote the adoption of best practices and to assess the merits of a company's approach to its governance. We monitor the companies in which we invest and engage with them constructively and privately where we believe doing so helps protect shareholders' interests. We do not try to micro-manage companies, or tell management and boards what to do. We present our views as a long-term shareholder and listen to companies' responses. The materiality and immediacy of a given issue will generally determine the level of our engagement and whom we seek to engage at the company, which could be management representatives or board directors.

#### Boards and directors
The performance of the board is critical to the economic success of the company and to the protection of shareholders' interests. Board members serve as agents of shareholders in overseeing the strategic direction and operation of the company. For this reason, BlackRock focuses on directors in many of our engagements and sees the election of directors as one of our most important responsibilities in the proxy voting context.

We expect the board of directors to promote and protect shareholder interests by:

• establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure

• supporting and overseeing management in setting long-term strategic goals, applicable measures of value-creation and milestones that will demonstrate progress, and steps taken if any obstacles are anticipated or incurred

• ensuring the integrity of financial statements

• making independent decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals

• establishing appropriate executive compensation structures

• addressing business issues, including environmental and social issues, when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance

There should be clear definitions of the role of the board, the committees of the board and senior management such that the responsibilities of each are well understood and accepted. Companies should report publicly the approach taken to

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governance (including in relation to board structure) and why this approach is in the best interest of shareholders. We will seek to engage with the appropriate directors where we have concerns about the performance of the board or the company, the broad strategy of the company, or the performance of individual board members. We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable.

BlackRock believes that directors should stand for re-election on a regular basis. We assess directors nominated for election or re-election in the context of the composition of the board as a whole. There should be detailed disclosure of the relevant credentials of the individual directors in order for shareholders to assess the caliber of an individual nominee. We expect there to be a sufficient number of independent directors on the board to ensure the protection of the interests of all shareholders. Common impediments to independence may include but are not limited to:

• current or former employment at the company or a subsidiary within the past several years

• being, or representing, a shareholder with a substantial shareholding in the company

• interlocking directorships

• having any other interest, business or other relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

BlackRock believes that the operation of the board is enhanced when there is a clearly independent, senior non-executive director to chair it or, where the chairman is also the CEO (or is otherwise not independent), an independent lead director. The role of this director is to enhance the effectiveness of the independent members of the board through shaping the agenda, ensuring adequate information is provided to the board and encouraging independent participation in board deliberations. The lead independent board director should be available to shareholders in those situations where a director is best placed to explain and justify a company's approach.

To ensure that the board remains effective, regular reviews of board performance should be carried out and assessments made of gaps in skills or experience amongst the members. BlackRock believes it is beneficial for new directors to be brought onto the board periodically to refresh the group's thinking and to ensure both continuity and adequate succession planning. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the multiple dimensions of diversity, including personal factors such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. The board should review these dimensions of the current directors and how they might be augmented by incoming directors. We believe that directors are in the best position to assess the optimal size for the board, but we would be concerned if a board seemed too small to have an appropriate balance of directors or too large to be effective.

There are matters for which the board has responsibility that may involve a conflict of interest for executives or for affiliated directors. BlackRock believes that shareholders' interests are best served when the board forms committees of fully independent directors to deal with such matters. In many markets, these committees of the board specialize in audit, director nominations and compensation matters. An ad hoc committee might also be formed to decide on a special transaction, particularly one with a related party or to investigate a significant adverse event.

#### Auditors and audit-related issues
Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements, which should provide a true and fair picture of a company's financial condition. We will hold the members of the audit committee or equivalent responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or ad hoc notifications of material financial weakness.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor being free of any impediments to being an effective check on management. To that end, we believe it is important that auditors are, and are seen to be, independent. Where the audit firm provides services to the company in addition to the audit, the fees earned should be disclosed and explained. Audit committees should have in place a procedure for assessing annually the independence of the auditor.

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#### Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions
The capital structure of a company is critical to its owners, the shareholders, as it impacts the value of their investment and the priority of their interest in the company relative to that of other equity or debt investors. Pre-emptive rights are a key protection for shareholders against the dilution of their interests.

Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and we believe strongly in one vote for one share as a guiding principle that supports good corporate governance. Shareholders, as the residual claimants, have the strongest interest in protecting company value, and voting power should match economic exposure.

We are concerned that the creation of a dual share class may result in an over-concentration of power in the hands of a few shareholders, thus disenfranchising other shareholders and amplifying the potential conflict of interest, which the one share, one vote principle is designed to mitigate. However, we recognize that in certain circumstances, companies may have a valid argument for dual-class listings, at least for a limited period of time. We believe that such companies should review these dual-class structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Additionally, they should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal in the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

In assessing mergers, asset sales or other special transactions, BlackRock's primary consideration is the long-term economic interests of shareholders. Boards proposing a transaction need to clearly explain the economic and strategic rationale behind it. We will review a proposed transaction to determine the degree to which it enhances long-term shareholder value. We would prefer that proposed transactions have the unanimous support of the board and have been negotiated at arm's length. We may seek reassurance from the board that executives' and/or board members' financial interests in a given transaction have not adversely affected their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own. Where the transaction involves related parties, we would expect the recommendation to support it to come from the independent directors and it is good practice to be approved by a separate vote of the non-conflicted shareholders.

BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to dispose of company shares in the open market without unnecessary restriction. In our view, corporate mechanisms designed to limit shareholders' ability to sell their shares are contrary to basic property rights. Such mechanisms can serve to protect and entrench interests other than those of the shareholders. We believe that shareholders are broadly capable of making decisions in their own best interests. We expect any so-called 'shareholder rights plans' proposed by a board to be subject to shareholder approval upon introduction and periodically thereafter for continuation.

#### Compensation and benefits
BlackRock expects a company's board of directors to put in place a compensation structure that incentivizes and rewards executives appropriately and is aligned with shareholder interests, particularly generating sustainable long-term shareholder returns. We would expect the compensation committee to take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the key individuals the board is trying to incentivize. We encourage companies to ensure that their compensation plans incorporate appropriate and challenging performance conditions consistent with corporate strategy and market practice. We use third party research, in addition to our own analysis, to evaluate existing and proposed compensation structures. We hold members of the compensation committee or equivalent board members accountable for poor compensation practices or structures.

BlackRock believes that there should be a clear link between variable pay and company performance that drives shareholder returns. We are not supportive of one-off or special bonuses unrelated to company or individual performance. We acknowledge that the use of peer group evaluation by compensation committees can help ensure competitive pay; however, we are concerned when increases in total compensation at a company are justified solely on peer benchmarking rather than outperformance. We support incentive plans that foster the sustainable achievement of results relative to competitors. The vesting timeframes associated with incentive plans should facilitate a focus on long -term value creation. We believe consideration should be given to building claw back provisions into incentive plans such that executives would be required to forgo rewards when they are not justified by actual performance. Compensation committees should guard against contractual arrangements that would entitle executives to material compensation for early termination of their contract. Finally, pension contributions and other deferred compensation arrangements should be reasonable in light of market practice.

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Non-executive directors should be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the time and effort expended in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. Additionally, these compensation arrangements should not risk compromising their independence or aligning their interests too closely with those of the management, whom they are charged with overseeing.

#### Environmental and social issues
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well -managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses.

Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate -related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry -specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification processes in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors.

In deciding our course of action, we will assess the company's disclosures and the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social or political judgments on behalf of clients. Our consideration of these E&S factors is consistent with protecting the long-term economic interest of our clients' assets. We expect investee companies to comply,

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at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where local laws or regulations that significantly impact the company's operations are contradictory or ambiguous to global norms.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long - term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate -related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections
BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to timely and detailed information on the financial performance and viability of the companies in which they invest. In addition, companies should also publish information on the governance structures in place and the rights of shareholders to influence these. The reporting and disclosure provided by companies help shareholders assess whether their economic interests have been protected and the quality of the board's oversight of management. We believe shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including changes to governance mechanisms, to submit proposals to the shareholders' meeting and to call special meetings of shareholders.

#### BLACKROCK'S OVERSIGHT OF ITS INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES

#### Oversight
We hold ourselves to a very high standard in our investment stewardship activities, including proxy voting. This function is executed by a team called BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") which is comprised of BlackRock employees who do not have other responsibilities other than their roles in BIS. BIS is considered an investment function. The team does not have sales responsibilities.

BlackRock maintains three regional advisory committees ("Stewardship Advisory Committees") for (a) the Americas; (b) Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); and (c) Asia-Pacific, generally consisting of senior BlackRock investment professionals and/or senior employees with practical boardroom experience. The regional Stewardship Advisory Committees review and advise on amendments to the proxy voting guidelines covering markets within each respective region ("Guidelines").

In addition to the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees, the Investment Stewardship Global Oversight Committee ("Global Committee") is a risk-focused committee, comprised of senior representatives from various BlackRock investment teams, BlackRock's Deputy General Counsel, the Global Head of Investment Stewardship ("Global Head"), and other senior executives with relevant experience and team oversight.

The Global Head has primary oversight of the activities of BIS, including voting in accordance with the Guidelines, which require the application of professional judgment and consideration of each company's unique circumstances. The Global Committee reviews and approves amendments to these Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles. The Global

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Committee also reviews and approves amendments to the regional Guidelines, as proposed by the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees.

In addition, the Global Committee receives and reviews periodic reports regarding the votes cast by BIS, as well as regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other risk oversight considerations. The Global Committee reviews these reports in an oversight capacity as informed by the BIS corporate governance engagement program and Guidelines.

BIS carries out engagement with companies, monitors and executes proxy votes, and conducts vote operations (including maintaining records of votes cast) in a manner consistent with the relevant Guidelines. BIS also conducts research on corporate governance issues and participates in industry discussions to keep abreast of important developments in the corporate governance field. BIS may utilize third parties for certain of the foregoing activities and performs oversight of those third parties. BIS may raise complicated or particularly controversial matters for internal discussion with the relevant investment teams and/or refer such matters to the appropriate regional Stewardship Advisory Committees for review, discussion and guidance prior to making a voting decision.

#### Vote execution
We carefully consider proxies submitted to funds and other fiduciary account(s) ("Fund" or "Funds") for which we have voting authority. BlackRock votes (or refrains from voting) proxies for each Fund for which we have voting authority based on our evaluation of the best long-term economic interests of shareholders, in the exercise of our independent business judgment, and without regard to the relationship of the issuer of the proxy (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) to the Fund, the Fund's affiliates (if any), BlackRock or BlackRock's affiliates, or BlackRock employees (see "Conflicts management policies and procedures", below).

When exercising voting rights, BlackRock will normally vote on specific proxy issues in accordance with the Guidelines for the relevant market. The Guidelines are reviewed regularly and are amended consistent with changes in the local market practice, as developments in corporate governance occur, or as otherwise deemed advisable by BlackRock's Stewardship Advisory Committees. BIS may, in the exercise of their professional judgment, conclude that the Guidelines do not cover the specific matter upon which a proxy vote is required or that an exception to the Guidelines would be in the best long - term economic interests of BlackRock's clients.

In the uncommon circumstance of there being a vote with respect to fixed income securities or the securities of privately held issuers, the decision generally will be made by a Fund's portfolio managers and/or BIS based on their assessment of the particular transactions or other matters at issue.

In certain markets, proxy voting involves logistical issues which can affect BlackRock's ability to vote such proxies, as well as the desirability of voting such proxies. These issues include but are not limited to: (i) untimely notice of shareholder meetings; (ii) restrictions on a foreigner's ability to exercise votes; (iii) requirements to vote proxies in person; (iv) "share- blocking" (requirements that investors who exercise their voting rights surrender the right to dispose of their holdings for some specified period in proximity to the shareholder meeting); (v) potential difficulties in translating the proxy; (vi) regulatory constraints; and (vii) requirements to provide local agents with unrestricted powers of attorney to facilitate voting instructions. We are not supportive of impediments to the exercise of voting rights such as share-blocking or overly burdensome administrative requirements.

As a consequence, BlackRock votes proxies on a "best-efforts" basis. In addition, BIS may determine that it is generally in the best interests of BlackRock's clients not to vote proxies if the costs (including but not limited to opportunity costs associated with share-blocking constraints) associated with exercising a vote are expected to outweigh the benefit the client would derive by voting on the proposal.

Portfolio managers have full discretion to vote the shares in the Funds they manage based on their analysis of the economic impact of a particular ballot item. Portfolio managers may from time to time reach differing views on how best to maximize economic value with respect to a particular investment. Therefore, portfolio managers may, and sometimes do, vote shares in the Funds under their management differently from one another. However, because BlackRock's clients are mostly long-term investors with long-term economic goals, ballots are frequently cast in a uniform manner.

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#### Conflicts management policies and procedures
BIS maintains the following policies and procedures that seek to prevent undue influence on BlackRock's proxy voting activity. Such influence might stem from any relationship between the investee company (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) and BlackRock, BlackRock's affiliates, a Fund or a Fund's affiliates, or BlackRock employees. The following are examples of sources of perceived or potential conflicts of interest:

• BlackRock clients who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock business partners or third parties who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock employees who may sit on the boards of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Significant BlackRock, Inc. investors who may be issuers of securities held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Securities of BlackRock, Inc. or BlackRock investment funds held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• BlackRock, Inc. board members who serve as senior executives of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

BlackRock has taken certain steps to mitigate perceived or potential conflicts including, but not limited to, the following:

• Adopted the Guidelines which are designed to protect and enhance the economic value of the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

• Established a reporting structure that separates BIS from employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles. In addition, BlackRock seeks to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers, dissident shareholders or shareholder proponents are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock's relationship with such parties. Clients or business partners are not given special treatment or differentiated access to BIS. BIS prioritizes engagements based on factors including but not limited to our need for additional information to make a voting decision or our view on the likelihood that an engagement could lead to positive outcome(s) over time for the economic value of the company. Within the normal course of business, BIS may engage directly with BlackRock clients, business partners and/or third parties, and/or with employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles, in discussions regarding our approach to stewardship, general corporate governance matters, client reporting needs, and/or to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met.

• Determined to engage, in certain instances, an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, or as may be otherwise required by applicable law. In such circumstances, the independent fiduciary provides BlackRock's proxy voting agent with instructions, in accordance with the Guidelines, as to how to vote such proxies, and BlackRock's proxy voting agent votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary's determination. BlackRock uses an independent fiduciary to vote proxies of (i) any company that is affiliated with BlackRock, Inc., (ii) any public company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors, (iii) The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (iv) any public company of which a BlackRock, Inc. board member serves as a senior executive, and (v) companies when legal or regulatory requirements compel BlackRock to use an independent fiduciary. In selecting an independent fiduciary, we assess several characteristics, including but not limited to: independence, an ability to analyze proxy issues and vote in the best economic interest of our clients, reputation for reliability and integrity, and operational capacity to accurately deliver the assigned votes in a timely manner. We may engage more than one independent fiduciary, in part in order to mitigate potential or perceived conflicts of interest at an independent fiduciary. The Global Committee appoints and reviews the performance of the independent fiduciar(ies), generally on an annual basis.

When so authorized, BlackRock acts as a securities lending agent on behalf of Funds. With regard to the relationship between securities lending and proxy voting, BlackRock's approach is driven by our clients' economic interests. The decision whether to recall securities on loan to vote is based on a formal analysis of the revenue producing value to clients of loans, against the assessed economic value of casting votes. Generally, we expect that the likely economic value to clients of casting votes would be less than the securities lending income, either because, in our assessment, the resolutions being voted on will not have significant economic consequences or because the outcome would not be affected by BlackRock recalling loaned securities in order to vote. BlackRock also may, in our discretion, determine that the value of voting outweighs the cost of recalling shares, and thus recall shares to vote in that instance.

Periodically, BlackRock reviews our process for determining whether to recall securities on loan in order to vote and may modify it as necessary.

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#### Voting guidelines
The issue-specific Guidelines published for each region/country in which we vote are intended to summarize BlackRock's general philosophy and approach to issues that may commonly arise in the proxy voting context in each market where we invest. These Guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. BIS applies the Guidelines on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the individual circumstances of each company and the specific issue under review. As such, these Guidelines do not indicate how BIS will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots.

#### Reporting and vote transparency
We inform clients about our engagement and voting policies and activities through direct communication and through disclosure on our website. Each year we publish an annual report, an annual engagement and voting statistics report, and our full voting record to our website. On a quarterly basis, we publish regional reports which provide an overview of our investment stewardship engagement and voting activities during the quarter, including market developments, speaking engagements, and engagement and voting statistics. Additionally, we make public our market-specific voting guidelines for the benefit of clients and companies with whom we engage.

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## Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities

#### January 2020

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Introduction | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Voting guidelines | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Boards and directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Independence | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Responsiveness to shareholders | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Shareholder rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board composition and effectiveness | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board size | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Classified board of directors / staggered terms | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Contested director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Cumulative voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director compensation and equity programs | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Majority vote requirements | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Risk oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Separation of chairman and CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Auditors and audit-related issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Capital structure proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equal voting rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Blank check preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase in authorized common shares | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase or issuance of preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Stock splits | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Poison pill plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Executive Compensation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay") | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Claw back proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Employee stock purchase plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equity compensation plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Golden parachutes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Option exchanges | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Pay-for-Performance plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Supplemental executive retirement plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| Environmental and social issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Climate risk | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Corporate political activities | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| General corporate governance matters | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Bundled proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Exclusive forum provisions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Multi-jurisdictional companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Other business | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reincorporation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- IPO governance | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Shareholder Protections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Proxy access | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to act by written consent | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to call a special meeting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Simple majority voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |

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These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the BlackRock Investment Stewardship Global Corporate Governance Guidelines & Engagement Principles (See Appendix A2 of this SAI).

#### INTRODUCTION
BlackRock, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "BlackRock") seek to make proxy voting decisions in the manner most likely to protect and enhance the economic value of the securities held in client accounts. The following issue-specific proxy voting guidelines (the "Guidelines") are intended to summarize BlackRock Investment Stewardship's general philosophy and approach to corporate governance issues that most commonly arise in proxy voting for U.S. securities. These Guidelines are not intended to limit the analysis of individual issues at specific companies and are not intended to provide a guide to how BlackRock will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots, as well as our expectations of boards of directors. They are applied with discretion, taking into consideration the range of issues and facts specific to the company and the individual ballot item.

#### VOTING GUIDELINES
These guidelines are divided into eight key themes which group together the issues that frequently appear on the agenda of annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders:

• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure

• Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions

• Executive compensation

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters

• Shareholder protections

#### BOARDS AND DIRECTORS

#### Director elections
In general, BlackRock supports the election of directors as recommended by the board in uncontested elections. However, we believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held account able. We may withhold votes from directors or members of particular board committees in certain situations, as indicated below.

#### Independence
We expect a majority of the directors on the board to be independent. In addition, all members of key committees, including audit, compensation, and nominating / governance committees, should be independent. Our view of independence may vary slightly from listing standards.

In particular, common impediments to independence in the U.S. may include:

• Employment as a senior executive by the company or a subsidiary within the past five years

• An equity ownership in the company in excess of 20%

• Having any other interest, business, or relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

We may vote against directors serving on key committees that we do not consider to be independent.

When evaluating controlled companies, as defined by the U.S. stock exchanges, we will only vote against insiders or affiliates who sit on the audit committee, but not other key committees.

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#### Oversight
We expect the board to exercise appropriate oversight over management and business activities of the company. We will consider voting against committee members and / or individual directors in the following circumstances:

• Where the board has failed to exercise oversight with regard to accounting practices or audit oversight, we will consider voting against the current audit committee, and any other members of the board who may be responsible. For example, this may apply to members of the audit committee during a period when the board failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing if substantial accounting irregularities suggest insufficient oversight by that committee

• Members of the compensation committee during a period in which executive compensation appears excessive relative to performance and peers, and where we believe the compensation committee has not already substantially addressed this issue

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where the board is not comprised of a majority of independent directors. However, this would not apply in the case of a controlled company

• Where it appears the director has acted (at the company or at other companies) in a manner that compromises his / her reliability to represent the best long-term economic interests of shareholders

• Where a director has a pattern of poor attendance at combined board and applicable key committee meetings. Excluding exigent circumstances, BlackRock generally considers attendance at less than 75% of the combined board and applicable key committee meetings by a board member to be poor attendance

• Where a director serves on an excess number of boards, which may limit his / her capacity to focus on each board's requirements. The following illustrates the maximum number of boards on which a director may serve, before he / she is considered to be over-committed:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Public<br> Company CEO** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**# Outside<br> Public Boards\*** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total # of<br> Public Boards** |
| Director A | &nbsp;&nbsp;x | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| Director B |  | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |

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\* In addition to the company under review

#### Responsiveness to shareholders
We expect a board to be engaged and responsive to its shareholders. Where we believe a board has not substantially addressed shareholder concerns, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

• The independent chair or lead independent director, members of the nominating / governance committee, and / or the longest tenured director(s), where we observe a lack of board responsiveness to shareholders, evidence of board entrenchment, and / or failure to promote adequate board succession planning

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where board member(s) at the most recent election of directors have received withhold votes from more than 30% of shares voted and the board has not taken appropriate action to respond to shareholder concerns. This may not apply in cases where BlackRock did not support the initial withhold vote

• The independent chair or lead independent director and / or members of the nominating / governance committee, where a board fails to implement shareholder proposals that receive a majority of votes cast at a prior shareholder meeting, and the proposals, in our view, have a direct and substantial impact on shareholders' fundamental rights or long-term economic interests

#### Shareholder rights
We expect a board to act with integrity and to uphold governance best practices. Where we believe a board has not acted in the best interests of its shareholders, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

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• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board implements or renews a poison pill without shareholder approval

• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board amends the charter / articles / bylaws such that the effect may be to entrench directors or to significantly reduce shareholder rights

• Members of the compensation committee where the company has repriced options without shareholder approval

• If a board maintains a classified structure, it is possible that the director(s) with whom we have a particular concern may not be subject to election in the year that the concern arises. In such situations, if we have a concern regarding a committee or committee chair that is not up for re-election, we will generally register our concern by withholding votes from all available members of the relevant committee

#### Board composition and effectiveness
We encourage boards to periodically renew their membership to ensure relevant skills and experience within the boardroom. To this end, regular performance reviews and skills assessments should be conducted by the nominating / governance committee.

Furthermore, we expect boards to be comprised of a diverse selection of individuals who bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in order to create a constructive debate of competing views and opinions in the boardroom. We recognize that diversity has multiple dimensions. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the full breadth of diversity including personal factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. In addition to other elements of diversity, we encourage companies to have at least two women directors on their board. Our publicly available <u>commentary</u> explains our approach to engaging on board diversity.

We encourage boards to disclose their views on:

• The mix of competencies, experience, and other qualities required to effectively oversee and guide management in light of the stated long-term strategy of the company

• The process by which candidates are identified and selected, including whether professional firms or other sources outside of incumbent directors' networks have been engaged to identify and / or assess candidates

• The process by which boards evaluate themselves and any significant outcomes of the evaluation process, without divulging inappropriate and / or sensitive details

• The consideration given to board diversity, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnicity, race, age, experience, geographic location, skills, and perspective in the nomination process

While we support regular board refreshment, we are not opposed in principle to long-tenured directors, nor do we believe that long board tenure is necessarily an impediment to director independence. A variety of director tenures within the boardroom can be beneficial to ensure board quality and continuity of experience.

Our primary concern is that board members are able to contribute effectively as corporate strategy evolves and business conditions change, and that all directors, regardless of tenure, demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to shareholders. We acknowledge that no single person can be expected to bring all relevant skill sets to a board; at the same time, we generally do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to have any particular director on the board solely by virtue of a singular background or specific area of expertise.

Where boards find that age limits or term limits are the most efficient and objective mechanism for ensuring periodic board refreshment, we generally defer to the board's determination in setting such limits.

To the extent that we believe that a company has not adequately accounted for diversity in its board composition within a reasonable timeframe, we may vote against the nominating / governance committee for an apparent lack of commitment to board effectiveness.

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#### Board size
We typically defer to the board in setting the appropriate size and believe directors are generally in the best position to assess the optimal board size to ensure effectiveness. However, we may oppose boards that appear too small to allow for effective shareholder representation or too large to function efficiently.

#### CEO and management succession planning
There should be a robust CEO and senior management succession plan in place at the board level that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. We expect succession planning to cover both long-term planning consistent with the strategic direction of the company and identified leadership needs over time, as well as short-term planning in the event of an unanticipated executive departure. We encourage the company to explain its executive succession planning process, including where accountability lies within the boardroom for this task, without prematurely divulging sensitive information commonly associated with this exercise.

#### Classified board of directors / staggered terms
We believe that directors should be re-elected annually and that classification of the board generally limits shareholders' rights to regularly evaluate a board's performance and select directors. While we will typically support proposals requesting board de-classification, we may make exceptions, should the board articulate an appropriate strategic rationale for a classified board structure, such as when a company needs consistency and stability during a time of transition, e.g. newly public companies or companies undergoing a strategic restructuring. A classified board structure may also be justified at non-operating companies in certain circumstances. We would, however, expect boards with a classified structure to periodically review the rationale for such structure and consider when annual elections might be appropriate.

Without a voting mechanism to immediately address concerns of a specific director, we may choose to vote against or withhold votes from the available slate of directors by default (see "Shareholder rights" for additional detail).

#### Contested director elections
The details of contested elections, or proxy contests, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We evaluate a number of factors, which may include: the qualifications of the dissident and management candidates; the validity of the concerns identified by the dissident; the viability of both the dissident's and management's plans; the likelihood that the dissident's solutions will produce the desired change; and whether the dissident represents the best option for enhancing long-term shareholder value.

#### Cumulative voting
We believe that a majority vote standard is in the best long-term interest of shareholders. It ensures director accountability via the requirement to be elected by more than half of the votes cast. As such, we will generally oppose proposals requesting the adoption of cumulative voting, which may disproportionately aggregate votes on certain issues or director candidates.

#### Director compensation and equity programs
We believe that compensation for directors should be structured to attract and retain the best possible directors, while also aligning their interests with those of shareholders. We believe director compensation packages that are based on the company's long-term value creation and include some form of long-term equity compensation are more likely to meet this goal. In addition, we expect directors to build meaningful share ownership over time.

#### Majority vote requirements
BlackRock believes that directors should generally be elected by a majority of the shares voted and will normally support proposals seeking to introduce bylaws requiring a majority vote standard for director elections. Majority voting standards assist in ensuring that directors who are not broadly supported by shareholders are not elected to serve as their representatives. Some companies with a plurality voting standard have adopted a resignation policy for directors who do not receive support from at least a majority of votes cast. Where we believe that the company already has a sufficiently robust majority voting process in place, we may not support a shareholder proposal seeking an alternative mechanism.

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#### Risk oversight
Companies should have an established process for identifying, monitoring, and managing key risks. Independent directors should have ready access to relevant management information and outside advice, as appropriate, to ensure they can properly oversee risk management. We encourage companies to provide transparency around risk measurement, mitigation, and reporting to the board. We are particularly interested in understanding how risk oversight processes evolve in response to changes in corporate strategy and / or shifts in the business and related risk environment. Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

#### Separation of chairman and CEO
We believe that independent leadership is important in the boardroom. In the U.S. there are two commonly accepted structures for independent board leadership: 1) an independent chairman; or 2) a lead independent director when the roles of chairman and CEO are combined.

In the absence of a significant governance concern, we defer to boards to designate the most appropriate leadership structure to ensure adequate balance and independence.

In the event that the board chooses a combined chair / CEO model, we generally support the designation of a lead independent director if they have the power to: 1) provide formal input into board meeting agendas; 2) call meetings of the independent directors; and 3) preside at meetings of independent directors. Furthermore, while we anticipate that most directors will be elected annually, we believe an element of continuity is important for this role for an extended period of time to provide appropriate leadership balance to the chair / CEO.

The following table illustrates examples of responsibilities under each board leadership model:

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Separate<br> Chair Model** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair / CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair |
| Board Meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;Attends full meetings of the board of directors<br> Authority to call meetings of independent directors<br> Briefs CEO on issues arising from executive sessions | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors |
| Agenda | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, consulting with the lead director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Collaborates with chair / CEO to set board agenda and board information | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, in conjunction with CEO |
| Board Communications | &nbsp;&nbsp;Communicates with all directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning |

---

#### AUDITORS AND AUDIT-RELATED ISSUES
BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements to provide a complete and accurate portrayal of a company's financial condition. Consistent with our approach to voting on boards of directors, we seek to hold the audit committee of the board responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function at a company, and may withhold votes from the audit committee members where the board has failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing. We look to

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the audit committee report for insight into the scope of the audit committee responsibilities, including an overview of audit committee processes, issues on the audit committee agenda, and key decisions taken by the audit committee. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or material weakness disclosures, and we expect timely disclosure and remediation of accounting irregularities.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor effectively fulfilling its role. To that end, we favor an independent auditor. In addition, to the extent that an auditor fails to reasonably identify and address issues that eventually lead to a significant financial restatement, or the audit firm has violated standards of practice that protect the interests of shareholders, we may also vote against ratification.

From time to time, shareholder proposals may be presented to promote auditor independence or the rotation of audit firms. We may support these proposals when they are consistent with our views as described above.

#### CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROPOSALS

#### Equal voting rights
BlackRock believes that shareholders should be entitled to voting rights in proportion to their economic interests. We believe that companies that look to add or already have dual or multiple class share structures should review these structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Companies should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal on the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

#### Blank check preferred stock
We frequently oppose proposals requesting authorization of a class of preferred stock with unspecified voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights ("blank check" preferred stock) because they may serve as a transfer of authority from shareholders to the board and as a possible entrenchment device. We generally view the board's discretion to establish voting rights on a when-issued basis as a potential anti-takeover device, as it affords the board the ability to place a block of stock with an investor sympathetic to management, thereby foiling a takeover bid without a shareholder vote.

Nonetheless, we may support the proposal where the company:

• Appears to have a legitimate financing motive for requesting blank check authority

• Has committed publicly that blank check preferred shares will not be used for anti-takeover purposes

• Has a history of using blank check preferred stock for financings

• Has blank check preferred stock previously outstanding such that an increase would not necessarily provide further anti-takeover protection but may provide greater financing flexibility

#### Increase in authorized common shares
BlackRock considers industry-specific norms in our analysis of these proposals, as well as a company's history with respect to the use of its common shares. Generally, we are predisposed to support a company if the board believes additional common shares are necessary to carry out the firm's business. The most substantial concern we might have with an increase is the possibility of use of common shares to fund a poison pill plan that is not in the economic interests of shareholders.

#### Increase or issuance of preferred stock
We generally support proposals to increase or issue preferred stock in cases where the company specifies the voting, dividend, conversion, and other rights of such stock where the terms of the preferred stock appear reasonable.

#### Stock splits
We generally support stock splits that are not likely to negatively affect the ability to trade shares or the economic value of a share. We generally support reverse stock splits that are designed to avoid delisting or to facilitate trading in the stock, where the reverse split will not have a negative impact on share value (e.g*.* one class is reduced while others remain at pre- split

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levels). In the event of a proposal for a reverse split that would not also proportionately reduce the company's authorized stock, we apply the same analysis we would use for a proposal to increase authorized stock.

#### MERGERS, ASSET SALES, AND OTHER SPECIAL TRANSACTIONS
BlackRock's primary concern is the best long-term economic interests of shareholders. While merger, asset sales, and other special transaction proposals vary widely in scope and substance, we closely examine certain salient features in our analyses, such as:

• The degree to which the proposed transaction represents a premium to the company's trading price. We consider the share price over multiple time periods prior to the date of the merger announcement. In most cases, business combinations should provide a premium. We may consider comparable transaction analyses provided by the parties' financial advisors and our own valuation assessments. For companies facing insolvency or bankruptcy, a premium may not apply

• There should be clear strategic, operational, and / or financial rationale for the combination

• Unanimous board approval and arm's-length negotiations are preferred. We will consider whether the transaction involves a dissenting board or does not appear to be the result of an arm's-length bidding process. We may also consider whether executive and / or board members' financial interests in a given transaction appear likely to affect their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own

• We prefer transaction proposals that include the fairness opinion of a reputable financial advisor assessing the value of the transaction to shareholders in comparison to recent similar transactions

#### Poison pill plans
Where a poison pill is put to a shareholder vote by management, our policy is to examine these plans individually. Although we oppose most plans, we may support plans that include a reasonable "qualifying offer clause." Such clauses typically require shareholder ratification of the pill and stipulate a sunset provision whereby the pill expires unless it is renewed.

These clauses also tend to specify that an all cash bid for all shares that includes a fairness opinion and evidence of financing does not trigger the pill, but forces either a special meeting at which the offer is put to a shareholder vote, or the board to seek the written consent of shareholders where shareholders could rescind the pill at their discretion. We may also support a pill where it is the only effective method for protecting tax or other economic benefits that may be associated with limiting the ownership changes of individual shareholders.

We generally vote in favor of shareholder proposals to rescind poison pills.

#### Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns
We generally do not support shareholder proposals seeking the reimbursement of proxy contest expenses, even in situations where we support the shareholder campaign. We believe that introducing the possibility of such reimbursement may incentivize disruptive and unnecessary shareholder campaigns.

#### EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
We note that there are both management and shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. We generally vote on these proposals as described below, except that we typically oppose shareholder proposals on issues where the company already has a reasonable policy in place that we believe is sufficient to address the issue. We may also oppose a shareholder proposal regarding executive compensation if the company's history suggests that the issue raised is not likely to present a problem for that company.

#### Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay")
In cases where there is a Say on Pay vote, BlackRock will respond to the proposal as informed by our evaluation of compensation practices at that particular company and in a manner that appropriately addresses the specific question posed to shareholders. In a commentary on our website, entitled "<u>BlackRock Investment Stewardship's approach to executive compensation</u>," we explain our beliefs and expectations related to executive compensation practices, our Say on Pay analysis framework, and our typical approach to engagement and voting on Say on Pay.

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#### Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions
BlackRock will generally support triennial pay frequency votes, but we defer to the board to determine the appropriate timeframe upon which pay should be reviewed. In evaluating pay, we believe that the compensation committee is responsible for constructing a plan that appropriately incentivizes executives for long-term value creation, utilizing relevant metrics and structure to ensure overall pay and performance alignment. In a similar vein, we defer to the board to establish the most appropriate timeframe for review of pay structure, absent a change in strategy that would suggest otherwise.

However, we may support an annual pay frequency vote in some situations, for example, where we conclude that a company has failed to align pay with performance. In these circumstances, we will also consider voting against the compensation committee members.

#### Claw back proposals
We generally favor recoupment from any senior executive whose compensation was based on faulty financial reporting or deceptive business practices. In addition to fraudulent acts, we also favor recoupment from any senior executive whose behavior caused direct financial harm to shareholders, reputational risk to the company, or resulted in a criminal investigation, even if such actions did not ultimately result in a material restatement of past results. This includes, but is not limited to, settlement agreements arising from such behavior and paid for directly by the company. We typically support shareholder proposals on these matters unless the company already has a robust claw back policy that sufficiently addresses our concerns.

#### Employee stock purchase plans
We believe these plans can provide performance incentives and help align employees' interests with those of shareholders. The most common form of employee stock purchase plan ("ESPP") qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. We will typically support qualified ESPP proposals.

#### Equity compensation plans
BlackRock supports equity plans that align the economic interests of directors, managers, and other employees with those of shareholders. We believe that boards should establish policies prohibiting the use of equity awards in a manner that could disrupt the intended alignment with shareholder interests (e.g. the use of stock as collateral for a loan; the use of stock in a margin account; the use of stock or an unvested award in hedging or derivative transactions). We may support shareholder proposals requesting the establishment of such policies.

Our evaluation of equity compensation plans is based on a company's executive pay and performance relative to peers and whether the plan plays a significant role in a pay-for-performance disconnect. We generally oppose plans that contain "evergreen" provisions, which allow for the unlimited increase of shares reserved without requiring further shareholder approval after a reasonable time period. We also generally oppose plans that allow for repricing without shareholder approval. We may also oppose plans that provide for the acceleration of vesting of equity awards even in situations where an actual change of control may not occur. We encourage companies to structure their change of control provisions to require the termination of the covered employee before acceleration or special payments are triggered.

#### Golden parachutes
We generally view golden parachutes as encouragement to management to consider transactions that might be beneficial to shareholders. However, a large potential pay-out under a golden parachute arrangement also presents the risk of motivating a management team to support a sub-optimal sale price for a company. When determining whether to support or oppose an advisory vote on a golden parachute plan, we normally support the plan unless it appears to result in payments that are excessive or detrimental to shareholders. In evaluating golden parachute plans, BlackRock may consider several factors, including:

• Whether we believe that the triggering event is in the best interest of shareholders

• Whether management attempted to maximize shareholder value in the triggering event

• The percentage of total premium or transaction value that will be transferred to the management team, rather than shareholders, as a result of the golden parachute payment

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• Whether excessively large excise tax gross-up payments are part of the pay-out

• Whether the pay package that serves as the basis for calculating the golden parachute payment was reasonable in light of performance and peers

• Whether the golden parachute payment will have the effect of rewarding a management team that has failed to effectively manage the company

It may be difficult to anticipate the results of a plan until after it has been triggered; as a result, BlackRock may vote against a golden parachute proposal even if the golden parachute plan under review was approved by shareholders when it was implemented.

We may support shareholder proposals requesting that implementation of such arrangements require shareholder approval. We generally support proposals requiring shareholder approval of plans that exceed 2.99 times an executive's current salary and bonus, including equity compensation.

#### Option exchanges
We believe that there may be legitimate instances where underwater options create an overhang on a company's capital structure and a repricing or option exchange may be warranted. We will evaluate these instances on a case-by-case basis. BlackRock may support a request to reprice or exchange underwater options under the following circumstances:

• The company has experienced significant stock price decline as a result of macroeconomic trends, not individual company performance

• Directors and executive officers are excluded; the exchange is value neutral or value creative to shareholders; tax, accounting, and other technical considerations have been fully contemplated

• There is clear evidence that absent repricing, the company will suffer serious employee incentive or retention and recruiting problems

BlackRock may also support a request to exchange underwater options in other circumstances, if we determine that the exchange is in the best interest of shareholders.

#### Pay-for-Performance plans
In order for executive compensation exceeding $1 million USD to qualify for federal tax deductions, related to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ("OBRA") requires companies to link compensation for the company's top five executives to disclosed performance goals and submit the plans for shareholder approval. The law further requires that a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors administer these plans. Because the primary objective of these proposals is to preserve the deductibility of such compensation, we generally favor approval in order to preserve net income.

#### Supplemental executive retirement plans
BlackRock may support shareholder proposals requesting to put extraordinary benefits contained in Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans ("SERP") agreements to a shareholder vote unless the company's executive pension plans do not contain excessive benefits beyond what is offered under employee-wide plans.

#### ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well-managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses. Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry-specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an

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overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification process in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

• Publish disclosures in line with industry specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

• Disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors. In deciding our course of action, we will assess the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social, ethical, or political judgments on behalf of clients, but rather, to protect the ir long-term economic interests as shareholders. We expect investee companies to comply, at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where such laws or regulations are contradictory or ambiguous.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long- term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain

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instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### Corporate political activities
Companies may engage in certain political activities, within legal and regulatory limits, in order to influence public policy consistent with the companies' values and strategies, and thus serve shareholders' best long-term economic interests. These activities can create risks, including: the potential for allegations of corruption; the potential for reputational issues associated with a candidate, party, or issue; and risks that arise from the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations associated with corporate political activity. We believe that companies which choose to engage in political activities should develop and maintain robust processes to guide these activities and to mitigate risks, including a level of board oversight.

When presented with shareholder proposals requesting increased disclosure on corporate political activities, we may consider the political activities of that company and its peers, the existing level of disclosure, and our view regarding the associated risks. We generally believe that it is the duty of boards and management to determine the appropriate level of disclosure of all types of corporate activity, and we are generally not supportive of proposals that are overly prescriptive in nature. We may decide to support a shareholder proposal requesting additional reporting of corporate political activities where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or actual harm to shareholders' interests, and where we believe the company has not already provided shareholders with sufficient information to assess the company's management of the risk.

Finally, we believe that it is not the role of shareholders to suggest or approve corporate political activities; therefore we generally do not support proposals requesting a shareholder vote on political activities or expenditures.

#### GENERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MATTERS

#### Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes
We generally support such proposals unless the agenda contains items that we judge to be detrimental to shareholders' best long-term economic interests.

#### Bundled proposals
We believe that shareholders should have the opportunity to review substantial governance changes individually without having to accept bundled proposals. Where several measures are grouped into one proposal, BlackRock may reject certain positive changes when linked with proposals that generally contradict or impede the rights and economic interests of shareholders.

#### Exclusive forum provisions
BlackRock generally supports proposals to seek exclusive forum for certain shareholder litigation. In cases where a board unilaterally adopts exclusive forum provisions that we consider unfavorable to the interests of shareholders, we will vote against the independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee.

#### Multi-jurisdictional companies
Where a company is listed on multiple exchanges or incorporated in a country different from its primary listing, we will seek to apply the most relevant market guideline(s) to our analysis of the company's governance structure and specific proposals on the shareholder meeting agenda. In doing so, we typically consider the governance standards of the company's primary listing, the market standards by which the company governs itself, and the market context of each specific proposal on the agenda. If the relevant standards are silent on the issue under consideration, we will use our professional judgment as to what voting outcome would best protect the long-term economic interests of investors. We expect that companies will disclose the rationale for their selection of primary listing, country of incorporation, and choice of governance structures, in particular where there is conflict between relevant market governance practices.

#### Other business

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We oppose giving companies our proxy to vote on matters where we are not given the opportunity to review and understand those measures and carry out an appropriate level of shareholder oversight.

#### Reincorporation
Proposals to reincorporate from one state or country to another are most frequently motivated by considerations of anti- takeover protections, legal advantages, and / or cost savings. We will evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the economic and strategic rationale behind the company's proposal to reincorporate. In all instances, we will evaluate the changes to shareholder protection under the new charter / articles / bylaws to assess whether the move increases or decreases shareholder protections. Where we find that shareholder protections are diminished, we may support reincorporation if we determine that the overall benefits outweigh the diminished rights.

#### IPO governance
We expect boards to consider and disclose how the corporate governance structures adopted upon initial public offering ("IPO") are in shareholders' best long-term interests. We also expect boards to conduct a regular review of corporate governance and control structures, such that boards might evolve foundational corporate governance structures as company circumstances change, without undue costs and disruption to shareholders. In our <u>letter on unequal voting structures</u>, we articulate our view that "one vote for one share" is the preferred structure for publicly-traded companies. We also recognize the potential benefits of dual class shares to newly public companies as they establish themselves; however, we believe that these structures should have a specific and limited duration. We will generally engage new companies on topics such as classified boards and supermajority vote provisions to amend bylaws, as we believe that such arrangements may not be in the best interest of shareholders in the long-term.

We will typically apply a one-year grace period for the application of certain director-related guidelines (including, but not limited to, director independence and over-boarding considerations), during which we expect boards to take steps to bring corporate governance standards in line with our expectations.

Further, if a company qualifies as an emerging growth company (an "EGC") under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), we will give consideration to the NYSE and NASDAQ governance exemptions granted under the JOBS Act for the duration such a company is categorized as an EGC. We expect an EGC to have a totally independent audit committee by the first anniversary of its IPO, with our standard approach to voting on auditors and audit-related issues applicable in full for an EGC on the first anniversary of its IPO.

#### SHAREHOLDER PROTECTIONS

#### Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws
We believe that shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including on changes to governance mechanisms and amendments to the charter / articles / bylaws. We may vote against certain directors where changes to governing documents are not put to a shareholder vote within a reasonable period of time, in particular if those changes have the potential to impact shareholder rights (see "Director elections" herein). In cases where a board's unilateral adoption of changes to the charter / articles / bylaws promotes cost and operational efficiency benefits for the company and its shareholders, we may support such action if it does not have a negative effect on shareholder rights or the company's corporate governance structure.

When voting on a management or shareholder proposal to make changes to the charter / articles / bylaws, we will consider in part the company's and / or proponent's publicly stated rationale for the changes, the company's governance profile and history, relevant jurisdictional laws, and situational or contextual circumstances which may have motivated the proposed changes, among other factors. We will typically support changes to the charter / articles / bylaws where the benefits to shareholders, including the costs of failing to make those changes, demonstrably outweigh the costs or risks of making such changes.

#### Proxy access
We believe that long-term shareholders should have the opportunity, when necessary and under reasonable conditions, to nominate directors on the company's proxy card.

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In our view, securing the right of shareholders to nominate directors without engaging in a control contest can enhance shareholders' ability to meaningfully participate in the director election process, stimulate board attention to shareholder interests, and provide shareholders an effective means of directing that attention where it is lacking. Proxy access mechanisms should provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to use this right without stipulating overly restrictive or onerous parameters for use, and also provide assurances that the mechanism will not be subject to abuse by short-term investors, investors without a substantial investment in the company, or investors seeking to take control of the board.

In general, we support market-standardized proxy access proposals, which allow a shareholder (or group of up to 20 shareholders) holding three percent of a company's outstanding shares for at least three years the right to nominate the greater of up to two directors or 20% of the board. Where a standardized proxy access provision exists, we will generally oppose shareholder proposals requesting outlier thresholds.

#### Right to act by written consent
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to solicit votes by written consent provided that: 1) there are reasonable requirements to initiate the consent solicitation process (in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests); and 2) shareholders receive a minimum of 50% of outstanding shares to effectuate the action by written consent. We may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others, or if the proposal is written to discourage the board from incorporating appropriate mechanisms to avoid the waste of corporate resources when establishing a right to act by written consent. Additionally, we may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent if the company already provides a shareholder right to call a special meeting that we believe offers shareholders a reasonable opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting.

#### Right to call a special meeting
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to call a special meeting in cases where a reasonably high proportion of shareholders (typically a minimum of 15% but no higher than 25%) are required to agree to such a meeting before it is called, in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests. However, we may oppose this right in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others. We generally believe that a right to act via written consent is not a sufficient alternative to the right to call a special meeting.

#### Simple majority voting
We generally favor a simple majority voting requirement to pass proposals. Therefore, we will support the reduction or the elimination of supermajority voting requirements to the extent that we determine shareholders' ability to protect their economic interests is improved. Nonetheless, in situations where there is a substantial or dominant shareholder, supermajority voting may be protective of public shareholder interests and we may support supermajority requirements in those situations.

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## Appendix B – Description of Fixed-Income Ratings
A rating is generally assigned to a fixed-income security at the time of issuance by a credit rating agency designated as a NRSRO by the SEC. While NRSROs may from time to time revise such ratings, they undertake no obligation to do so, and the ratings given to securities at issuance do not necessarily represent ratings which would be given to these securities on a particular subsequent date.

NRSROs may rate specific investments (*e.g.*, bonds), issuers (*e.g.*, corporations, governments and financial institutions) and/or programs (*e.g.*, commercial paper programs). However, certain types of investments may not be rated by NRSROs, such as certain government/sovereign obligations, US agency securities, commercial paper, time deposits at financial institutions, and derivative instruments such as credit default swaps. For these types of investments, as well as US Treasury securities (some of which are not rated), where a NRSRO has not rated the specific investment but has rated the investment's issuer, program, financial institution or underlying reference asset, BFA may consider the investment to have the same NRSRO rating as its issuer, program, financial institution or underlying reference asset, as applicable. In the case of municipal securities, where one NRSRO provides multiple ratings for the same security (*e.g.*, "underlying," "insured" and/or "enhanced" ratings), BFA may consider the security to have the highest of the multiple ratings.

New issue securities (regardless of type) may not be rated by a NRSRO at the time of their initial offering. Preliminary prospectuses or term sheets for new issue securities may include an expected rating for the security (as determined by the underwriter and/or issuer) or a NRSRO rating for the issuer of the security. If applicable, when deciding whether to purchase a new issue security that has not yet been rated by a NRSRO, BFA may attribute an expected rating to the security based on: (i) the expected rating of the security set forth in the preliminary prospectus or term sheet for the security; (ii) the NRSRO's rating for the issuer of the security set forth in the preliminary prospectus or term sheet for the security; or (iii) with respect to asset-backed securities, the rating of a prior issuance having a similar structure or the same sponsor.

Where the investment objective of a Fund is to track the performance of an index that includes credit ratings eligibility criteria as part of its index methodology, a Fund may purchase any security within the index, such security having been determined by the index provider as meeting its credit ratings eligibility criteria. The credit ratings practices of an index provider may differ from BlackRock's practices, as described above. Further, a Fund may invest, directly or indirectly, in securities that are not rated by a rating agency or securities with a credit rating that differs from the credit rating specified in its index methodology in various circumstances, including where a security is downgraded but not yet removed from an index, following the removal of a security from an index prior to its sale by the Fund or as a result of a corporate action or restructuring affecting an issuer of a security held by a Fund.

Fixed-income securities which are unrated may expose the investor to risks with respect to capacity to pay interest or repay principal which are similar to the risks of lower-rated speculative bonds. Evaluation of these securities is dependent on the investment adviser's judgment, analysis and experience in the evaluation of such securities.

Investors should note that the assignment of a rating to a security by an NRSRO may not reflect the effect of recent developments on the issuer's ability to make interest and principal payments or on the likelihood of default.

Securities deemed to be high yield are rated below Baa3 by Moody's and below BBB- by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch.

The descriptions below relate to general long-term and short-term obligations of an issuer.

#### Moody's Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations

#### Aaa: Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk.

#### Aa: Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.

#### A: Obligations rated A are judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk.

#### Baa: Obligations rated Baa are judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics.

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#### Ba: Obligations rated Ba are judged to be speculative and are subject to substantial credit risk.

#### B: Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk.

#### Caa: Obligations rated Caa are judged to be speculative, of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk.

#### Ca: Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest.

#### C: Obligations rated C are the lowest rated and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest.
**Note: Moody's appends numerical modifiers 1, 2 and 3 in each generic rating classification from Aa through Caa. The modifier 1 indicates that the obligation ranks in the higher end of its generic rating category; the modifier 2 indicates a mid-range ranking; and the modifier 3 indicates a ranking in the lower end of that generic rating category.**

**Absence of Rating: Where no rating has been assigned or where a rating has been withdrawn, it may be for reasons unrelated to the creditworthiness of the issue.**

Should no rating be assigned, the reason may be one of the following:

1. An application was not received or accepted.

2. The issue or issuer belongs to a group of securities or entities that are not rated as a matter of policy.

3. There is a lack of essential data pertaining to the issue or issuer.

4. The issue was privately placed, in which case the rating is not published in Moody's publications.

Withdrawal may occur if new and material circumstances arise, the effects of which preclude satisfactory analysis; if there is no longer available reasonable up-to-date data to permit a judgment to be formed; if a bond is called for redemption; or for other reasons.

#### Short-Term Obligations
Moody's short-term debt ratings are opinions of the ability of issuers to honor short-term financial obligations, generally with an original maturity not exceeding thirteen months.

Moody's employs the following designations to indicate the relative repayment ability of rated issuers:

#### P-1: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-1 have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

#### P-2: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-2 have a strong ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

#### P-3: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-3 have an acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations.

#### NP: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Not Prime do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories.

#### US Municipal Short-Term Debt Obligations
There are three rating categories for short-term municipal obligations that are considered investment-grade and are designated as Municipal Investment Grade (MIG). In addition, those short-term obligations that are of speculative quality are designated SG, or speculative grade. MIG ratings expire at the maturity of the obligation.

**MIG 1: This designation denotes superior credit quality. Excellent protection is afforded by established cash flows, highly reliable liquidity support, or demonstrated broad-based access to the market for refinancing.**

#### MIG 2: This designation denotes strong credit quality. Margins of protection are ample, although not as large as in the preceding group.
**MIG 3: This designation denotes acceptable credit quality. Liquidity and cash-flow protection may be narrow, and market access for refinancing is likely to be less well-established.**

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_inter_02cd0724-7a69-47ff-9853-f93cbaeadfa6_sai_toc)

#### SG: This designation denotes speculative-grade credit quality. Debt instruments in this category may lack sufficient margins of protection.

#### S&P Global Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations
**AAA: An obligation rated AAA has the highest rating assigned by S&P Global Ratings. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is extremely strong.**

**AA: An obligation rated AA differs from the highest-rated obligations only to a small degree. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment is very strong.**

**A: An obligation rated A is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher-rated categories. However, the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is still strong.**

**BBB: An obligation rated BBB exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**BB; B; CCC; CC; and C: Obligations rated BB, B, CCC, CC, and C are regarded as having significant speculative characteristics. BB indicates the least degree of speculation and C the highest. While such obligations will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, these may be outweighed by large uncertainties or major exposures to adverse conditions.**

**BB: An obligation rated BB is less vulnerable to nonpayment than other speculative issues. However, it faces major ongoing uncertainties or exposure to adverse business, financial, or economic conditions which could lead to the obligor's inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**B: An obligation rated B is more vulnerable to nonpayment than obligations rated BB, but the obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. Adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair the obligor's capacity or willingness to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**CCC: An obligation rated CCC is currently vulnerable to nonpayment, and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. In the event of adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, the obligor is not likely to have the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**CC: An obligation rated CC is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment. The CC rating is used when a default has not yet occurred, but S&P Global Ratings expects default to be a virtual certainty, regardless of the anticipated time to default.**

**C: An obligation rated C is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment, and the obligation is expected to have lower relative seniority or lower ultimate recovery compared to obligations that are rated higher.**

**D: An obligation rated D is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the D rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P Global Ratings believes that such payments will be made within five business days in the absence of a stated grace period or within the earlier of the stated grace period or 30 calendar days. The D rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation's rating is lowered to D if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.**

**NR: NR indicates no rating has been requested, or that there is insufficient information on which to base a rating, or that S&P Global Ratings does not rate a particular obligation as a matter of policy.**

**Note: The ratings from AA to CCC may be modified by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (-) sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories.**

#### Short-Term Obligations

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[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_inter_02cd0724-7a69-47ff-9853-f93cbaeadfa6_sai_toc)

**A-1: A short-term obligation rated A-1 is rated in the highest category by S&P Global Ratings. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is strong. Within this category, certain obligations are designated with a plus sign (+). This indicates that the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on these obligations is extremely strong.**

**A-2: A short-term obligation rated A-2 is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher rating categories. However, the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is satisfactory.**

**A-3: A short-term obligation rated A-3 exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**B: A short-term obligation rated B is regarded as vulnerable and has significant speculative characteristics. The obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitments; however, it faces major ongoing uncertainties which could lead to the obligor's inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitments.**

**C: A short-term obligation rated C is currently vulnerable to nonpayment and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**D: A short-term obligation rated D is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the D rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P Global Ratings believes that such payments will be made within any stated grace period. However, any stated grace period longer than five business days will be treated as five business days. The D rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of a similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation's rating is lowered to D if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.**

#### Municipal Short-Term Obligations
An S&P U.S. municipal note rating reflects S&P Global Ratings opinion about the liquidity factors and market access risks unique to the notes. Notes due in three years or less will likely receive a note rating. Notes with an original maturity of more than three years will most likely receive a long-term debt rating.

**SP-1: Strong capacity to pay principal and interest. An issue determined to possess a very strong capacity to pay debt service is given a plus (+) designation.**

#### SP-2: Satisfactory capacity to pay principal and interest, with some vulnerability to adverse financial and economic changes over the term of the notes.

#### SP-3: Speculative capacity to pay principal and interest.

#### Fitch Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations
**AAA: Highest credit quality. AAA ratings denote the lowest expectation of credit risk. They are assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events.**

**AA: Very high credit quality. AA ratings denote expectations of very low credit risk. They indicate very strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.**

**A: High credit quality. A ratings denote expectations of low credit risk. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered strong. This capacity may, nevertheless, be more vulnerable to adverse business or economic conditions than is the case for higher ratings.**

**BBB: Good credit quality. BBB ratings indicate that expectations of credit risk are currently low. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered adequate but adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair this capacity.**

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_inter_02cd0724-7a69-47ff-9853-f93cbaeadfa6_sai_toc)

**BB: Speculative. BB ratings indicate an elevated vulnerability to credit risk, particularly in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over time; however, business or financial alternatives may be available to allow financial commitments to be met.**

#### B: Highly speculative. B ratings indicate that material credit risk is present.

#### CCC: Substantial credit risk. CCC ratings indicate that substantial credit risk is present.

#### CC: Very high levels of credit risk. CC ratings indicate very high levels of credit risk.

#### C: Exceptionally high levels of credit risk. C indicates exceptionally high levels of credit risk.
Defaulted obligations typically are not assigned RD or D ratings, but are instead rated in the B to C rating categories, depending upon their recovery prospects and other relevant characteristics. This approach better aligns obligations that have comparable overall expected loss but varying vulnerability to default and loss.

*Note: The modifiers "+" or "-" may be appended to a rating to denote relative status within major rating categories. Such suffixes are not added to the AAA obligation rating category, or to corporate finance obligation ratings in the categories below CCC.*

*The subscript 'emr' is appended to a rating to denote embedded market risk which is beyond the scope of the rating. The designation is intended to make clear that the rating solely addresses the counterparty risk of the issuing bank. It is not meant to indicate any limitation in the analysis of the counterparty risk, which in all other respects follows published Fitch criteria for analyzing the issuing financial institution. Fitch does not rate these instruments where the principal is to any degree subject to market risk.*

#### Short-Term Obligations (Corporate and Public Finance)
A short-term issuer or obligation rating is based in all cases on the short-term vulnerability to default of the rated entity or security stream and relates to the capacity to meet financial obligations in accordance with the documentation governing the relevant obligation. Short-Term Ratings are assigned to obligations whose initial maturity is viewed as "short-term" based on market convention. Typically, this means up to 13 months for corporate, sovereign, and structured obligations, and up to 36 months for obligations in U.S. public finance markets.

**F1: Highest short-term credit quality. Indicates the strongest intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments; may have an added "+" to denote any exceptionally strong credit feature.**

#### F2: Good short-term credit quality. Good intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments.

#### F3: Fair short-term credit quality. The intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments is adequate.
**B: Speculative short-term credit quality. Minimal capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, plus heightened vulnerability to near term adverse changes in financial and economic conditions.**

#### C: High short-term default risk. Default is a real possibility.
**RD: Restricted default. Indicates an entity that has defaulted on one or more of its financial commitments, although it continues to meet other financial obligations. Typically applicable to entity ratings only.**

#### D: Default. Indicates a broad-based default event for an entity, or the default of a short-term obligation.
IS-SAI-10A-0323

------

## iShares<sup>®</sup> U.S. ETF Trust
Statement of Additional Information

Dated March 1, 2023

This Statement of Additional Information ("SAI") is not a prospectus. It should be read in conjunction with the current prospectuses (each, a "Prospectus" and collectively, the "Prospectuses") for the following series of iShares U.S. ETF Trust (the "Trust"):

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Ticker** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Listing Exchange** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;NEAR | &nbsp;&nbsp;Cboe BZX |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;MEAR | &nbsp;&nbsp;Cboe BZX |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ICSH | &nbsp;&nbsp;Cboe BZX |

---

The Prospectuses for the above-listed funds (each, a "Fund" and collectively, the "Funds") are dated March 1, 2023, as amended and supplemented from time to time. Capitalized terms used herein that are not defined have the same meaning as in the applicable Prospectus, unless otherwise noted. The Financial Statements and Notes contained in the applicable [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) and [Semi-Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522187742/d360218dncsrs.htm) of the Trust for the Funds are incorporated by reference into and are deemed to be part of this SAI. A copy of each Fund's Prospectus, Annual Report and Semi-Annual Report may be obtained without charge by writing to the Trust's distributor, BlackRock Investments, LLC (the "Distributor" or "BRIL"), 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540, calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or visiting *www.iShares.com*. Each Fund's Prospectus is incorporated by reference into this SAI.

References to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act" or the "1940 Act"), or other applicable law, will include any rules promulgated thereunder and any guidance, interpretations or modifications by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), SEC staff or other authority with appropriate jurisdiction, including court interpretations, and exemptive, no action or other relief or permission from the SEC, SEC staff or other authority.

iShares<sup>®</sup> and BlackRock<sup>®</sup> are registered trademarks of BlackRock Fund Advisors and its affiliates.

------

#### **TABLE OF CONTENTS**

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| [General Description of the Trust and the Funds](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Exchange Listing and Trading](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 |
| [Investment Strategies and Risks](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Bonds](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Corporate Bonds](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Credit Linked Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Currency Transactions](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Derivatives](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Diversification Status](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Dollar Rolls](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;5 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") Integration](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Floating and Variable Rate Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Futures, Options on Futures and Securities Options](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Hedging](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[High Yield Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;7 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Inflation-Protected Obligations](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lease Obligations](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Lending Portfolio Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;9 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk Management](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Mezzanine Investments](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Mortgage-Backed Pass-Through Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_10) | &nbsp;&nbsp;10 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Municipal Insurance](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_11) | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Municipal Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_12) | &nbsp;&nbsp;12 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[New or Unseasoned Municipal Issuers](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Privately Issued Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_14) | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Ratings](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulation Regarding Derivatives](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_15) | &nbsp;&nbsp;15 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreements](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reverse Repurchase Agreements](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_16) | &nbsp;&nbsp;16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities of Investment Companies](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Short Sales](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_17) | &nbsp;&nbsp;17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Stripped Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |

---

i

------

[**Table of Contents**](#JOB_us-et_999fecf1-1fd9-4ec7-b9b1-586f0bf634fb_sai_toc)

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Structured Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_18) | &nbsp;&nbsp;18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Swap Agreements](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_19) | &nbsp;&nbsp;19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Government Obligations](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S.-Registered and Restricted Securities of Non-U.S. Issuers](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[When Issued Securities, Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_21) | &nbsp;&nbsp;21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Zero Coupon Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_22) | &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Future Developments](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_22) | &nbsp;&nbsp;22 |
| [General Considerations and Risks](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Borrowing Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Call Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Currency Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custody Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Extension Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_23) | &nbsp;&nbsp;23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Illiquid Investments Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuer Insolvency Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[LIBOR Replacement Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_24) | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Liquidity Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_25) | &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Money Market Instruments Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_25) | &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Municipal Market Disruption Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_25) | &nbsp;&nbsp;25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Not a Money Market Fund](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Operational Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Repurchase Agreement Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_26) | &nbsp;&nbsp;26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Debt Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_27) | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Supranational Entities Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_27) | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Tax Risks Associated with Municipal Securities (BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only)](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_27) | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_27) | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Asia](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Australasia](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_28) | &nbsp;&nbsp;28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Developed Countries](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_29) | &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_29) | &nbsp;&nbsp;29 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in Europe](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_30) | &nbsp;&nbsp;30 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in North America](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Basic Materials Industry](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_31) | &nbsp;&nbsp;31 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Capital Goods Industry](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Communication Services Sector](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_32) | &nbsp;&nbsp;32 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Cyclical Industry](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Consumer Staples Sector](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_33) | &nbsp;&nbsp;33 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_34) | &nbsp;&nbsp;34 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Technology Sector](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_35) | &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Transportation Industry](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_35) | &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Risk of Investing in the Utilities Sector](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_35) | &nbsp;&nbsp;35 |
| [Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| [Portfolio Holdings Information](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_36) | &nbsp;&nbsp;36 |
| [Investment Policies](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;37 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_37) | &nbsp;&nbsp;37 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-Fundamental Investment Policies](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_39) | &nbsp;&nbsp;39 |
| [Continuous Offering](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_40) | &nbsp;&nbsp;40 |
| [Management](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Trustees and Officers](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_41) | &nbsp;&nbsp;41 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Committees of the Board of Trustees](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_49) | &nbsp;&nbsp;49 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_53) | &nbsp;&nbsp;53 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_54) | &nbsp;&nbsp;54 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Conflicts of Interest](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_56) | &nbsp;&nbsp;56 |
| [Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_63) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Adviser](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_63) | &nbsp;&nbsp;63 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investment Sub-Adviser](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_64) | &nbsp;&nbsp;64 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Portfolio Managers](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_65) | &nbsp;&nbsp;65 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Codes of Ethics](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_70) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Anti-Money Laundering Requirements](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_70) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_70) | &nbsp;&nbsp;70 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distributor](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_71) | &nbsp;&nbsp;71 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Securities Lending](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_71) | &nbsp;&nbsp;71 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Payments by BFA and its Affiliates](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_73) | &nbsp;&nbsp;73 |
| [Determination of Net Asset Value](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_75) | &nbsp;&nbsp;75 |
| [Brokerage Transactions](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_77) | &nbsp;&nbsp;77 |
| [Additional Information Concerning the Trust](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_80) | &nbsp;&nbsp;80 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shares](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_80) | &nbsp;&nbsp;80 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Funds](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_81) | &nbsp;&nbsp;81 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Distribution of Shares](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_82) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| [Creation and Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_82) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[General](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_82) | &nbsp;&nbsp;82 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Fund Deposit](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_83) | &nbsp;&nbsp;83 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Purchase Method](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_84) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Procedures for Creation of Creation Units](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_84) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Role of the Authorized Participant](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_84) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Creation Orders](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_84) | &nbsp;&nbsp;84 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Purchase Orders](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_85) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_85) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_85) | &nbsp;&nbsp;85 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Issuance of a Creation Unit](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_86) | &nbsp;&nbsp;86 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Creation Transactions](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_86) | &nbsp;&nbsp;86 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Redemption of Creation Units](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_87) | &nbsp;&nbsp;87 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Cash Redemption Method](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_88) | &nbsp;&nbsp;88 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_88) | &nbsp;&nbsp;88 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Placement of Redemption Orders](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_88) | &nbsp;&nbsp;88 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Custom Baskets](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_90) | &nbsp;&nbsp;90 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units](#xx_6799fca8-ca0d-4b17-97e2-98913bed7134_90) | &nbsp;&nbsp;90 |
| [Taxes](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;91 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Regulated Investment Company Qualifications](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;91 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of RICs](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;91 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Net Capital Loss Carryforwards](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;92 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Excise Tax](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;92 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of U.S. Shareholders](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;92 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sales of Shares](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;93 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Backup Withholding](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Sections 351 and 362](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Tax-Exempt Interest Income](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Certain Derivatives](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;94 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Market Discount](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;95 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Non-U.S. Investments](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;95 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Original Issue Discount](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;95 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Reporting](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;96 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Other Taxes](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;96 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;96 |
| [Financial Statements](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;97 |
| [Miscellaneous Information](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;97 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Counsel](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;97 |

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---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Page** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;97 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Shareholder Communications to the Board](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;97 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[Investors' Rights](#xx_42687df5-eb21-4ce2-91d8-b41cdb6a34a5_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;97 |
| [Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy](#xx_b9539d28-900c-4d89-aa65-48353ba24a4e_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-1 |
| [Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_b9539d28-900c-4d89-aa65-48353ba24a4e_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-2 |
| [Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies](#xx_733e7a86-2316-42f2-b5ee-0b452ce00496_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-13 |
| [Appendix B – Description of Fixed-Income Ratings](#xx_3b46b92f-21e3-4b8a-bdca-c39bb9059c27_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;B-1 |

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## General Description of the Trust and the Funds
The Trust currently consists of 16 investment series or portfolios. The Trust was organized as a Delaware statutory trust on June 21, 2011 and is authorized to have multiple series or portfolios. The Trust is an open-end management investment company registered with the SEC under the 1940 Act. The offering of the Trust's shares is registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"). This SAI relates to the following Funds:

• BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF

• BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF

• BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

The BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF seeks to maximize current income. The Fund uses the Bloomberg Short-Term Government/Corporate Index as a benchmark to measure its investment returns (the Benchmark Index). The Fund is not an index fund and does not seek to track the performance of the Benchmark Index.

The BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF seeks to maximize tax-free current income. The Fund uses the Bloomberg Municipal Bond: 1 Year (1-2) Index as a Benchmark Index to measure its investment returns. The Fund is not an index fund and does not seek to track the performance of the Benchmark Index.

The BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF seeks to provide current income consistent with preservation of capital. The Fund uses the ICE BofA 6-Month US Treasury Bill Index as a Benchmark Index to measure its investment returns. The Fund is not an index fund and does not seek to track the performance of the Benchmark Index.

Each Fund is managed by BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA" or the "Investment Adviser"), an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc. BlackRock International Limited ("BIL"), an affiliate of BFA, serves as the sub-adviser (the "Sub-Adviser") to the BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF. The Funds are not money market funds and do not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.

Each Fund offers and issues shares at their net asset value per share ("NAV") only in aggregations of a specified number of shares (each, a "Creation Unit"), generally in exchange for a specified amount of cash. Shares of each Fund are listed for trading on Cboe BZX Exchange, Inc. ("Cboe BZX" or the "Listing Exchange"), a national securities exchange. Shares of each Fund are traded in the secondary market and elsewhere at market prices that may be at, above or below each Fund's NAV. Shares are redeemable only in Creation Units, and, generally, in exchange for a specified amount of cash. Creation Units typically are a specified number of shares, generally 50,000 or multiples thereof.

The Trust reserves the right to permit or require that creations and redemptions of shares are effected fully in cash. See the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Transaction fees and other costs associated with creations or redemptions that include a cash portion may be higher than the transaction fees and other costs associated with in-kind creations or redemptions. In all cases, conditions with respect to creations and redemptions of shares and fees will be limited in accordance with the requirements of SEC rules and regulations applicable to management investment companies offering redeemable securities.

## Exchange Listing and Trading
A discussion of exchange listing and trading matters associated with an investment in each Fund is contained in the *Shareholder Information* section of each Fund's Prospectus. The discussion below supplements, and should be read in conjunction with, that section of the applicable Prospectus.

Shares of each Fund are listed for trading, and trade throughout the day, on the Listing Exchange and in other secondary markets. Shares of certain Funds may also be listed on certain non-U.S. exchanges. There can be no assurance that the requirements of the Listing Exchange necessary to maintain the listing of shares of any Fund will continue to be met. The Listing Exchange may, but is not required to, remove the shares of a Fund from listing if, among other things: (i) a Fund is no longer eligible to operate in reliance on Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act; (ii) any of the other listing

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requirements are not continuously maintained; or (iii) any event shall occur or condition shall exist that, in the opinion of the Listing Exchange, makes further dealings on the Listing Exchange inadvisable. The Listing Exchange will also remove shares of a Fund from listing and trading upon termination of the Fund.

As in the case of other publicly-traded securities, when you buy or sell shares of a Fund through a broker, you may incur a brokerage commission determined by that broker, as well as other charges.

The Trust reserves the right to adjust the share price of the Funds in the future to maintain convenient trading ranges for investors. Any adjustments would be accomplished through stock splits or reverse stock splits, which would have no effect on the net assets of the Funds or an investor's equity interest in the Funds.

## Investment Strategies and Risks
The BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF invests primarily in short-term bonds that provide the potential for current income. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment grade fixed-income securities that are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch Ratings, Inc. ("Fitch"), or Baa3 or higher by Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ("Moody's"), or, if unrated, determined by the Fund's management team to be of equivalent quality. The Fund primarily invests in fixed- and floating-rate securities of varying maturities, such as corporate and government bonds, agency securities, instruments of non-U.S. issuers, privately-issued securities, asset-backed securities ("ABS") and mortgage-backed securities ("MBS"), structured securities, municipal bonds, repurchase agreements, money market instruments and investment companies. The Fund invests in securities issued by financial institutions such as banks, broker-dealers and insurance companies. The Fund may enter into to-be-announced transactions ("TBA transactions") on a regular basis with respect to the percentage of the portfolio (if any) that consists of mortgage-backed pass-through securities. BFA or its affiliates may advise the money market funds and investment companies in which the Fund may invest. Under normal circumstances, the effective duration of the Fund's portfolio is expected to be one year or less, as calculated by the Fund's management team. Effective duration is a measure of the Fund's price sensitivity to changes in yields or interest rates; however, investors should be aware that effective duration is not an exact measurement and may not reliably predict a particular security's price sensitivity to changes in yield or interest rates. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will also seek to maintain a weighted average maturity that is less than three years. Weighted average maturity is a U.S. dollar-weighted average of the remaining term to maturity of the underlying securities in the Fund's portfolio. The calculation of the Fund's weighted average maturity is based on the constituent securities' final maturity date or, for amortizing securities such as ABS and MBS, their weighted average life (*i.e*., the average length of time that each dollar of unpaid principal on the security remains outstanding). The Fund is an actively managed exchange-traded fund ("ETF") that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The Fund may also invest in currency contracts for hedging and/or trade settlement purposes.

The BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in investments the income of which is free from federal income tax. This policy is a fundamental policy of the Fund and may not be changed without a vote of a majority of the Fund's outstanding voting securities, as defined in the 1940 Act. Under normal circumstances, the Fund primarily invests in U.S. dollar-denominated, investment-grade short-term fixed- and floating-rate municipal securities with remaining maturities of five years or less, such as municipal bonds, municipal notes and variable rate demand obligations, as well as money market instruments and registered investment companies. Investment-grade securities are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch, or Baa3 or higher by Moody's, or, if unrated, determined by the Fund's management team to be of equivalent quality. Municipal bonds include debt obligations issued by or on behalf of a governmental entity or other qualifying issuer that pay interest that is, in the opinion of bond counsel to the issuer at the time of issuance, generally excludable from gross income for U.S. federal income tax purposes. The Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in municipal securities that pay interest that is subject to the federal Alternative Minimum Tax ("AMT"). Issuers may be states, territories and possessions of the U.S., including the District of Columbia, and their political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities. BFA or its affiliates may advise the money market funds and investment companies in which the Fund may invest. Under normal circumstances, the Fund's effective duration will be 1.2 years or less, as calculated by the Fund's management team, and it is not expected to exceed 1.5 years. Effective duration is a measure of the Fund's price sensitivity to changes in yields or interest rates; however, investors should be aware that effective duration is not an exact measurement and may not reliably predict a particular security's price sensitivity to changes in yield or interest rates. Under normal circumstances, the Fund will also seek to maintain a weighted average

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maturity that is less than three years. Weighted average maturity is a U.S. dollar-weighted average of the remaining term to maturity of the underlying securities in the Fund's portfolio. The calculation of the Fund's weighted average maturity is based on the constituent securities' final maturity date or, for amortizing securities such as ABS and MBS, their weighted average life (*i.e*., the average length of time that each dollar of unpaid principal on the security remains outstanding). The Fund is an actively managed ETF that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index. The Fund may, to a limited extent, engage in derivatives transactions that include interest rate futures.

The BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade fixed- and floating-rate debt securities that are rated BBB- or higher by S&P Global Ratings and/or Fitch, or Baa3 or higher by Moody's, or, if unrated, determined by the Fund's management team to be of equivalent quality. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests in fixed- and floating-rate securities maturing in three years or less. Short-term investments (generally, securities with original maturities of one year or less) held by the Fund will carry a rating in one of the highest two rating categories of at least one nationally recognized statistical ratings organization ("NRSRO") (*e.g.*, A-2, P-2 or F2 or better by S&P Global Ratings, Moody's or Fitch, respectively), or if such investments are unrated, determined to be of comparable quality by the Fund's management team, at the time of investment. The Fund is an actively managed ETF that does not seek to replicate the performance of a specified index.

**Bonds. A bond is an interest-bearing security issued by a U.S. or non-U.S. company or governmental unit. The issuer of a bond has a contractual obligation to pay interest at a stated rate on specific dates and to repay principal (the bond's face value) periodically or on a specified maturity date. Bonds generally are used by issuers to borrow money from investors.**

An issuer may have the right to redeem or "call" a bond before maturity, in which case a Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds at lower market rates. Similarly, a Fund may have to reinvest interest income or payments received when bonds mature, sometimes at lower market rates. Most bonds bear interest income at a "coupon" rate that is fixed for the life of the bond. The value of a fixed-rate bond usually rises when market interest rates fall, and falls when market interest rates rise. Accordingly, a fixed-rate bond's yield (income as a percent of the bond's current value) may differ from its coupon rate as its value rises or falls. When an investor purchases a fixed-rate bond at a price that is greater than its face value, the investor is purchasing the bond at a premium. Conversely, when an investor purchases a fixed-rate bond at a price that is less than its face value, the investor is purchasing the bond at a discount. Fixed-rate bonds that are purchased at a discount pay less current income than securities with comparable yields that are purchased at face value, with the result that prices for such fixed-rate securities can be more volatile than prices for such securities that are purchased at face value. Other types of bonds bear interest at an interest rate that is adjusted periodically. Interest rates on "floating rate" or "variable rate" bonds may be higher or lower than current market rates for fixed-rate bonds of comparable quality with similar final maturities. Because of their adjustable interest rates, the value of "floating rate" or "variable rate" bonds fluctuates much less in response to market interest rate movements than the value of fixed-rate bonds, but their value may decline if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general. Each Fund may treat some of these bonds as having a shorter maturity for purposes of calculating the weighted average maturity of its investment portfolio. Generally, prices of higher quality issues tend to fluctuate less with changes in market interest rates than prices of lower quality issues and prices of longer maturity issues tend to fluctuate more than prices of shorter maturity issues. Bonds may be senior or subordinated obligations. Senior obligations generally have the first claim on an issuer's earnings and assets and, in the event of liquidation, are paid before subordinated obligations. Bonds may be unsecured (backed only by the issuer's general creditworthiness) or secured (backed by specified collateral).

**Borrowing. Each Fund may borrow for temporary or emergency purposes, including to meet payments due from redemptions or to facilitate the settlement of securities or other transactions.**

The purchase of securities while borrowings are outstanding may have the effect of leveraging a Fund. The incurrence of leverage increases a Fund's exposure to risk, and borrowed funds are subject to interest costs that will reduce net income. Purchasing securities while borrowings are outstanding creates special risks, such as the potential for greater volatility in the NAV of Fund shares and in the yield on a Fund's portfolio. In addition, the interest expenses from borrowings may exceed the income generated by a Fund's portfolio and, therefore, the amount available (if any) for distribution to shareholders as dividends may be reduced. BFA may determine to maintain outstanding borrowings if it expects that the benefits to a Fund's shareholders will outweigh the current reduced return.

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Certain types of borrowings by a Fund must be made from a bank or may result in a Fund being subject to covenants in credit agreements relating to asset coverage, portfolio composition requirements and other matters. It is not anticipated that observance of such covenants would impede BFA's management of a Fund's portfolio in accordance with a Fund's investment objectives and policies. However, a breach of any such covenants not cured within the specified cure period may result in acceleration of outstanding indebtedness and require a Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so.

**Corporate Bonds. Certain of the Funds may invest in investment-grade and/or high yield corporate bonds. The investment return of corporate bonds reflects interest earned on the security and changes in the market value of the security. The market value of a corporate bond may be affected by changes in the market rate of interest, the credit rating of the issuer, the issuer's performance and perceptions of the issuer in the marketplace. There is a risk that the issuers of the securities may not be able to meet their obligations on interest or principal payments at the time called for by an instrument.**

**Credit Linked Securities. Among the income producing securities in which the Fund may invest are credit linked securities, which are issued by a limited purpose trust or other vehicle that, in turn, invests in a derivative instrument or basket of derivative instruments, such as credit default swaps, interest rate swaps and other securities, in order to provide exposure to certain fixed-income markets. For instance, a Fund may invest in credit linked securities as a cash management tool in order to gain exposure to a certain market and/or to remain fully invested when more traditional income producing securities are not available.**

Like an investment in a bond, investments in these credit linked securities represent the right to receive periodic income payments (in the form of distributions) and payment of principal at the end of the term of the security. However, these payments are conditioned on the issuer's receipt of payments from, and the issuer's potential obligations to, the counterparties to the derivative instruments and other securities in which the issuer invests. For instance, the issuer may sell one or more credit default swaps, under which the issuer would receive a stream of payments over the term of the swap agreements provided that no event of default has occurred with respect to the referenced debt obligation upon which the swap is based. If a default occurs, the stream of payments may stop and the issuer would be obligated to pay the counterparty the par (or other agreed upon value) of the referenced debt obligation. This, in turn, would reduce the amount of income and principal that a Fund would receive. A Fund's investments in these instruments are indirectly subject to the risks associated with derivative instruments, including, among other risks, credit risk, default or similar event risk, counterparty risk, interest rate risk, leverage risk and management risk. It is also expected that the securities will be exempt from registration under the 1933 Act. Accordingly, there may be no established trading market for the securities and they may constitute illiquid investments. Some transactions may give rise to a form of economic leverage. These transactions may include, among other things, derivatives, and may expose a Fund to greater risk and increase its costs. Increases and decreases in the value of a Fund's portfolio will be magnified when the Fund uses leverage.

**Currency Transactions. A currency forward contract is an over-the-counter ("OTC") obligation to purchase or sell a specific currency at a future date, which may be any fixed number of days greater than two days from the date on which the contract is agreed upon by the parties, at a price set at the time of the contract. A non-deliverable currency forward is an OTC currency forward settled in a specified currency, on a specified date, based on the difference between the agreed-upon exchange rate and the market exchange rate. A currency futures contract is a contract that trades on an organized futures exchange involving an obligation to deliver or acquire a specified amount of a specific currency, at a specified price and at a specified future time. Currency futures contracts may be settled on a net cash payment basis rather than by the sale and delivery of the underlying currency. Certain of the Funds expect to engage in currency transactions for the purpose of hedging against declines in the value of the Funds' assets that are denominated in a non-U.S. currency. A Fund may enter into non-U.S. currency transactions to facilitate local securities settlements or to protect against currency exposure in connection with its distributions to shareholders or for the purpose of hedging, but may not enter into such contracts for speculative purposes.**

The rapid fluctuations in the market prices of currency contracts generally make such investments volatile. Volatility is caused by, among other things: changes in supply and demand relationships; trade, fiscal, monetary and exchange control programs; domestic and foreign political and economic events and policies; and changes in interest rates. A Fund's trading methods may not take into account all of these factors. In addition, governments from time to time intervene, directly and by regulation, in certain markets, often with the intent to influence prices directly. The effects of governmental intervention may be particularly significant at certain times in the currency markets, and this intervention may cause these markets to move rapidly.

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Foreign exchange transactions involve a significant degree of risk and the markets in which foreign exchange transactions are effected may be highly volatile, highly specialized and highly technical. Significant changes, including changes in liquidity and prices, can occur in such markets within very short periods of time, often within minutes. Foreign exchange trading risks include, but are not limited to, exchange rate risk, counterparty risk, maturity gap, interest rate risk, and potential interference by foreign governments through regulation of local exchange markets, foreign investment or particular transactions in non-U.S. currency. If BFA utilizes foreign exchange transactions at an inappropriate time or judges market conditions, trends or correlations incorrectly, foreign exchange transactions may not serve their intended purpose of improving a Fund's performance and may lower the Fund's return. A Fund could experience losses if the value of its currency positions were poorly correlated with its other investments or if it could not close out its positions because of an illiquid market or otherwise. In addition, a Fund could incur transaction costs, including trading commissions, in connection with certain non-U.S. currency transactions.

**Derivatives. Certain of the Funds may use instruments referred to as derivatives. Derivatives are financial instruments the value of which is derived from another security, a commodity (such as gold or oil), a currency or an index (a measure of value or rates, such as the S&P 500 Index or the prime lending rate). Derivatives allow a Fund to increase or decrease the level of risk to which a Fund is exposed more quickly and efficiently than transactions in other types of instruments. The Funds may use derivatives for hedging purposes. The Funds may also use derivatives for speculative purposes to seek to enhance returns. The use of a derivative is speculative if a Fund is primarily seeking to achieve gains, rather than to offset the risk of other positions. When a Fund invests in a derivative for speculative purposes, a Fund will be fully exposed to the risks of loss of that derivative, which may sometimes be greater than the derivative's cost. Unless otherwise permitted, a Fund may not use any derivatives to gain exposure to an asset or class of assets that it would be prohibited by its investment restrictions from purchasing directly.**

**Diversification Status. Each Fund is classified as a diversified fund under the 1940 Act. This means that each Fund may not purchase securities of an issuer (other than (i) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities and (ii) securities of other investment companies) if, with respect to 75% of its total assets, (a) more than 5% of the Fund's total assets would be invested in securities of that issuer or (b) the Fund would hold more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of that issuer. With respect to the remaining 25% of its total assets, each Fund may invest more than 5% of its assets in one issuer. Under the 1940 Act, each Fund cannot change its classification from diversified to non-diversified without shareholder approval.**

Each Fund intends to maintain the required level of diversification and otherwise conduct its operations so as to qualify as a regulated investment company ("RIC") for purposes of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"), and to relieve the Fund of any liability for U.S. federal income tax to the extent that its earnings are distributed to shareholders, provided that the Fund satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. Compliance with the diversification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code may limit the investment flexibility of the Funds and may make it less likely that the Funds will meet its investment objective.

**Dollar Rolls. A dollar roll transaction involves a sale by a Fund of a mortgage-backed or other security concurrently with an agreement by the Fund to repurchase a similar security at a later date at an agreed-upon price. The securities that are repurchased will bear the same interest rate and a similar maturity as those sold, but pools of mortgages collateralizing those securities may have different prepayment histories than those sold. During the period between the sale and repurchase, the Fund will not be entitled to receive interest and principal payments on the securities sold. Proceeds of the sale will be invested in additional instruments for the Fund, and the income from these investments will generate income for the Fund. If such income does not exceed the income, capital appreciation and gain or loss that would have been realized on the securities sold as part of the dollar roll, the use of this technique will diminish the investment performance of the Fund compared with what the performance would have been without the use of dollar rolls. At the time the Fund enters into a dollar roll transaction, BFA will designate assets on its books and records in an amount equal to the amount of the Fund's commitments and will subsequently monitor the account to ensure that its value is maintained.**

Dollar rolls involve the risk that the market value of the securities subject to the Fund's forward purchase commitment may decline below, or the market value of the securities subject to the Fund's forward sale commitment may increase above, the exercise price of the forward commitment. In the event the buyer of the securities files for bankruptcy or becomes insolvent, the Fund's use of the proceeds of the current sale portion of the transaction may be restricted pending a determination by the other party, or its trustee or receiver, whether to enforce the Fund's obligation to purchase the similar securities in the forward transaction. Dollar rolls are speculative techniques that can be deemed to involve leverage. The Fund may engage in

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dollar roll transactions to enhance return. Each dollar roll transaction is accounted for as a sale or purchase of a portfolio security and a subsequent purchase or sale of a substantially similar security in the forward market. Successful use of mortgage dollar rolls may depend upon BFA's ability to correctly predict interest rates and prepayments. There is no assurance that dollar rolls can be successfully employed.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits a Fund to enter into when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g*., dollar rolls and firm and standby commitments, including TBA commitments) and non-standard settlement cycle securities notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision"). If a when-issued, forward-settling or non-standard settlement cycle security does not satisfy the Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision, then it is treated as a Derivatives Transaction under Rule 18f-4. See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" below.

**Environmental, Social and Governance ("ESG") Integration. Although a Fund does not seek to implement a specific ESG, impact or sustainability strategy unless disclosed in its Prospectus, Fund management will consider ESG characteristics as part of the investment process for actively managed Funds. These considerations will vary depending on a Fund's particular investment strategies and may include consideration of third-party research as well as consideration of proprietary BlackRock research across the ESG risks and opportunities regarding an issuer. Fund management will consider those ESG characteristics it deems relevant or additive when making investment decisions for a Fund. The ESG characteristics utilized in a Fund's investment process are anticipated to evolve over time and one or more characteristics may not be relevant with respect to all issuers that are eligible for investment.**

ESG characteristics are not the sole considerations when making investment decisions for a Fund. Further, investors can differ in their views of what constitutes positive or negative ESG characteristics. As a result, a Fund may invest in issuers that do not reflect the beliefs and values with respect to ESG of any particular investor. ESG considerations may affect a Fund's exposure to certain companies or industries and a Fund may forego certain investment opportunities. While Fund management views ESG considerations as having the potential to contribute to a Fund's long-term performance, there is no guarantee that such results will be achieved.

Certain funds incorporate specific ESG, impact or sustainability considerations into their investment objectives, strategies, and/or processes, as described in the applicable fund's Prospectus.

**Floating and Variable Rate Securities. Certain of the Funds may invest in debt instruments that pay a variable coupon rate. Securities with floating or variable interest rates can be less sensitive to interest rate changes than securities with fixed interest rates, but may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general. Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline. The impact of interest rate changes on floating rate investments is typically mitigated by the periodic interest rate reset of the investments. Benchmark interest rates used for floating and variable rate securities, such as the London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR), may not accurately track market interest rates.**

**Futures, Options on Futures and Securities Options. Futures contracts, options on futures and securities options may be used by a Fund to facilitate trading or to reduce transaction costs. Each Fund may enter into futures contracts and options on futures that are traded on a U.S. or non-U.S. futures exchange. Each Fund will not use futures, options on futures or securities options for speculative purposes. Each Fund intends to use futures and options on futures in accordance with Rule 4.5 of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC") promulgated under the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA"). BFA, with respect to certain Funds, has claimed an exclusion from the definition of the term "commodity pool operator" in accordance with Rule 4.5 so that BFA, with respect to such Funds, is not subject to registration or regulation as a commodity pool operator under the CEA. See the *Regulation Regarding Derivatives* section of this SAI for more information.**

Futures contracts provide for the future sale by one party and purchase by another party of a specified amount of a specific instrument or index at a specified future time and at a specified price. Each Fund may enter into futures contracts to purchase securities indexes when BFA anticipates purchasing the underlying securities and believes prices will rise before the purchase will be made. Upon entering into a futures contract, a Fund will be required to deposit with the broker an amount of cash or cash equivalents known as "initial margin," which is similar to a performance bond or good faith deposit on the contract and is returned to the Fund upon termination of the futures contract if all contractual obligations have been satisfied. Subsequent payments, known as "variation margin," will be made to and from the broker daily as the price of the instrument or index underlying the futures contract fluctuates, making the long and short positions in the futures contract

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more or less valuable, a process known as "marking-to-market." At any time prior to the expiration of a futures contract, each Fund may elect to close the position by taking an opposite position, which will operate to terminate the Fund's existing position in the contract. An option on a futures contract, as contrasted with a direct investment in such a contract, gives the purchaser the right, but no obligation, in return for the premium paid, to assume a position in the underlying futures contract at a specified exercise price at any time prior to the expiration date of the option. Upon exercise of an option, the delivery of the futures position by the writer of the option to the holder of the option will be accompanied by delivery of the accumulated balance in the writer's futures margin account that represents the amount by which the market price of the futures contract exceeds (in the case of a call) or is less than (in the case of a put) the exercise price of the option on the futures contract.

The potential for loss related to the purchase of an option on a futures contract is limited to the premium paid for the option plus transaction costs. Because the value of the option is fixed at the point of sale, there are no daily cash payments by the purchaser to reflect changes in the value of the underlying contract; however, the value of the option changes daily and that change would be reflected in the NAV of each Fund. The potential for loss related to writing call options is unlimited. The potential for loss related to writing put options is limited to the agreed-upon price per share, also known as the "strike price," less the premium received from writing the put. Certain of the Funds may purchase and write put and call options on futures contracts that are traded on an exchange as a hedge against changes in value of their portfolio securities or in anticipation of the purchase of securities, and may enter into closing transactions with respect to such options to terminate existing positions. There is no guarantee that such closing transactions can be effected.

A call option gives a holder the right to purchase a specific security at a specified price ("exercise price") within a specified period of time. A put option gives a holder the right to sell a specific security at an exercise price within a specified period of time. The initial purchaser of a call option pays the "writer" a premium, which is paid at the time of purchase and is retained by the writer whether or not such option is exercised. Each Fund may purchase put options to hedge its portfolio against the risk of a decline in the market value of securities held and may purchase call options to hedge against an increase in the price of securities it is committed to purchase. Each Fund may write put and call options along with a long position in options to increase its ability to hedge against a change in the market value of the securities it holds or is committed to purchase. Each Fund may purchase or sell securities options on a U.S. or non-U.S. securities exchange or in the OTC market through a transaction with a dealer. Options on a securities index are typically settled on a net basis based on the appreciation or depreciation of the index level over the strike price. Options on single name securities may be cash- or physically-settled, depending upon the market in which they are traded. Options may be structured so as to be exercisable only on certain dates or on a daily basis. Options may also be structured to have conditions to exercise (*i.e.*, "Knock-in Events") or conditions that trigger termination (*i.e.*, "Knock-out Events").

**Hedging. Hedging is a strategy in which a derivative is used to offset particular risks associated with other Fund holdings. Losses on the other investment may be substantially reduced by gains on a derivative that reacts in an opposite manner to market movements. While hedging can reduce losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains or cause losses if the market moves in a manner different from that anticipated by a Fund or if the cost of the derivative outweighs the benefit of the hedge. Establishment of hedges, if not tailored properly or timed in accordance with market changes, may not be effective in meeting a Fund's intended objectives. This is due to the fact that hedging also involves correlation risk, *i.e.*, the risk that changes in the value of the derivative will not match those of the holdings being hedged as expected by a Fund, in which case any losses on the holdings being hedged may not be reduced or may be increased. The inability to close options and futures positions also could have an adverse impact on each Fund's ability to hedge effectively its portfolio. There is also a risk of loss by a Fund of margin deposits or collateral in the event of bankruptcy of a broker or other intermediary with whom a Fund has an open position in a swap, an option, a futures contract, a related option or another hedging instrument. In certain falling interest rate environments, the Fund's hedging strategy could result in disproportionately larger losses in its short U.S. Department of the Treasury ("U.S. Treasury") futures and interest rate swaps positions as compared to gains in the long corporate bond positions attributable to interest rate changes. There is no guarantee that the Fund will have positive returns, even in environments of sharply rising Treasury interest rates in which the Fund's short positions might be expected to mitigate the effects of such rises. The Fund will incur expenses when entering into short positions. There can be no assurance that the Fund's hedging strategies will be effective.**

**High Yield Securities. Certain Funds may invest in non-investment grade securities. Non-investment grade or "high yield" fixed-income or convertible securities are commonly known to investors as "junk bonds" or "high yield bonds." These are generally debt securities that are rated below investment grade by one or more of the major rating agencies or are unrated securities that BFA believes are of comparable quality. While generally providing greater income and opportunity for gain,**

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non-investment grade debt securities may be subject to greater risks than securities that have higher credit ratings, including a high risk of default, and their yields will fluctuate over time. High yield securities will generally be in the lower rating categories of recognized rating agencies (rated below Baa3 by Moody's or below BBB- by S&P Global Ratings or Fitch) or be unrated. The credit rating of a high yield security does not necessarily address its market value risk, and ratings may from time to time change, positively or negatively, to reflect developments regarding the issuer's financial condition. High yield securities are considered to be speculative with respect to the capacity of the issuer to timely repay principal and pay interest in accordance with the terms of the obligation and may have more credit risk than higher rated securities.

The major risks of high yield bond investments include the following:

• High yield bonds may be issued by less creditworthy issuers. These securities are vulnerable to adverse changes in the issuer's industry or to general economic conditions. Issuers of high yield bonds may be unable to meet their interest or principal payment obligations because of an economic downturn, specific issuer developments or the unavailability of additional financing.

• The issuers of high yield bonds may have a larger amount of outstanding debt relative to their assets than issuers of investment grade bonds. If the issuer experiences financial stress, it may be unable to meet its debt obligations. The issuer's ability to pay its debt obligations also may be lessened by specific issuer developments, or the unavailability of additional financing. Issuers of high yield securities are often in the growth stage of their development and/or involved in a reorganization or takeover.

• High yield bonds are frequently ranked junior to claims by other creditors. If the issuer cannot meet its obligations, the senior obligations are generally paid off before the junior obligations, which will potentially limit a Fund's ability to fully recover principal, to receive interest payments when senior securities are in default or to receive restructuring benefits paid to holders of more senior classes of debt. Thus, investors in high yield securities frequently have a lower degree of protection with respect to principal and interest payments than do investors in higher rated securities.

• High yield bonds frequently have redemption features that permit an issuer to repurchase the security from a Fund before it matures. If an issuer redeems the high yield bonds, a Fund may have to invest the proceeds in bonds with lower yields and may lose income.

• Prices of high yield bonds are subject to extreme fluctuations. Negative economic developments may have a greater impact on the prices of high yield bonds than on those of other higher rated fixed-income securities.

• Under certain economic and/or market conditions, a Fund may have difficulty disposing of certain high yield securities due to the limited number of investors in that sector of the market. There are fewer dealers in the high yield bond market, and there may be significant differences in the prices quoted for high yield bonds by dealers, and such quotations may not be the actual prices available for a purchase or sale. Judgment may play a greater role in the prices and values generated for such securities than in the case of securities trading in a more liquid market.

• The secondary markets for high yield securities are not as liquid as the secondary markets for higher rated securities. The secondary markets for high yield securities are concentrated in relatively few market makers and, participants in the markets are mostly institutional investors, including insurance companies, banks, other financial institutions and mutual funds. In addition, the trading volume for high yield securities is generally lower than that for higher rated securities and the secondary markets could contract under adverse market or economic conditions independent of any specific adverse changes in the condition of a particular issuer. Under certain economic and/or market conditions, a Fund may have difficulty disposing of certain high yield securities due to the limited number of investors in that sector of the market. An illiquid secondary market may adversely affect the market price of the high yield security, which may result in increased difficulty selling the particular issue and obtaining accurate market quotations on the issue when valuing a Fund's assets. Market quotations on high yield securities are available only from a limited number of dealers, and such quotations may not be the actual prices available for a purchase or sale. When the secondary market for high yield securities becomes more illiquid, or in the absence of readily available market quotations for such securities, the relative lack of reliable objective data makes it more difficult to value such securities, and judgment plays a more important role in determining such valuations.

• A Fund may incur expenses to the extent necessary to seek recovery upon default or to negotiate new terms with a defaulting issuer.

• The high yield bond markets may react strongly to adverse news about an issuer or the economy, or to the perception or expectation of adverse news, whether or not it is based on fundamental analysis. Additionally, prices

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for high yield securities may be affected by legislative and regulatory developments. These developments could adversely affect a Fund's NAV and investment practices, the secondary market for high yield securities, the financial condition of issuers of these securities and the value and liquidity of outstanding high yield securities, especially in a thinly traded market. For example, federal legislation requiring the divestiture by federally insured savings and loan associations of their investments in high yield bonds and limiting the deductibility of interest by certain corporate issuers of high yield bonds adversely affected the market in the past.

**Inflation-Protected Obligations. Certain of the Funds may invest in inflation-protected public obligations of the U.S. Treasury, commonly known as "TIPS." TIPS are a type of U.S. government obligation issued by the U.S. Treasury that are designed to provide inflation protection to investors. TIPS are income-generating instruments whose interest and principal payments are adjusted for inflation - a sustained increase in prices that erodes the purchasing power of money. The inflation adjustment, which is typically applied monthly to the principal of the bond, follows a designated inflation index, the consumer price index ("CPI"), and TIPS' principal payments are adjusted according to changes in the CPI. A fixed-coupon rate is applied to the inflation-adjusted principal so that as inflation rises, both the principal value and the interest payments increase. This can provide investors with a hedge against inflation, as it helps preserve the purchasing power of an investment. Because of this inflation adjustment feature, inflation-protected bonds typically have lower yields than conventional fixed-rate bonds.**

**Lease Obligations. Certain of the Funds may hold participation certificates in a lease, an installment purchase contract, or a conditional sales contract ("lease obligations"). BFA will monitor the credit standing of each borrower and each entity providing credit support and/or a put option relating to lease obligations. In determining whether a lease obligation is liquid, BFA will consider, among other factors, the following: (i) whether the lease can be cancelled; (ii) the degree of assurance that assets represented by the lease could be sold; (iii) the strength of the lessee's general credit (*e.g*., its debt, administrative, economic and financial characteristics); (iv) in the case of a municipal lease, the likelihood that the municipality would discontinue appropriating funding for the leased property because the property is no longer deemed essential to the operations of the municipality (*e.g*., the potential for an "event of non-appropriation"); (v) legal recourse in the event of failure to appropriate; (vi) whether the security is backed by a credit enhancement such as insurance; and (vii) any limitations which are imposed on the lease obligor's ability to utilize substitute property or services other than those covered by the lease obligation.**

**Lending Portfolio Securities. Each Fund may lend portfolio securities to certain borrowers that BFA determines to be creditworthy, including borrowers affiliated with BFA. The borrowers provide collateral that is maintained in an amount at least equal to the current market value of the securities loaned. No securities loan shall be made on behalf of the Fund if, as a result, the aggregate value of all securities loans of the Fund exceeds one-third of the value of the Fund's total assets (including the value of the collateral received). A Fund may terminate a loan at any time and obtain the return of the securities loaned. Each Fund receives, by way of substitute payment, the value of any interest or cash or non-cash distributions paid on the loaned securities that it would have otherwise received if the securities were not on loan.**

With respect to loans that are collateralized by cash, the borrower may be entitled to receive a fee based on the amount of cash collateral. The Funds are compensated by any positive difference between the amount earned on the reinvestment of cash collateral and the fee paid to the borrower. In the case of collateral other than cash, a Fund is compensated by a fee paid by the borrower equal to a percentage of the market value of the loaned securities. Any cash collateral received by the Fund for such loans, and uninvested cash, may be reinvested in certain short-term instruments either directly on behalf of the Fund or through one or more joint accounts or money market funds, including those affiliated with BFA; such investments are subject to investment risk.

Each Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to an exemptive order from the SEC permitting it to lend portfolio securities to borrowers affiliated with the Fund and to retain an affiliate of the Fund to act as securities lending agent. To the extent that a Fund engages in securities lending, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") acts as securities lending agent for the Fund, subject to the overall supervision of BFA. BTC administers the lending program in accordance with guidelines approved by the Trust's Board of Trustees (the "Board," the trustees of which are the "Trustees"). JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. ("JPMorgan") serves as custodian for the Funds in connection with certain securities lending activities.

Securities lending involves exposure to certain risks, including operational risk (i.e., the risk of losses resulting from problems in the settlement and accounting process), "gap" risk (i.e., the risk of a mismatch between the return on cash collateral reinvestments and the fees a Fund has agreed to pay a borrower), foreign exchange risk (i.e., the risk of a shortfall at default

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when a cash collateral investment is denominated in a currency other than the currency of the assets being loaned due to movements in foreign exchange rates), and credit, legal, counterparty and market risks (including the risk that market events could lead the Fund to recall loaned securities or to lend less or not at all, which could lead to reduced securities lending revenue). If a securities lending counterparty were to default, a Fund would be subject to the risk of a possible delay in receiving collateral or in recovering the loaned securities, or to a possible loss of rights in the collateral. In the event a borrower does not return a Fund's securities as agreed, the Fund's ability to participate in a corporate action event may be impacted, or the Fund may experience losses if the proceeds received from liquidating the collateral do not at least equal the value of the loaned security at the time the collateral is liquidated, plus the transaction costs incurred in purchasing replacement securities. This latter event could trigger adverse tax consequences for a Fund. A Fund could lose money if its short-term investment of the collateral declines in value over the period of the loan. Substitute payments received by a Fund representing dividends paid on securities loaned out by the Fund will not be considered qualified dividend income. BTC will take into account the tax effects on shareholders caused by this difference in connection with a Fund's securities lending program. Substitute payments received on tax-exempt securities loaned out will not be tax-exempt income. There could also be changes in the status of issuers under applicable laws and regulations, including tax regulations, that may impact the regulatory or tax treatment of loaned securities and could, for example, result in a delay in the payment of dividend equivalent payments owed to a Fund (as permitted by applicable law).

Regulations adopted by global prudential regulators require certain bank-regulated counterparties and certain of their affiliates to include in certain financial contracts, including many securities lending agreements, terms that delay or restrict the rights of counterparties, such as the Fund, to terminate such agreements, foreclose upon collateral, exercise other default rights or restrict transfers of credit support in the event that the counterparty and/or its affiliates are subject to certain types of resolution or insolvency proceedings. It is possible that these requirements, as well as potential additional government regulation and other developments in the market, could adversely affect the Fund's ability to terminate existing securities lending agreements or to realize amounts to be received under such agreements.

**Liquidity Risk Management. Rule 22e-4 under the Investment Company Act (the "Liquidity Rule") requires open-end funds, including ETFs such as the Funds, to establish a liquidity risk management program (the "Liquidity Program") and enhance disclosures regarding fund liquidity. As required by the Liquidity Rule, the Funds have implemented a Liquidity Program, and the Board, including a majority of the Independent Trustees of the Trust, has appointed BFA as the administrator of the Liquidity Program. Under the Liquidity Program, BFA assesses, manages, and periodically reviews each Fund's liquidity risk and classifies each investment held by a Fund as a "highly liquid investment," "moderately liquid investment," "less liquid investment" or "illiquid investment." The Liquidity Rule defines "liquidity risk" as the risk that a Fund could not meet requests to redeem shares issued by a Fund without significant dilution of the remaining investors' interest in a Fund. The liquidity of a Fund's portfolio investments is determined based on relevant market, trading and investment-specific considerations under the Liquidity Program. There are exclusions from certain portions of the liquidity risk management program requirements for "in-kind" ETFs, as defined in the Liquidity Rule. To the extent that an investment is deemed to be an illiquid investment or a less liquid investment, a Fund can expect to be exposed to greater liquidity risk.**

**Mezzanine Investments. Certain of the Funds may invest in certain securities known as mezzanine investments, which are subordinated debt securities which are generally issued in private placements in connection with an equity security (*e.g.*, with attached warrants). Such mezzanine investments may be issued with or without registration rights. Maturities of mezzanine investments are typically seven to ten years, but the expected average life is significantly shorter at three to five years. Mezzanine investments are usually unsecured and subordinate to other obligations of the issuer.**

**Mortgage-Backed Pass-Through Securities. Certain of the Funds may invest in mortgage backed pass-through securities issued by Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae"), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac"), or the Government National Mortgage Association ("Ginnie Mae"). In the basic mortgage-backed pass-through structure, mortgages with similar issuer, term and coupon characteristics are collected and aggregated into a "pool" consisting of multiple mortgage loans. The pool is assigned a CUSIP number and undivided interests in the pool are traded and sold as pass-through securities. The holder of the security is entitled to a *pro rata* share of principal and interest payments (including unscheduled prepayments) from the pool of mortgage loans.**

An investment in a specific pool of pass-through securities requires an analysis of the specific prepayment risk of mortgages within the covered pool (since mortgagors typically have the option to prepay their loans). The level of prepayments on a pool of mortgage-backed securities ("MBS") is difficult to predict and can impact the subsequent cash flows, value and yield

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of the mortgage pool. In addition, when trading specific mortgage pools, precise execution, delivery and settlement arrangements must be negotiated for each transaction. These factors combine to make trading in mortgage pools somewhat cumbersome.

For these and other reasons, the BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF and BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF seek to obtain exposure to the fixed-rate portion of the U.S. agency MBS, which represent a significant portion of the Fund's portfolio, primarily through the use of TBA transactions. "TBA" refers to a commonly used mechanism for the forward settlement of U.S. agency MBS, and not to a separate type of MBS. Most transactions in fixed-rate MBS occur through the use of TBA transactions. TBA transactions generally are conducted in accordance with widely-accepted guidelines which establish commonly observed terms and conditions for execution, settlement and delivery. In a TBA transaction, the buyer and seller decide on general trade parameters, such as agency, settlement date, par amount, and price. The actual pools delivered generally are determined two days prior to settlement date. Each Fund intends to use TBA transactions in several ways. For example, each Fund expects that it will regularly enter into TBA agreements and "roll over" such agreements prior to the settlement date stipulated in such agreements. This type of TBA transaction is sometimes known as a "TBA roll." In a TBA roll, each Fund generally will sell the obligation to purchase the pools stipulated in the TBA agreement prior to the stipulated settlement date and will enter into a new TBA agreement for future delivery of pools of MBS. In addition, each Fund may enter into TBA agreements and settle such transactions on the stipulated settlement date by accepting actual receipt or delivery of the pools of MBS stipulated in the TBA agreement. Neither Fund is required to use TBA transactions to gain exposure to mortgage pools, and each Fund may choose to purchase those interests in any manner believed by BFA to be in the best interest of the Fund. Each Fund's use of TBA rolls may cause the Fund to experience higher portfolio turnover, higher transaction costs, and to pay higher capital gain distributions to shareholders (which may be taxable) than other iShares funds that do not use TBA rolls.

The BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF and BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF intend to invest cash pending settlement of any TBA transactions in money market instruments, repurchase agreements or other high-quality, liquid short-term instruments, including money market funds advised by BFA. Each Fund will assume its *pro rata* share of fees and expenses of any money market fund that it may invest in, in addition to the Fund's own fees and expenses.

**Municipal Insurance. A municipal security may be covered by insurance that guarantees the bond's scheduled payment of interest and repayment of principal. This type of insurance may be obtained by either (i) the issuer at the time the bond is issued (primary market insurance), or (ii) another party after the bond has been issued (secondary market insurance).**

Both primary and secondary market insurance guarantee timely and scheduled repayment of all principal and payment of all interest on a municipal security in the event of default by the issuer, and cover a municipal security to its maturity, enhancing its credit quality and value.

Municipal security insurance does not insure against market fluctuations or fluctuations in each of the Fund's share price. In addition, a municipal security insurance policy will not cover: (i) repayment of a municipal security before maturity (redemption), (ii) nonpayment of principal or interest caused by negligence or bankruptcy of the paying agent, or (iii) prepayment or payment of an acceleration premium (except for a mandatory sinking fund redemption) or any other provision of a bond indenture that advances the maturity of the bond. A mandatory sinking fund redemption may be a provision of a municipal security issue whereby part of the municipal security issue may be retired before maturity.

Because a significant portion of the municipal securities issued and outstanding are insured by a small number of insurance companies, an event involving one or more of these insurance companies could have a significant adverse effect on the value of the securities insured by that insurance company and on the municipal markets as a whole.

Certain significant providers of insurance for municipal securities have recently incurred significant losses as a result of exposure to sub-prime mortgages and other lower credit quality investments that have experienced recent defaults or otherwise suffered extreme credit deterioration. As a result, such losses have reduced the insurers' capital and called into question their continued ability to perform their obligations under such insurance if they are called upon to do so in the future. While an insured municipal security will typically be deemed to have the rating of its insurer, if the insurer of a municipal security suffers a downgrade in its credit rating or if the market discounts the value of the insurance provided by the insurer, the value of the municipal security would be more, if not entirely, dependent on the rating of the municipal security independent of insurance.

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**Municipal Securities. The Funds invest in securities issued in the U.S. market by U.S. states and territories, municipalities and other political subdivisions, agencies, authorities and instrumentalities of states and multi-state agencies or authorities ("municipal securities"), the interest payments of which are not subject to U.S. federal income tax. The municipal securities which such Funds may purchase include general obligation bonds and limited obligation bonds (or "Revenue Bonds"), including industrial development bonds issued pursuant to former U.S. federal tax law.**

General obligation bonds are obligations involving the credit of an issuer possessing taxing power and are payable from such issuer's general revenues and not from any particular source. Revenue Bonds are payable only from the revenues derived from a particular facility or class of facilities or, in some cases, from the proceeds of a special excise or other specific revenue source. Revenue Bonds that are issued to finance a particular project often depend on revenues from that project to make principal and interest payments. Adverse conditions and developments affecting a particular project can result in lower revenues to the issuer of the municipal securities. Additionally, the market values of Revenue Bonds may decline in times of higher inflation to the extent that revenues are fixed income streams. In other instances, the prices that certain Revenue Bond issuers are able to charge users of their assets may be linked to inflation, whether by government regulation, contractual arrangement or other factors. In this case, changes in the rate of inflation may affect the issuer's revenues. Additionally, rising interest rates could result in higher costs of capital for issuers of both general obligation bonds and Revenue Bonds, which could negatively impact their ability to meet payment obligations.

The market for municipal bonds may be less liquid than for taxable bonds. This means that it may be harder to buy and sell municipal securities, especially on short notice, than non-municipal securities. In addition, the municipal securities market is generally characterized as a buy and hold investment strategy. As a result, the accessibility of municipal securities in the market is generally greater closer to the original date of issue of the securities and lessens as the securities move further away from such issuance date.

Some longer-term municipal securities give the investor the right to "put" or sell the security at par (face value) within a specified number of days following the investor's request - usually one to seven days. This demand feature enhances a security's liquidity by shortening its effective maturity and enables it to trade at a price equal to or very close to par. If a demand feature terminates prior to being exercised, a Fund would hold the longer-term security, which could experience substantially more volatility.

Municipal securities are subject to credit and market risk. Generally, prices of higher quality issues tend to fluctuate more with changes in market interest rates than prices of lower quality issues and prices of longer maturity issues tend to fluctuate more than prices of shorter maturity issues.

Prices and yields on municipal securities are dependent on a variety of factors, including general money-market conditions, the financial condition of the issuer, general conditions of the municipal security market, the size of a particular offering, the maturity of the obligation and the rating of the issue. A number of these factors, including the ratings of particular issues, are subject to change from time to time. Information about the financial condition of an issuer of municipal securities may not be as extensive as that which is made available by corporations whose securities are publicly-traded. As a result, municipal securities may be more difficult to value than securities of public corporations.

Obligations of issuers of municipal securities are subject to insolvency concerns and, unlike obligations of corporate issuers, may not be subject to resolution in the event of insolvency or default through a bankruptcy proceeding. The U.S. Congress or state legislatures may seek to extend the time for payment of principal or interest, or both, or to impose other constraints upon enforcement of such obligations. In addition, municipal securities are subject to the risk that their tax treatment could be changed, thereby affecting the value of outstanding municipal securities. There is also the possibility that as a result of litigation or other conditions, such as passing of a referendum, the power or ability of issuers to meet their obligations for the payment of interest and principal on their municipal securities may be materially affected or their obligations may be found to be invalid or unenforceable. Such litigation or conditions may from time to time have the effect of introducing uncertainties in the market for municipal securities or certain segments thereof, or of materially affecting the credit risk with respect to particular bonds. Adverse economic, business, legal or political developments might affect all or a substantial portion of a Fund's municipal securities in the same manner.

Additionally, certain municipal securities are issued by entities dependent on revenue from a particular sector and thus are subject to the specific risks associated with that sector. These sectors are described in more detail below.

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*Risk of Investing in Health Care-Related Municipal Securities. Changes to state or federal policy tied to health care services could adversely affect the value of municipal securities backed by revenue from public hospitals and other health care facilities. Regulatory changes that govern cost reimbursements to health care providers under government-funded programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, including policies that award exclusive contracts to certain hospitals, may adversely affect the revenue streams backing certain municipal securities. Additionally, the expansion of healthcare facilities by some issuers may be subject to "determinations of need" by various regulators or other authorities. This process not only generally increases the time and expenses such expansions entail, but also makes expansion plans uncertain, thus potentially limiting the revenue and growth of healthcare facility operators. Moreover, local, state and federal governmental bodies are under increasing pressure to reduce medical spending and control healthcare costs, which could both adversely affect regulatory processes and public funding available for healthcare services and facilities. The value of healthcare-related municipal securities could also be affected by a variety of other factors that impact the underlying healthcare facilities including demand for services, the ability of the health care facility to provide the services required, competition with other facilities, and expenses (such as malpractice insurance premiums).*

*Risk of Investing in Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. Entities that issue municipal securities related to infrastructure ("infrastructure issuers") may be subject to a variety of factors that could adversely affect their capacity to make principal and interest payments, such as high interest costs in connection with capital construction programs, high degrees of leverage, costs associated with governmental, environmental and other regulations, the effects of economic slowdowns, increased competition from other providers of services, uncertainties concerning costs, the level of government spending on infrastructure projects, and other factors. Such issuers may be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, changes in exchange rates, import controls, depletion of resources, technological developments, and labor relations. Infrastructure issuers can be significantly affected by government spending policies.*

*Leverage Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be highly indebted, which increases investment risk and other risks normally associated with debt financing, which could adversely affect such an issuer's operations and the market value of related municipal securities in periods of rising interest rates.*

*Operations Risk. The failure of an infrastructure issuer to carry adequate insurance or to operate its assets appropriately could lead to significant losses. Infrastructure may be adversely affected by environmental clean-up costs and catastrophic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes and terrorist acts.*

*Regulatory Risk. Infrastructure projects may be subject to significant regulation by various governmental authorities and also may be affected by regulation of rates charged to customers, service interruption due to environmental, operational or other events, the imposition of special tariffs and changes in tax laws, regulatory policies and accounting standards.*

*Strategic Asset Risk. Infrastructure issuers may control significant strategic assets (e.g., major pipelines or highways), which are assets that have a national or regional profile, and may have monopolistic characteristics. Given their national or regional profile or irreplaceable nature, strategic assets could generate additional risk not common in other industry sectors and they may be targeted for terrorist acts or adverse political actions.*

*User Risk. Infrastructure issuers can be dependent upon a narrow user base. If these users do not patronize infrastructure projects as expected, significant revenues could be lost and may not be replaceable, in which case infrastructure issuers may fail to pay their obligations.*

*Risk of Investing in Municipal Securities Issued By School Districts. School districts rely, in part, on funding appropriations from, among others, the federal government and state governments. As a result, municipal securities issued by school districts may be adversely affected by political and economic changes at the state or federal levels, such as decreased tax or other revenues, spending reductions or changes in appropriations. Investors in these securities, similar to investors in municipal securities generally, face heightened risk of loss upon insolvency of the school district issuers because there is often no ready source of funding to pay the bonds other than the local tax base, which a bankruptcy court or administrator does not control.*

*Risk of Investing in Transportation Infrastructure-Related Municipal Securities. The transportation infrastructure industry may be adversely affected by economic changes, increases in fuel and other operating costs, labor relations, insurance costs, and, in many jurisdictions, the effects of regulatory changes or other government decisions. Municipal securities that are issued to finance a particular transportation project (e.g., toll roads) often depend on revenues from that project to make principal and interest payments.*

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*Risk of Investing in Utility-Related Municipal Securities. Certain municipal securities are issued by public bodies, including state and municipal utility authorities, to, among other things, finance the operation or expansion of utility entities. Various future economic and other conditions may adversely affect utility entities, including inflation, increases in financing requirements, increases in raw material costs and other operating costs, changes in demand for services and the effects of environmental and other governmental regulations. Certain utilities are subject to specific risks. For example, gas utilities are subject to risks of supply conditions and increased competition from other providers of utility services. In addition, gas utilities are affected by gas prices, which may be magnified to the extent that a gas utility enters into long-term contracts for the purchase or sale of gas at a fixed price, since such prices may change significantly and to the disadvantage of the gas utility.*

The types of municipal securities in which the Funds may invest include, but are not limited, to the following:

*Industrial Development Bonds*

Industrial development bonds generally are also Revenue Bonds and thus are not payable from the issuer's general revenues. The credit and quality of industrial development bonds are usually related to the credit of the corporate user of the facilities. Payment of interest on and repayment of principal of such bonds is the responsibility of the corporate user (and/or any guarantor).

*Private Activity Bonds*

The Funds may invest in private activity bonds, which are bonds issued by or on behalf of public authorities to obtain funds to provide privately operated housing facilities, airport, mass transit or port facilities, sewage disposal, solid waste disposal or hazardous waste treatment or disposal facilities and certain local facilities for water supply, gas or electricity. Other types of private activity bonds, the proceeds of which are used for the construction, equipment, repair or improvement of privately operated industrial or commercial facilities, may constitute municipal securities, although the current U.S. federal tax laws place substantial limitations on the size of such issues.

*Municipal Notes*

Municipal notes (also known as municipal commercial paper) are shorter-term municipal debt obligations. They may provide interim financing in anticipation of tax collection, receipt of grants, bond sales or revenue receipts. If there is a shortfall in the anticipated proceeds, repayment on a municipal note may be delayed or the note may not be fully repaid, and the Funds may lose money.

Municipal commercial paper is generally unsecured and issued to meet short-term financing needs. The lack of security presents some risk of loss to the Funds since, in the event of an issuer's bankruptcy, unsecured creditors are repaid only out of the assets, if any, that remain after secured creditors are repaid.

**New or Unseasoned Municipal Issuers. A Fund may invest in municipal securities issued by entities that have not previously issued securities or that do not have an extensive history of issuing securities. Information regarding these issuers may be more limited than for other issuers. Securities of these issuers may be subject to volatility in their prices and may have a limited trading market, which could adversely affect a Fund's ability to dispose of them and could reduce the price a Fund might be able to obtain for them.**

**Non-U.S. Securities. Certain obligations or securities of non-U.S. issuers may be deemed to be located in a particular country if: (i) the principal trading market for the security is in such country, (ii) the issuer is organized under the laws of such country, (iii) the issuer derives at least 50% of its revenues or profits from such country or has at least 50% of its assets situated in such country or, (iv) the issuer is the government of the particular country.**

**Privately Issued Securities. Certain of the Funds may invest in privately issued securities, including those that may be resold only in accordance with Rule 144A or Regulation S under the 1933 Act ("Restricted Securities"). Restricted Securities are not publicly-traded and are subject to a variety of restrictions, which limit a purchaser's ability to acquire or resell such securities. Accordingly, the liquidity of the market for specific Restricted Securities may vary. Delay or difficulty in selling such securities may result in a loss to a Fund.**

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**Ratings. An investment-grade rating generally means the security or issuer is rated investment-grade by one or more of Moody's, S&P Global Ratings, Fitch, or another credit rating agency designated as a NRSRO by the SEC, or is unrated but considered to be of equivalent quality by BFA. Generally, bonds rated Baa3 or above by Moody's or BBB- or above by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch are considered "investment-grade" securities, bonds rated Baa are considered medium grade obligations subject to moderate credit risk and may possess certain speculative characteristics, while bonds rated BBB are regarded as having adequate capacity to meet financial commitments. In recent years, the U.S. and certain other countries experienced a credit rating downgrade; these downgrades or additional downgrades in the future may result in the deterioration of investor confidence.**

Subsequent to purchase by a Fund, a rated security may cease to be rated or its rating may be reduced below an investment-grade rating. Bonds rated below Baa3 by Moody's or below BBB- by S&P Global Ratings or Fitch are generally considered below investment-grade quality and are obligations of issuers that are generally considered predominantly speculative with respect to the issuer's capacity to pay interest and repay principal according to the terms of the obligation and, therefore, carry greater investment risk, including the possibility of issuer default and bankruptcy and increased market price volatility. Such lower-rated securities are commonly referred to as "junk bonds" and are subject to a substantial degree of credit risk. Please see Appendix B of this SAI for a description of each rating category of Moody's, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch and BFA's treatment of investments that are not rated by any of the rating agencies.

**Regulation Regarding Derivatives. The CFTC subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if a fund that is advised by the adviser either (i) invests, directly or indirectly, more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in CFTC-regulated futures, options and swaps ("CFTC Derivatives") or (ii) markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. The CFTC also subjects advisers to registered investment companies to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests in one or more commodity pools. To the extent a Fund uses CFTC Derivatives, it intends to do so below such prescribed levels and intends not to market itself as a "commodity pool" or a vehicle for trading such instruments.**

BFA has claimed an exclusion from the definition of the term "commodity pool operator" under the CEA pursuant to Rule 4.5 under the CEA with respect to the Funds. BFA is not, therefore, subject to registration or regulation as a "commodity pool operator" under the CEA with respect to the Funds.

The BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF and BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF (the "No-Action Letter Funds") may also have investments in "underlying funds" (and such underlying funds themselves may invest in underlying funds) not advised by BFA (the term "underlying fund" for purposes of the no-action letter referenced below may include, but is not limited to, certain securitized vehicles, mortgage or international real estate investment trusts ("REITs"), business development companies and, investment companies that may invest in CFTC Derivatives or in any of the foregoing), and therefore may be viewed by the CFTC as commodity pools. BFA may not have transparency into the holdings of these underlying funds because they are not advised by BFA. To address this issue of lack of transparency, the CFTC staff issued a no-action letter on November 29, 2012 permitting the adviser of a fund that invests in such underlying funds and that would otherwise have filed a claim of exclusion pursuant to CFTC Rule 4.5 to delay registration as a "commodity pool operator" until six months from the date on which the CFTC issues additional guidance on the treatment of CFTC Derivatives held by underlying funds. BFA, the adviser of the No-Action Letter Funds, has filed a claim with the CFTC for the Funds to rely on this no-action relief. Accordingly, BFA is not currently subject to registration or regulation as a "commodity pool operator" under the CEA in respect of the Funds.

Derivative contracts, including, without limitation, swaps, currency forwards, and non-deliverable forwards, are subject to regulation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("Dodd-Frank Act") in the U.S. and under comparable regimes in Europe, Asia and other non-U.S. jurisdictions. Swaps, non-deliverable forwards and certain other derivatives traded in the OTC market are subject to variation margin and initial margin requirements. Implementation of the margining and other provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding clearing, mandatory trading, reporting and documentation of swaps and other derivatives have impacted and may continue to impact the costs to a Fund of trading these instruments and, as a result, may affect returns to investors in a Fund.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits a Fund to enter into Derivatives Transactions (as defined below) and certain other transactions notwithstanding the restrictions on the issuance of "senior securities" under Section 18 of the Investment Company Act. Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, among other things, prohibits open-end funds,

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including the Funds, from issuing or selling any "senior security," other than borrowing from a bank (subject to a requirement to maintain 300% "asset coverage").

Under Rule 18f-4, "Derivatives Transactions" include the following: (1) any swap, security-based swap (including a contract for differences), futures contract, forward contract, option (excluding purchased options), any combination of the foregoing, or any similar instrument, under which a Fund is or may be required to make any payment or delivery of cash or other assets during the life of the instrument or at maturity or early termination, whether as margin or settlement payment or otherwise; (2) any short sale borrowing; (3) reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.*, recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, and borrowed bonds), if a Fund elects to treat these transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4; and (4) when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g.*, firm and standby commitments, including TBA commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities, unless the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision").

Unless a Fund is relying on the Limited Derivatives User Exception (as defined below), the Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to its Derivatives Transactions. Rule 18f-4, among other things, requires a Fund to adopt and implement a comprehensive written derivatives risk management program ("DRMP") and comply with a relative or absolute limit on Fund leverage risk calculated based on value-at-risk ("VaR"). The DRMP is administered by a "derivatives risk manager," who is appointed by the Board, including a majority of Independent Directors/Trustees, and periodically reviews the DRMP and reports to the Board.

Rule 18f-4 provides an exception from the DRMP, VaR limit and certain other requirements if a Fund's "derivatives exposure" (as defined in Rule 18f-4) is limited to 10% of its net assets (as calculated in accordance with Rule 18f-4) and the Fund adopts and implements written policies and procedures reasonably designed to manage its derivatives risks (the "Limited Derivatives User Exception").

**Repurchase Agreements. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, a Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed-upon time and price, thereby determining the yield during the purchaser's holding period. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by a Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price, and, in the event of a default by the seller, the Fund may suffer time delays and incur costs or losses in connection with the disposition of the collateral.**

In any repurchase transaction, the collateral for a repurchase agreement may include: (i) cash items; (ii) obligations issued by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities; or (iii) obligations that, at the time the repurchase agreement is entered into, are determined to (A) have exceptionally strong capacity to meet their financial obligations and (B) are sufficiently liquid such that they can be sold at approximately their carrying value in the ordinary course of business within seven days.

Repurchase agreements pose certain risks for a Fund, should it decide to utilize them. Such risks are not unique to the Funds, but are inherent in repurchase agreements. Each Fund seeks to minimize such risks, but because of the inherent legal uncertainties involved in repurchase agreements, such risks cannot be eliminated. Lower quality collateral and collateral with a longer maturity may be subject to greater price fluctuations than higher quality collateral and collateral with a shorter maturity. If the repurchase agreement counterparty were to default, lower quality collateral may be more difficult to liquidate than higher quality collateral. Should the counterparty default and the amount of collateral not be sufficient to cover the counterparty's repurchase obligation, a Fund would likely retain the status of an unsecured creditor of the counterparty (*i.e.*, the position a Fund would normally be in if it were to hold, pursuant to its investment policies, other unsecured debt securities of the defaulting counterparty) with respect to the amount of the shortfall. As an unsecured creditor, a Fund would be at risk of losing some or all of the principal and income involved in the transaction.

**Reverse Repurchase Agreements. Reverse repurchase agreements involve the sale of securities with an agreement to repurchase the securities at an agreed-upon price, date and interest payment and have the characteristics of borrowing. Generally, the effect of such transactions is that a Fund can recover all or most of the cash invested in the portfolio securities involved during the term of the reverse repurchase agreement, while in many cases the Fund is able to keep some of the interest income associated with those securities. Such transactions are advantageous only if a Fund has an opportunity to earn a rate of interest on the cash derived from these transactions that is greater than the interest cost of obtaining the same amount of cash. Opportunities to realize earnings from the use of the proceeds equal to or greater than the interest required**

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to be paid may not always be available, and a Fund intends to use the reverse repurchase technique only when BFA believes it will be advantageous to the Fund. The use of reverse repurchase agreements may exaggerate any increase or decrease in the value of a Fund's assets. The use of reverse repurchase agreements is a form of leverage, and the proceeds obtained by a Fund through reverse repurchase agreements may be invested in additional securities.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits a Fund to enter into reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions (*e.g.,* recourse and non-recourse tender option bonds, borrowed bonds) notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that a Fund either (i) complies with the 300% asset coverage ratio with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treats such transactions as Derivatives Transactions under Rule 18f-4. (See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.)

**Securities of Investment Companies. Each Fund may invest in the securities of other investment companies (including money market funds) to the extent permitted by law, regulation, exemptive order or SEC staff guidance. Under the 1940 Act, a fund's investment in investment companies is limited to, subject to certain exceptions, (i) 3% of the total outstanding voting stock of any one investment company, (ii) 5% of the fund's total assets with respect to any one investment company, and (iii) 10% of the fund's total assets with respect to investment companies in the aggregate. To the extent allowed by law or regulation, the Funds intend from time to time to invest their assets in securities of investment companies, including, but not limited to, money market funds, including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA, in excess of the limits discussed above. Other investment companies in which a Fund invests can be expected to incur fees and expenses for operations, such as investment advisory and administration fees, which would be in addition to those incurred by a Fund. Pursuant to guidance issued by the SEC staff, fees and expenses of money market funds used for cash collateral received in connection with loans of securities are not treated as Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, which reflect a Fund's *pro rata* share of the fees and expenses incurred by investing in other investment companies (as disclosed in the Prospectus, as applicable).**

**Short-Term Instruments and Temporary Investments. Each Fund may invest in short-term instruments, including money market instruments, on an ongoing basis to provide liquidity or for other reasons. Money market instruments are generally short-term investments that may include, but are not limited to: (i) shares of money market funds (including those advised by BFA or otherwise affiliated with BFA); (ii) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities (including government-sponsored enterprises); (iii) negotiable certificates of deposit, bankers' acceptances, fixed-time deposits and other obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. banks (including non-U.S. branches) and similar institutions; (iv) commercial paper, including asset-backed commercial paper; (v) non-convertible corporate debt securities (*e.g.*, bonds and debentures) with remaining maturities at the date of purchase of not more than 397 days and that have been determined to present minimal credit risks, in accordance with the requirements set forth in Rule 2a-7 under the 1940 Act; (vi) repurchase agreements; and (vii) short-term U.S. dollar-denominated obligations of non-U.S. banks (including U.S. branches) that, in the opinion of BFA, are of comparable quality to obligations of U.S. banks that may be purchased by a Fund. Any of these instruments may be purchased on a current or forward-settled basis. Time deposits are non-negotiable deposits maintained in banking institutions for specified periods of time at stated interest rates. Bankers' acceptances are time drafts drawn on commercial banks by borrowers, usually in connection with international transactions.**

**Short Sales. Certain of the Funds may make short sales of securities, either as a hedge against potential declines in value of a portfolio security or to realize appreciation when a security that a Fund does not own declines in value. When a Fund makes a short sale, it borrows the security sold short and delivers it to the broker-dealer through which it made the short sale. A Fund may have to pay a fee to borrow particular securities and is often obligated to turn over any payments received on such borrowed securities to the lender of the securities.**

A Fund secures its obligation to replace the borrowed security by depositing collateral with the broker-dealer, usually in cash, U.S. government securities or other liquid securities similar to those borrowed. With respect to uncovered short positions, a Fund is required to deposit similar collateral with its custodian, if necessary, to the extent that the value of both collateral deposits in the aggregate is at all times equal to at least 100% of the current market value of the security sold short. Depending on arrangements made with the broker-dealer from which a Fund borrowed the security, regarding payment received by a Fund on such security, a Fund may not receive any payments (including interest) on its collateral deposited with such broker-dealer.

A Fund must comply with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act with respect to its short sale borrowings, which are considered Derivatives Transactions under the Rule. See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.

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**Sovereign and Quasi-Sovereign Obligations. Certain of the Funds may invest in sovereign and quasi-sovereign obligations. An investment in sovereign debt obligations involves special risks not present in corporate debt obligations. Sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by a foreign sovereign government. Quasi-sovereign debt includes securities issued or guaranteed by an entity affiliated with or backed by a sovereign government. The issuer of the sovereign debt that controls the repayment of the debt may be unable or unwilling to repay principal or interest when due, and a Fund may have limited recourse in the event of a default. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of a non-U.S. government may cause the value of a sovereign debt to decline. During periods of economic uncertainty, the market prices of sovereign debt obligations may be more volatile than prices of U.S. debt obligations, which may affect a Fund's NAV. In the past, certain emerging market countries have encountered difficulties in servicing their debt obligations, withheld payments of principal and interest and declared moratoria on the payment of principal and interest on their sovereign debts. Several sovereign issuers have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about rising government debt levels, including Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.**

A sovereign debtor's willingness or ability to repay principal and pay interest in a timely manner may be affected by, among other factors, its cash flow situation, the extent of its non-U.S. currency reserves, the availability of sufficient foreign exchange, the relative size of the debt service burden, the sovereign debtor's policy toward principal international lenders and local political constraints. Sovereign debtors may also be dependent on expected disbursements from foreign governments, multilateral agencies and other entities to reduce principal and interest arrears on their debt. The failure of a sovereign debtor to implement economic reforms, achieve specified levels of economic performance or repay principal or interest when due may result in the cancellation of third-party commitments to lend funds to the sovereign debtor, which may further impair such debtor's ability or willingness to service its debts.

**Stripped Securities. Stripped securities are created when the issuer separates the interest and principal components of an instrument and sells them as separate securities. In general, one security is entitled to receive the interest payments on the underlying assets (the interest only, or "IO" security) and the other to receive the principal payments (the principal only, or "PO" security). Some stripped securities may receive a combination of interest and principal payments. The yields to maturity on IOs and POs are sensitive to the expected or anticipated rate of principal payments (including prepayments) on the related underlying assets, and principal payments may have a material effect on yield to maturity. If the underlying assets experience greater than anticipated prepayments of principal, the Fund may not fully recoup its initial investment in IOs. Conversely, if the underlying assets experience less than anticipated prepayments of principal, the yield on POs could be adversely affected. Stripped securities may be highly sensitive to changes in interest rates and rates of prepayment.**

**Structured Securities. Structured products are privately negotiated debt obligations where the principal and/or interest is determined by reference to the performance of an underlying investment, index or reference obligation. Structured products may be issued by corporations, including banks, as well as by governmental agencies. The terms of structured products normally provide that their principal and/or interest payments are to be adjusted upwards or downwards (but ordinarily not below zero) to reflect changes in the index while the instruments are outstanding. As a result, the interest and/or principal payments that may be made on a structured product may vary widely, depending on a variety of factors, including the volatility of the index and the effect of changes in the index on principal and/or interest payments. The rate of return on structured products may be determined by applying a multiplier to the performance or differential performance of the referenced index or other assets. Application of a multiplier involves leverage that will serve to magnify the potential for gain and the risk of loss.**

Holders of structured products bear risks of the underlying investments, index or reference obligation and are subject to counterparty risk. The Funds may have the right to receive payments only from the structured product, and generally does not have direct rights against the issuer or the entity that sold the assets to be securitized. Certain structured products may be thinly traded or have a limited trading market. In addition to the general risks associated with debt securities, structured products carry additional risks, including, but not limited to: the possibility that distributions from collateral securities will not be adequate to make interest or other payments; the quality of the collateral may decline in value or default; and the possibility that the structured products are subordinate to other instruments. Structured notes are based upon the movement of one or more factors, including currency exchange rates, interest rates, referenced bonds and stock indexes, and changes in interest rates and impact of these factors may cause significant price fluctuations. Additionally, changes in the reference instrument or security may cause the interest rate on the structured note to be reduced to zero.

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**Swap Agreements. Swap agreements are contracts between parties in which one party agrees to make periodic payments to the other party based on a pre-determined underlying investment or notional amount. In return, the other party agrees to make periodic payments to the first party based on the return (or a differential in rate of return) earned or realized on the underlying investment or notional amount. Swap agreements will usually be performed on a net basis, with a Fund receiving or paying only the net amount of the two payments. The net amount of the excess, if any, of a Fund's obligations over its entitlements with respect to each swap is accrued on a daily basis.**

Certain of the Funds may enter into swap agreements, including currency swaps, interest rate swaps and index swaps. The use of swaps is a highly specialized activity that involves investment techniques and risks different from those associated with ordinary portfolio security transactions. These transactions generally do not involve the delivery of securities or other underlying assets.

**U.S. Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities Risk. Certain of the Funds invest in securities backed by pools of mortgages issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, including Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The market for MBS has been adversely affected by the value of those MBS held and/or issued by these agencies and sponsored entities. If a U.S. government agency or sponsored entity issues securities in which certain of the Funds invests and such issuer is unable to meet its obligations or ceases to exist, and no plan is made for the repayment of securities, the performance of certain of the Funds will be adversely impacted.**

*Ginnie Mae. Established in 1968, Ginnie Mae is a wholly owned U.S. government corporation within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Ginnie Mae is authorized to guarantee, with the backing of the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, the timely payment of principal and interest on securities issued by the institutions approved by Ginnie Mae (such as savings and loan institutions, commercial banks and mortgage banks), and backed by pools of mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration or guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Ginnie Mae securities also are supported by the authority of Ginnie Mae to borrow funds from the U.S. Treasury Department to make payments under its guarantee. Any actual or potential disruption to Ginnie Mae, or the financial condition or credit of the U.S. government, could cause the value of Ginnie Mae securities to decline. In 2011, S&P Global Ratings downgraded U.S. Treasury securities from AAA rating to AA+ rating. A further downgrade of the ratings of U.S. government debt obligations, which are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, could result in higher interest rates for individual and corporate borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial negative effect on the U.S. economy. A downgrade of U.S. Treasury securities from another ratings agency or a further downgrade below AA+ rating by S&P Global Ratings may cause the value of Ginnie Mae securities to decline.*

*Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae was established as a federal agency in 1938 and in 1968 was chartered by Congress as a private shareholder-owned company. Securities issued by Fannie Mae are guaranteed as to timely payment of principal and interest by Fannie Mae. The securities are not backed by or entitled to the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, but are supported by the right of Fannie Mae to borrow from the U.S. Treasury Department.*

Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation chartered by Congress in 1970. Securities issued by Freddie Mac entitle the holder to timely payment of interests, which is guaranteed by Freddie Mac. Freddie Mac also guarantees either ultimate collection or timely payment of all principal payments. While Freddie Mac generally does not guarantee timely payment of principal, Freddie Mac may remit the amount due on account of its guarantee of ultimate payment of principal at any time after default on an underlying mortgage, but in no event later than one year after it becomes payable. The securities are not backed by or entitled to the full faith and credit of the U.S. government or by any Federal Home Loan Banks, but are supported by the right of Freddie Mac to borrow from the U.S. Treasury Department.

In 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency placed each of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into government conservatorship in an effort to provide stability in the financial markets and put the government-sponsored entities in sound and solvent condition. In addition, the U.S. Treasury Department agreed to provide Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up to $100 billion of capital each on an as needed basis to ensure that they continue to provide liquidity to the housing and mortgage markets.

*Mortgage-Backed Securities. MBS issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government or one of its agencies or sponsored entities, such as Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac, represent interests in pools of mortgages in which payments of both principal and interest on the securities are generally made monthly, in effect "passing through" the payments made by borrowers on the mortgage loans that underlie the securities (net of any fees paid to the issuer or guarantor of the securities). MBS differ from other forms of debt securities, which normally provide for periodic payment of interest in fixed amounts with principal payments at maturity or specified call dates, while a MBS payments provide a combination of interest*

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and principal throughout the a bond's term. As further described below, MBS may be structured as pass-through securities or collateralized mortgage obligations ("CMOs").

MBS are subject to the general risks associated with investing in real estate securities; that is, they may lose value if the value of the underlying real estate to which a pool of mortgages relates declines. In addition, investments in MBS involve certain specific risks. These risks include the failure of a party to meet its commitments under the related operative documents, adverse interest rate changes and the effects of prepayments on mortgage cash flows. The value of MBS, like that of traditional fixed-income securities, typically increases when interest rates fall and decreases when interest rates rise. However, MBS differ from traditional fixed-income securities because of their potential for prepayment without penalty. The price paid by a Fund for its MBS, the yield a Fund expects to receive from such securities and the weighted average life of the securities are based on a number of factors, including the anticipated rate of prepayment of the underlying mortgages. In a period of declining interest rates, borrowers may prepay the underlying mortgages more quickly than anticipated, thereby reducing the yield to maturity and the average life of the MBS. Moreover, when a Fund reinvests the proceeds of a prepayment in these circumstances, it will likely receive a rate of interest that is lower than the rate on the security that was prepaid.

To the extent that a Fund purchases MBS at a premium, mortgage foreclosures and principal prepayments may result in a loss to the extent of the premium paid. If a Fund buys such securities at a discount, both scheduled payments of principal and unscheduled prepayments will increase current and total returns and will accelerate the recognition of income, which, when distributed to shareholders, will be taxable as ordinary income. In a period of rising interest rates, prepayments of the underlying mortgages may occur at a slower than expected rate, creating maturity extension risk. This particular risk may effectively change a security that was considered short- or intermediate-term at the time of purchase into a long-term security. Since the value of long-term securities generally fluctuates more widely in response to changes in interest rates than that of shorter-term securities, maturity extension risk could increase the inherent volatility of a Fund. Under certain interest rate and prepayment scenarios, a Fund may fail to recoup fully its investment in MBS notwithstanding any direct or indirect U.S. governmental or agency guarantee.

*Mortgage Pass-Through Securities. Some MBS, such as U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities, represent a right to receive principal and interest payments collected on a pool of mortgages, which are passed through to security holders. In the basic mortgage pass-through structure, mortgages with similar issuer, term and coupon characteristics are collected and aggregated into a "pool" consisting of multiple mortgage loans. The pool is assigned a CUSIP number and undivided interests in the pool are traded and sold as pass-through securities. The holder of the security is entitled to a pro rata share of principal and interest payments (including unscheduled prepayments) from the pool of mortgage loans.*

An investment in a specific pool of mortgage pass-through securities requires an analysis of the specific prepayment risk of mortgages within the covered pool (since mortgagors typically have the option to prepay their loans). The level of prepayments on a pool of MBS is difficult to predict and can impact the subsequent cash flows, value and yield of the mortgage pool. In addition, when trading specific mortgage pools, precise execution, delivery and settlement arrangements must be negotiated for each transaction.

*To-Be-Announced Securities. A Fund may seek to gain exposure to U.S. agency mortgage pass-through securities by investing in TBA securities. "TBAs" refer to a commonly used mechanism for the forward settlement of U.S. agency MBS, and not to a separate type of MBS. Most transactions in fixed-rate MBS occur through the use of TBA transactions. TBA transactions generally are conducted in accordance with widely-accepted guidelines which establish commonly observed terms and conditions for execution, settlement, and delivery. In a TBA transaction, the buyer and seller decide on general trade parameters, such as the issuing agency, settlement date, par amount, and price. The actual mortgage pools delivered generally are determined two days prior to settlement date. Certain of the Funds may regularly enter into TBA agreements and "roll over" such agreements prior to the settlement date stipulated in such agreements. This type of TBA transaction is sometimes known as a "TBA roll." In a TBA roll, such Funds generally will sell the obligation to purchase the pools stipulated in the TBA agreement prior to the stipulated settlement date and will enter into a new TBA agreement for future delivery of pools of MBS. In addition, certain of the Funds may enter into TBA agreements and settle such transactions on the stipulated settlement date by accepting actual receipt or delivery of the pools of MBS stipulated in the TBA agreement.*

Certain of the Funds may invest cash pending settlement of TBA transactions in money market instruments, repurchase agreements, or other high quality, liquid short-term instruments, including money market funds advised by BFA. Each such

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Fund will pay its *pro rata* share of fees and expenses of any money market fund that it may invest in, in addition to such Fund's own fees and expenses.

**U.S. Government Obligations. Certain of the Funds may invest in various types of U.S. government obligations. U.S. government obligations are a type of bond and include securities issued or guaranteed as to principal and interest by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities. Payment of principal and interest on U.S. government obligations (i) may be backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. or (ii) may be backed solely by the issuing or guaranteeing agency or instrumentality itself (as with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Home Loan Bank notes). In the latter case, each Fund must look principally to the agency or instrumentality issuing or guaranteeing the obligation for ultimate repayment, which agency or instrumentality may be privately owned. There can be no assurance that the U.S. government would provide financial support to its agencies or instrumentalities where it is not obligated to do so. As a general matter, the value of debt instruments, including U.S. government obligations, declines when market interest rates increase and rises when market interest rates decrease. Certain types of U.S. government obligations are subject to fluctuations in yield or value due to their structure or contract terms.**

**U.S.-Registered and Restricted Securities of Non-U.S. Issuers. Certain of the Funds may invest in U.S.-registered, U.S. dollar-denominated bonds of non-U.S. governments, agencies, supranational entities and corporate issuers. The Funds may invest in Restricted Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers. Investing in U.S.-registered, U.S. dollar-denominated bonds or Restricted Securities issued by non-U.S. issuers involves some risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. issuers. These include differences in accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards; the possibility of expropriation or confiscatory taxation; adverse changes in investment or exchange control regulations; political instability, which could affect U.S. investments in foreign countries; and potential restrictions of the flow of international capital. Non-U.S. issuers may be subject to less governmental regulation than U.S. issuers. In addition, the risk that the issuer may fail to meet its obligations on these securities may be affected by fluctuations in non-U.S. currency exchange rates between the issuer's local currency and the U.S. dollar. Moreover, individual non-U.S. economies may differ favorably or unfavorably from the U.S. economy in such respects as growth of gross domestic product ("GDP"), rate of inflation, capital reinvestment, resource self-sufficiency and balance of payment positions.**

**When Issued Securities, Delayed Delivery Securities and Forward Commitments. Each Fund may purchase or sell securities that it is entitled to receive on a when issued basis. Each Fund may also purchase or sell securities on a delayed delivery basis or through a forward commitment (including on TBA transactions). These transactions involve the purchase or sale of securities by each Fund at an established price with payment and delivery taking place in the future. Each Fund enters into these transactions to obtain what is considered an advantageous price to each Fund at the time of entering into the transaction. When each Fund purchases securities in these transactions, each Fund segregates liquid securities in an amount equal to the amount of its purchase commitments. TBAs also require the Fund entering into the transaction to post margin with the broker-dealer in connection with the transaction, which increases costs to the Fund.**

There can be no assurance that a security purchased on a when issued basis will be issued or that a security purchased or sold on a delayed delivery basis or through a forward commitment will be delivered. Also, the value of securities in these transactions on the delivery date may be more or less than the price paid by each Fund to purchase the securities.

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Each Fund will lose money if the value of the security in such a transaction declines below the purchase price and will not benefit if the value of the security appreciates above the sale price during the commitment period.

Each Fund may dispose of or renegotiate a commitment after it has been entered into, and may sell securities it has committed to purchase before those securities are delivered to each Fund on the settlement date. In these cases each Fund may realize a taxable capital gain or loss.

When each Fund engages in when-issued, TBA transactions or forward commitment transactions, it relies on the other party to consummate the trade. Failure of such party to do so may result in the Fund's incurring a loss or missing an opportunity to obtain a price considered to be advantageous.

The market value of the securities underlying a commitment to purchase securities, and any subsequent fluctuations in their market value, is taken into account when determining the market value of each Fund starting on the day each Fund agrees to purchase the securities. Each Fund does not earn interest on the securities it has committed to purchase until they are paid for and delivered on the settlement date.

Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act permits a Fund to enter into when-issued or forward-settling securities (*e.g*., firm and standby commitments, including TBA commitments, and dollar rolls) and non-standard settlement cycle securities notwithstanding the limitation on the issuance of senior securities in Section 18 of the Investment Company Act, provided that the Fund intends to physically settle the transaction and the transaction will settle within 35 days of its trade date (the "Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision"). If a when-issued, forward-settling or non-standard settlement cycle security does not satisfy the Delayed-Settlement Securities Provision, then it is treated as a Derivatives Transaction under Rule 18f-4. See "*Regulation Regarding Derivatives*" above.

**Zero Coupon Securities. Zero coupon securities are securities that are sold at a discount to par value and do not pay interest during the life of the security. The discount approximates the total amount of interest the security will accrue and compound over the period until maturity at a rate of interest reflecting the market rate of the security at the time of issuance. Upon maturity, the holder of a zero coupon security is entitled to receive the par value of the security.**

While interest payments are not made on such securities, holders of such securities are deemed to have received income (phantom income) annually, notwithstanding that cash may not be received currently. The effect of owning instruments that do not make current interest payments is that a fixed yield is earned not only on the original investment but also, in effect, on all discount accretion during the life of the obligations. This implicit reinvestment of earnings at a fixed rate eliminates the risk of being unable to invest distributions at a rate as high as the implicit yield on the zero coupon bond, but at the same time eliminates the holder's ability to reinvest at higher rates in the future. For this reason, some of these securities may be subject to substantially greater price fluctuations during periods of changing market interest rates than are comparable securities that pay interest currently. Longer term zero coupon bonds are more exposed to interest rate risk than shorter term zero coupon bonds. These investments benefit the issuer by mitigating its need for cash to meet debt service, but also require a higher rate of return to attract investors who are willing to defer receipt of cash.

Each Fund accrues income with respect to these securities for federal income tax and accounting purposes prior to the receipt of cash payments. Zero coupon securities may be subject to greater fluctuation in value and less liquidity in the event of adverse market conditions than comparably rated securities that pay cash interest at regular intervals. Further, to maintain its qualification for pass-through treatment under the federal tax laws, the Fund is required to distribute income to its shareholders and, consequently, may have to dispose of other, more liquid portfolio securities under disadvantageous circumstances or may have to leverage itself by borrowing in order to generate the cash to satisfy these distributions. The required distributions may result in an increase in the Fund's exposure to zero coupon securities.

In addition to the above-described risks, there are certain other risks related to investing in zero coupon securities. During a period of severe market conditions, the market for such securities may become even less liquid. In addition, as these securities do not pay cash interest, the Fund's investment exposure to these securities and their risks, including credit risk, will increase during the time these securities are held in the Fund's portfolio.

**Future Developments. The Board may, in the future, authorize each Fund to invest in securities contracts and investments other than those listed in this SAI and in the applicable Prospectus, provided they are consistent with each Fund's investment objective and do not violate any investment restrictions or policies.**

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## General Considerations and Risks
A discussion of some of the principal risks associated with an investment in a Fund is contained in the applicable Prospectus.

An investment in a Fund should be made with an understanding that the value of the Fund's portfolio securities may fluctuate in accordance with changes in the financial condition of the issuers of the portfolio securities, the value of bonds in general, and other factors that affect the market. The order of the below risk factors does not indicate the significance of any particular risk factor.

**Borrowing Risk. Borrowing may exaggerate changes in the NAV of Fund shares and in the return on a Fund's portfolio. Borrowing will cause a Fund to incur interest expense and other fees. The costs of borrowing may reduce a Fund's return. Borrowing may cause a Fund to liquidate positions when it may not be advantageous to do so to satisfy its obligations.**

**Call Risk. During periods of falling interest rates, an issuer of a callable bond held by certain Funds may "call" or repay the security before its stated maturity, and a Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in securities with lower yields, which would result in a decline in the Fund's income, or in securities with greater risks or with other less favorable features.**

**Currency Risk. Because each Fund's NAV is determined on the basis of the U.S. dollar, investors may lose money if the currency of a non-U.S. market in which a Fund invests depreciates against the U.S. dollar, even if the local currency value of a Fund's holdings in that market increases. Generally, when the U.S. dollar rises in value against a foreign currency, a security denominated in that currency loses value because the currency is worth fewer U.S. dollars. Conversely, when the U.S. dollar decreases in value against a foreign currency, a security denominated in that currency gains value because the currency is worth more U.S. dollars. This risk, generally known as "currency risk," means that a strong U.S. dollar will reduce returns for U.S. investors, while a weak U.S. dollar will increase those returns.**

Foreign exchange transactions involve a significant degree of risk and the markets in which foreign exchange transactions are effected are highly volatile, highly specialized and highly technical. Significant changes, including changes in liquidity and prices, can occur in such markets within very short periods of time, often within minutes. If BFA utilizes foreign exchange transactions at an inappropriate time or judges market conditions, trends or correlations incorrectly, foreign exchange transactions may not serve their intended purpose of improving the Fund's performance and may lower a Fund's return. A Fund could experience losses if the value of its currency positions are poorly correlated with its other investments or if it cannot close out its positions because of an illiquid market. In addition, a Fund could incur transaction costs, including trading commissions, in connection with certain non-U.S. currency transactions.

**Custody Risk. Custody risk refers to the risks inherent in the process of clearing and settling trades and to the holding of securities, cash and other assets by local banks, agents and depositories. Low trading volumes and volatile prices in less developed markets make trades harder to complete and settle, and governments or trade groups may compel local agents to hold securities in designated depositories that may not be subject to independent evaluation. Local agents are held only to the standards of care of their local markets, and thus may be subject to limited or no government oversight. Communications between the U.S. and emerging market countries may be unreliable, increasing the risk of delayed settlements or losses of security certificates. In general, the less developed a country's securities market is, the greater the likelihood of custody problems. Practices in relation to the settlement of securities transactions in emerging markets involve higher risks than those in developed markets, in part because of the use of brokers and counterparties that are often less well capitalized, and custody and registration of assets in some countries may be unreliable. The possibility of fraud, negligence or undue influence being exerted by the issuer or refusal to recognize ownership exists in some emerging markets, and, along with other factors, could result in ownership registration being lost. In addition, the laws of certain countries may put limits on a Fund's ability to recover its assets if a foreign bank or depository or issuer of a security or an agent of any of the foregoing goes bankrupt. A Fund would absorb any loss resulting from such custody problems and may have no successful claim for compensation.**

**Extension Risk. During periods of rising interest rates, certain debt obligations may be paid off substantially more slowly than originally anticipated and the value of those securities may fall sharply, resulting in a decline in a Fund's income and potentially in the value of a Fund's investments.**

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**Illiquid Investments Risk. Each Fund may not acquire any illiquid investment if, immediately after the acquisition, the Fund would have invested more than 15% of its net assets in illiquid investments. An illiquid investment is any investment that a Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market conditions in seven calendar days or less without significantly changing the market value of the investment. The liquidity of an investment will be determined based on relevant market, trading and investment specific considerations as set out in the Liquidity Program as required by the Liquidity Rule. Illiquid investments may trade at a discount to comparable, more liquid investments and a Fund may not be able to dispose of illiquid investments in a timely fashion or at their expected prices. If illiquid investments exceed 15% of a Fund's net assets, the Liquidity Rule and the Liquidity Program will require that certain remedial actions be taken.**

**Issuer Insolvency Risk. Each Fund's potential exposure to financially or operationally troubled issuers involves a high degree of credit and market risk, which may be heightened during an economic downturn or recession. Should an issuer of securities held by a Fund become involved in a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, a wide variety of considerations make an evaluation of the outcome of a Fund's exposure to the issuer uncertain.**

During the period of a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, it is unlikely that each Fund will receive any interest payments on the securities of the issuer. Each Fund will be subject to significant uncertainty as to whether the reorganization or restructuring will be completed, and each Fund may bear certain extraordinary expenses to protect and recover its investment. Each Fund will also be subject to significant uncertainty as to when and in what manner and for what value the obligations evidenced by the securities of the issuer held by each Fund will eventually be satisfied. Even if a plan of reorganization or restructuring is adopted with respect to the securities of the issuer held by each Fund, there can be no assurance that the securities or other assets received by each Fund in connection with such plan of reorganization or restructuring will not have a lower value or income potential than may have been anticipated or no value. A Fund may be unable to enforce its claims or rights in any collateral or may have its claims or security interest in any collateral challenged, disallowed or subordinated to the claims or security interests of other creditors. In addition, amendments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code or other relevant laws could alter the expected outcome or introduce greater uncertainty regarding the outcome of each Fund's securities holdings in the issuer. In a bankruptcy proceeding, a reorganization or restructuring, the securities of the issuer held by each Fund could be re-characterized, or each Fund may receive different securities or other assets, including equity securities. These types of equity securities include, but are not limited to: common stock; preferred stock (including convertible preferred stock); bonds, notes and debentures convertible into common or preferred stock; stock purchase warrants and rights; equity interests in trusts; and depositary receipts. The value of equity securities received by each Fund could decline if the financial condition of the issuer deteriorates or if overall market and economic conditions, or conditions within the issuer's region or industry, deteriorate.

To the extent that each Fund receives other assets in connection with a bankruptcy proceeding, reorganization or financial restructuring, each Fund may also be subject to additional risks associated with the assets received. One example of assets that each Fund could receive is an interest in one or more loans made to the issuer as part of a workout agreed to by a consortium of lienholders and creditors of the issuer. A Fund may receive such interests in loans to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act.

Securities or other assets received in a reorganization or restructuring typically entail a higher degree of risk than investments in securities of issuers that have not undergone a reorganization or restructuring and may be subject to heavy selling or downward pricing pressure after completion of the reorganization or restructuring. The post-reorganization/restructuring assets and securities may also be illiquid and difficult to sell or value. If each Fund participates in negotiations with respect to a plan of reorganization or restructuring with respect to securities of the issuer held by each Fund, each Fund also may be restricted from disposing such securities for a period of time. If each Fund becomes involved in such proceedings, each Fund may have more active participation in the affairs of the issuer than that assumed generally by an investor.

**LIBOR Risk. A Fund may be exposed to financial instruments that are tied to LIBOR to determine payment obligations, financing terms, hedging strategies or investment value. A Fund's investments may pay interest at floating rates based on LIBOR or may be subject to interest caps or floors based on LIBOR. A Fund may also obtain financing at floating rates based on LIBOR. Derivative instruments utilized by a Fund may also reference LIBOR.**

**LIBOR Replacement Risk. The United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA"), which regulates LIBOR announced that a majority of USD LIBOR settings will no longer be published after June 30, 2023. All other LIBOR settings and certain other interbank offered rates, such as the Euro Overnight Index Average ("EONIA") ceased to be published after December 31, 2021. The Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") is a broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight**

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collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement ("repo") market and has been used increasingly on a voluntary basis in new instruments and transactions. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate Act was signed into law in the U.S., providing a statutory fallback mechanism to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Federal Reserve Board and based on SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR without adequate fallback provisions. On December 16, 2022, the Federal Reserve Board adopted regulations implementing the Adjustable Interest Rate Act by identifying benchmark rates based on SOFR that will replace LIBOR in different categories of financial contracts after June 30, 2023.

The regulations include provisions that (i) provide a safe harbor for selection or use of a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; (ii) clarify who may choose the replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board; and (iii) ensure that contracts adopting a replacement benchmark rate selected by the Federal Reserve Board will not be interrupted or terminated following the replacement of LIBOR. These regulations apply only contracts governed by U.S. law, among other limitations. Similar legislation and regulations have been and may be further adopted in other jurisdictions.

Neither the effect of the LIBOR transition process nor its ultimate success can yet be known. Not all existing LIBOR-based instruments may have alternative rate-setting provisions and there remains uncertainty regarding the willingness and ability of issuers to add alternative rate-setting provisions in certain existing instruments. Parties to contracts, securities or other instruments using LIBOR may disagree on transition rates or the application of applicable transition regulations, potentially resulting in uncertainty of performance and the possibility of litigation. A Fund may have instruments linked to other interbank offered rates and currencies that may also cease to be published in the future.

The effect of these changes on a Fund will vary based on, among other things, existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and the potential renegotiation of existing contracts. In many cases, if an instrument falls back to an alternative reference rate, including SOFR, the alternative reference rate will not perform the same as LIBOR because the alternative reference rate does not include a credit-sensitive component in the rate calculation. In the event of a credit crisis, floating rate instruments using certain alternative reference rates could perform differently than those instruments using a rate indexed to the interbank lending market.

**Liquidity Risk. Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. To the extent a Fund invests in illiquid investments, such investments may have a negative effect on the returns of the Fund because the Fund may be unable to sell the illiquid investments at an advantageous time or price.**

**Money Market Instruments Risk. A Fund may hold money market instruments. The value of money market instruments may be affected by changes in interest rates or in the credit ratings of the investments, among other things. If a significant amount of a Fund's assets is invested in money market instruments, it may be more difficult for the Fund to achieve its investment objective. An investment in a money market fund is not insured or guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other government agency. It is possible to lose money by investing in a money market fund. Money market funds other than U.S. government money market funds and retail money market funds "float" their NAV instead of using a stable $1.00 per share price.**

**Municipal Market Disruption Risk. The value of municipal securities may be affected by uncertainties in the municipal market related to legislation or litigation involving the taxation of municipal securities or the rights of municipal securities holders in the event of a bankruptcy. Proposals to restrict or eliminate the U.S. federal income tax exemption for interest on municipal securities are introduced before the U.S. Congress from time to time. Proposals also may be introduced before state legislatures that would affect the state tax treatment of a municipal fund's distributions. If such proposals were enacted, the availability of municipal securities and the value of a Fund's holdings would be affected, and the Trustees would reevaluate the Fund's investment objective and policies. Municipal bankruptcies are relatively rare, and certain provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code governing such bankruptcies are unclear and remain untested. Further, the application of state law to municipal issuers could produce varying results among the states or among municipal securities issuers within a state. These legal uncertainties could affect the municipal securities market generally, certain specific segments of the market, or the relative credit quality of particular securities. Any of these effects could have a significant impact on the prices of some or all of the municipal securities held by a Fund.**

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**Not a Money Market Fund. Each Fund is not a money market fund and is not subject to the strict rules that govern the quality, maturity, liquidity and other features of securities that money market funds may purchase. Under normal circumstances, a Fund's investments may be more susceptible than a money market fund is to credit risk, interest rate risk, valuation risk and other risks relevant to the Fund's investments. The Funds do not seek to maintain a stable net asset value of $1.00 per share.**

**Operational Risk. BFA and a Fund's other service providers may experience disruptions or operating errors such as processing errors or human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, or systems or technology failures, that could negatively impact the Funds. While service providers are required to have appropriate operational risk management policies and procedures, their methods of operational risk management may differ from a Fund's in the setting of priorities, the personnel and resources available or the effectiveness of relevant controls. BFA, through its monitoring and oversight of service providers, seeks to ensure that service providers take appropriate precautions to avoid and mitigate risks that could lead to disruptions and operating errors. However, it is not possible for BFA or the other Fund service providers to identify all of the operational risks that may affect a Fund or to develop processes and controls to completely eliminate or mitigate their occurrence or effects.**

**Repurchase Agreement Risk. A repurchase agreement is an instrument under which the purchaser (*i.e.*, a Fund) acquires a security and the seller agrees, at the time of the sale, to repurchase the security at a mutually agreed upon time and price. Repurchase agreements may be construed to be collateralized loans by the purchaser to the seller secured by the securities transferred to the purchaser. If a repurchase agreement is construed to be a collateralized loan, the underlying securities will not be considered to be owned by a Fund but only to constitute collateral for the seller's obligation to pay the repurchase price. If the seller defaults on its obligation under the agreement, a Fund may suffer delays and incur costs or lose money in exercising its rights under the agreement. If the seller fails to repurchase the security and the market value of the security declines, a Fund may lose money.**

**Risk of Futures and Options on Futures Transactions. There are several risks accompanying the utilization of futures contracts and options on futures contracts. A position in futures contracts and options on futures contracts may be closed only on the exchange on which the contract was made (or a linked exchange). While each Fund plans to utilize futures contracts only if an active market exists for such contracts, there is no guarantee that a liquid market will exist for the contract at a specified time. Futures contracts, by definition, project price levels in the future and not current levels of valuation; therefore, market circumstances may result in a discrepancy between the price of the future and the movement in a Fund's portfolio. In the event of adverse price movements, a Fund would continue to be required to make daily cash payments to maintain its required margin. In such situations, if a Fund has insufficient cash, it may have to sell portfolio securities to meet daily margin requirements at a time when it may be disadvantageous to do so. In addition, a Fund may be required to deliver the instruments underlying the futures contracts it has sold.**

The risk of loss in trading futures contracts or uncovered call options in some strategies (*e.g.*, selling uncovered stock index futures contracts) is potentially unlimited. The Funds do not plan to use futures and options contracts in this way. The risk of a futures position may still be large as traditionally measured due to the low margin deposits required. In many cases, a relatively small price movement in a futures contract may result in immediate and substantial loss or gain to the investor relative to the size of a required margin deposit. The Funds, however, intend to utilize futures and options contracts in a manner designed to limit the risk exposure to levels comparable to a direct investment in the types of stocks in which it invests.

Utilization of futures and options on futures by a Fund involves the risk of loss of margin deposits in the event of bankruptcy of a broker with whom a Fund has an open position in the futures contract or option. The purchase of put or call options will be based upon predictions by BFA as to anticipated trends, which predictions could prove to be incorrect.

Because the futures market generally imposes less burdensome margin requirements than the securities market, an increased amount of participation by speculators in the futures market could result in price fluctuations. Certain financial futures exchanges limit the amount of fluctuation permitted in futures contract prices during a single trading day. The daily limit establishes the maximum amount by which the price of a futures contract may vary either up or down from the previous day's settlement price at the end of a trading session. Once the daily limit has been reached in a particular type of contract, no trades may be made on that day at a price beyond that limit. It is possible that futures contract prices could move to the daily limit for several consecutive trading days with little or no trading, thereby preventing prompt liquidation of

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futures positions and subjecting each Fund to substantial losses. In the event of adverse price movements, each Fund would be required to make daily cash payments of variation margin.

**Risk of Investing in Non-U.S. Debt Securities. Non-U.S. debt securities are traded on foreign exchanges and OTC in the respective countries covered by a Fund. The risks of investing in non-U.S. debt securities typically include market fluctuations caused by such factors as economic and political developments, changes in interest rates and perceived trends in bond prices. Investing in a fund whose portfolio contains securities of non-U.S. issuers involves certain risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in the securities of U.S. issuers. These risks include securities markets that may lack sufficient liquidity or may be less efficient; generally greater price volatility; less publicly available information about issuers; the imposition of withholding or other taxes; the imposition of restrictions on the expatriation of funds or other assets of a Fund; higher transaction and custody costs; delays and risks attendant in settlement procedures; difficulties in enforcing contractual obligations; lower liquidity and significantly smaller market capitalization of most non-U.S. securities markets; different accounting and disclosure standards; lower levels of regulation of the securities markets; more substantial government interference with the economy; higher rates of inflation; greater social, economic, and political uncertainty; the risk of nationalization or expropriation of assets; and different bankruptcy and insolvency regimes which may stay or prevent recovery in the event of an issuer's default.**

**Supranational Entities Risk. Certain of the Funds may invest in obligations issued or guaranteed by supranational entities (*e.g.*, the World Bank, European Investment Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and Asia Development Bank), which are often chartered to promote economic development. The government members, or "stockholders," usually make initial capital contributions to the supranational entity and, in many cases, are committed to make additional capital contributions if such entity is unable to repay its borrowings. There is no guarantee that one or more stockholders of the supranational entity will continue to make any necessary additional capital contributions. If such contributions are not made, the entity may be unable to pay interest or repay principal on its debt securities, certain of the Funds may have limited legal recourse in the event of default, and certain of the Funds may lose money on such investments.**

**Tax Risks Associated with Municipal Securities (BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only). As with any investment, you should consider how your investment in shares of the Fund will be taxed. The tax information in the Prospectus and this SAI is provided as general information. You should consult your own tax professional about the tax consequences of an investment in shares of the Fund.**

Unless your investment in shares is made through a tax-exempt entity or tax-deferred retirement account, such as an individual retirement account ("IRA"), you need to be aware of the possible tax consequences when the Fund makes distributions or you sell Fund shares. In general, given its investment strategy, the Fund would not be an appropriate investment for a tax deferred retirement account such as an IRA.

In response to the national economic downturn in recent years, governmental cost burdens may be reallocated among federal, state and local governments. Also, as a result of the downturn, many state and local governments are experiencing significant reductions in revenues and are consequently experiencing difficulties meeting ongoing expenses. Certain of these state or local governments may have difficulty paying principal or interest on their outstanding debt and may experience ratings downgrades of their debt.

**U.S. Treasury Obligations Risk. U.S. Treasury obligations may differ from other securities in their interest rates, maturities, times of issuance and other characteristics. Similar to other issuers, changes to the financial condition or credit rating of the U.S. government may cause the value of a Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. U.S. Treasury securities are rated AA+ by S&P Global Ratings. A downgrade of the rating of U.S. Treasury securities may cause the value of a Fund's U.S. Treasury obligations to decline. Because U.S. government debt obligations are often used as a benchmark for other borrowing arrangements, a downgrade could also result in higher interest rates for a range of borrowers, cause disruptions in the international bond markets and have a substantial adverse effect on the U.S. and global economy.**

A high national debt level may increase market pressures to meet government funding needs, which may drive debt cost higher and lead the government to issue additional debt, thereby increasing refinancing risk. A high national debt also raises concerns that the U.S. government will not be able to make principal or interest payments when they are due. If market participants determine that U.S. sovereign debt levels have become unsustainable, the value of the U.S. dollar could decline, thus increasing inflationary pressures, particularly with respect to services outsourced to non-U.S. providers and imported goods and constrain or prevent the U.S. government from implementing effective countercyclical fiscal policy in economic downturns. Direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury have historically involved little risk of loss of principal if held to maturity.

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However, due to fluctuations in interest rates, the market value of such securities may vary during the period that shareholders own shares of a Fund. Notwithstanding that U.S. Treasury obligations are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S., circumstances could arise that would prevent the timely payment of interest or principal, which would result in losses to a Fund.

**Risk of Investing in Asia. Investments in securities of issuers in certain Asian countries involve risks not typically associated with investments in securities of issuers in other regions. Such heightened risks include, among others, expropriation and/or nationalization of assets, confiscatory taxation, piracy of intellectual property, data and other security breaches (especially of data stored electronically), political instability, including authoritarian and/or military involvement in governmental decision-making, armed conflict and social instability as a result of religious, ethnic and/or socio-economic unrest. Certain Asian economies have experienced rapid rates of economic growth and industrialization in recent years, and there is no assurance that these rates of economic growth and industrialization will be maintained.**

Certain Asian countries have democracies with relatively short histories, which may increase the risk of political instability. These countries have faced political and military unrest, and further unrest could present a risk to their local economies and securities markets. Indonesia and the Philippines have each experienced violence and terrorism, which has negatively impacted their economies. North Korea and South Korea each have substantial military capabilities, and historical tensions between the two countries present the risk of war. Escalated tensions involving the two countries and any outbreak of hostilities between the two countries, or even the threat of an outbreak of hostilities, could have a severe adverse effect on the entire Asian region. Certain Asian countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect Asian issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. Political, religious, and border disputes persist in India. India has recently experienced and may continue to experience civil unrest and hostilities with certain of its neighboring countries. Increased political and social unrest in these geographic areas could adversely affect the performance of investments in this region.

Certain governments in this region administer prices on several basic goods, including fuel and electricity, within their respective countries. Certain governments may exercise substantial influence over many aspects of the private sector in their respective countries and may own or control many companies. Future government actions could have a significant effect on the economic conditions in this region, which in turn could have a negative impact on private sector companies. There is also the possibility of diplomatic developments adversely affecting investments in the region.

Corruption and the perceived lack of a rule of law in dealings with international companies in certain Asian countries may discourage foreign investment and could negatively impact the long-term growth of certain economies in this region. In addition, certain countries in the region are experiencing high unemployment and corruption, and have fragile banking sectors.

Some economies in this region are dependent on a range of commodities, including oil, natural gas and coal. Accordingly, they are strongly affected by international commodity prices and particularly vulnerable to any weakening in global demand for these products. The market for securities in this region may also be directly influenced by the flow of international capital, and by the economic and market conditions of neighboring countries. China is a key trading partner of many Asian countries and any changes in trading relationships between China and other Asian countries may affect the region as a whole. Adverse economic conditions or developments in neighboring countries may increase investors' perception of the risk of investing in the region as a whole, which may adversely impact the market value of the securities issued by companies in the region.

**Risk of Investing in Australasia. The economies of Australasia, which include Australia and New Zealand, are dependent on exports from the agricultural and mining sectors. This makes Australasian economies susceptible to fluctuations in the commodity markets. Australasian economies are also increasingly dependent on their growing service industries. Australia and New Zealand are located in a part of the world that has historically been prone to natural disasters, such as drought and flooding. Any such event in the future could have a significant adverse impact on the economies of Australia and New Zealand and affect the value of securities held by a Fund. The economies of Australia and New Zealand are dependent on trading with certain key trading partners, including Asia and the U.S. Economic events in the U.S., Asia, or in other key trading countries can have a significant economic effect on the Australasian economies. The economies of Australia and New Zealand are heavily dependent on the mining sector. Passage of new regulations limiting foreign ownership of companies in the mining sector or imposition of new taxes on profits of mining companies may dissuade foreign investment, and as a result, have a negative impact on companies to which a Fund has exposure.**

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**Risk of Investing in Developed Countries. Many countries with developed markets have recently experienced significant economic pressures. These countries generally tend to rely on the services sectors (*e.g.*, the financial services sector) as the primary source of economic growth and may be susceptible to the risks of individual service sectors. For example, companies in the financial services sector are subject to governmental regulation and, recently, government intervention, which may adversely affect the scope of their activities, the prices they can charge and amount of capital they must maintain. Dislocations in the financial sector and perceived or actual governmental influence over certain financial companies may lead to credit rating downgrades and, as a result, impact, among other things, revenue growth for such companies. If financial companies experience a prolonged decline in revenue growth, certain developed countries that rely heavily on financial companies as an economic driver may experience a correlative slowdown. Concerns have emerged with respect to the economic health of certain developed countries. These concerns primarily stem from heavy indebtedness of many developed countries and their perceived inability to continue to service high debt loads without simultaneously implementing stringent austerity measures. Such concerns have led to tremendous downward pressure on the economies of these countries. As a result, it is possible that interest rates on debt of certain developed countries may rise to levels that make it difficult for such countries to service such debt. Spending on health care and retirement pensions in most developed countries has risen dramatically. Medical innovation, extended life expectancy and higher public expectations are likely to continue the increase in health care and pension costs. Any increase in health care and pension costs will likely have a negative impact on the economic growth of many developed countries. Certain developed countries rely on imports of certain key items, such as crude oil, natural gas, and other commodities. As a result, an increase in demand for, or price fluctuations of, certain commodities may negatively affect developed country economies. Developed market countries generally are dependent on the economies of certain key trading partners. Changes in any one economy may cause an adverse impact on several developed countries. In addition, heavy regulation of, among others, labor and product markets may have an adverse effect on certain issuers. Such regulations may negatively affect economic growth or cause prolonged periods of recession. Such risks, among others, may adversely affect the value of a Fund's investments.**

**Risk of Investing in Emerging Markets. Investments in emerging market countries may be subject to greater risks than investments in developed countries. These risks include: (i) less social, political, and economic stability; (ii) greater illiquidity and price volatility due to smaller or limited local capital markets for such securities, or low or non-existent trading volumes; (iii) companies, custodians, clearinghouses, foreign exchanges and broker-dealers may be subject to less scrutiny and regulation by local authorities; (iv) local governments may decide to seize or confiscate securities held by foreign investors and/or local governments may decide to suspend or limit an issuer's ability to make dividend or interest payments; (v) local governments may limit or entirely restrict repatriation of invested capital, profits, and dividends; (vi) capital gains may be subject to local taxation, including on a retroactive basis; (vii) issuers facing restrictions on dollar or euro payments imposed by local governments may attempt to make dividend or interest payments to foreign investors in the local currency; (viii) there may be significant obstacles to obtaining information necessary for investigations into or litigation against companies and investors may experience difficulty in enforcing legal claims related to the securities and/or local judges may favor the interests of the issuer over those of foreign parties; (ix) bankruptcy judgments may only be permitted to be paid in the local currency; (x) limited public information regarding the issuer may result in greater difficulty in determining market valuations of the securities; and (xi) lack of financial reporting on a regular basis, substandard disclosure and differences in accounting standards may make it difficult to ascertain the financial health of an issuer.**

Emerging market securities markets are typically marked by a high concentration of market capitalization and trading volume in a small number of issuers representing a limited number of industries, as well as a high concentration of ownership of such securities by a limited number of investors. In addition, brokerage and other costs associated with transactions in emerging market securities can be higher, sometimes significantly, than similar costs incurred in securities markets in developed countries. Although some emerging markets have become more established and tend to issue securities of higher credit quality, the markets for securities in other emerging market countries are in the earliest stages of their development, and these countries issue securities across the credit spectrum. Even the markets for relatively widely traded securities in emerging market countries may not be able to absorb, without price disruptions, a significant increase in trading volume or trades of a size customarily undertaken by institutional investors in the securities markets of developed countries. The limited size of many of these securities markets can cause prices to be erratic for reasons apart from factors that affect the soundness and competitiveness of the securities issuers. For example, prices may be unduly influenced by traders who control large positions in these markets. Additionally, market making and arbitrage activities are generally less extensive in such markets, which may contribute to increased volatility and reduced liquidity of such markets. The limited liquidity of emerging market country securities may also affect a Fund's ability to accurately value its portfolio securities or to acquire or dispose of securities at the price and time it wishes to do so or in order to meet redemption requests.

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Many emerging market countries suffer from uncertainty and corruption in their legal frameworks. Legislation may be difficult to interpret and laws may be too new to provide any precedential value. Laws regarding foreign investment and private property may be weak or non-existent. Sudden changes in governments may result in policies which are less favorable to investors such as policies designed to expropriate or nationalize "sovereign" assets. Certain emerging market countries in the past have expropriated large amounts of private property, in many cases with little or no compensation, and there can be no assurance that such expropriation will not occur in the future.

Investment in the securities markets of certain emerging market countries is restricted or controlled to varying degrees. These restrictions may limit a Fund's investment in certain emerging market countries and may increase the expenses of the Fund. Certain emerging market countries require governmental approval prior to investments by foreign persons or limit investment by foreign persons to only a specified percentage of an issuer's outstanding securities or a specific class of securities which may have less advantageous terms (including price) than securities of the company available for purchase by nationals.

Many emerging market countries lack the social, political, and economic stability characteristic of the U.S. Political instability among emerging market countries can be common and may be caused by an uneven distribution of wealth, social unrest, labor strikes, civil wars, and religious oppression. Economic instability in emerging market countries may take the form of: (i) high interest rates; (ii) high levels of inflation, including hyperinflation; (iii) high levels of unemployment or underemployment; (iv) changes in government economic and tax policies, including confiscatory taxation; and (v) imposition of trade barriers.

A Fund's income and, in some cases, capital gains from foreign securities will be subject to applicable taxation in certain of the emerging market countries in which it invests, and treaties between the U.S. and such countries may not be available in some cases to reduce the otherwise applicable tax rates.

Emerging markets also have different clearance and settlement procedures, and in certain of these emerging markets there have been times when settlements have been unable to keep pace with the volume of securities transactions, making it difficult to conduct such transactions.

In the past, certain governments in emerging market countries have become overly reliant on the international capital markets and other forms of foreign credit to finance large public spending programs, which in the past have caused huge budget deficits. Often, interest payments have become too overwhelming for a government to meet, representing a large percentage of total GDP. These foreign obligations have become the subject of political debate and served as fuel for political parties of the opposition, which pressure the government not to make payments to foreign creditors, but instead to use these funds for, among other things, social programs. Either due to an inability to pay or submission to political pressure, foreign governments have been forced to seek a restructuring of their loan and/or bond obligations, have declared a temporary suspension of interest payments or have defaulted. These events have adversely affected the values of securities issued by foreign governments and corporations domiciled in those countries and have negatively affected not only their cost of borrowing, but their ability to borrow in the future as well.

**Risk of Investing in Europe. Investing in European countries may expose a Fund to the economic and political risks associated with Europe in general and the specific European countries in which it invests. The economies and markets of European countries are often closely connected and interdependent, and events in one European country can have an adverse impact on other European countries. A Fund makes investments in securities of issuers that are domiciled in, have significant operations in, or that are listed on at least one securities exchange within member states of the European Union (the "EU"). A number of countries within the EU are also members of the Economic and Monetary Union (the "eurozone") and have adopted the euro as their currency. Eurozone membership requires member states to comply with restrictions on inflation rates, deficits, interest rates, debt levels and fiscal and monetary controls, each of which may significantly affect every country in Europe. Changes in import or export tariffs, changes in governmental or EU regulations on trade, changes in the exchange rate of the euro and other currencies of certain EU countries which are not in the eurozone, the default or threat of default by an EU member state on its sovereign debt, and/or an economic recession in an EU member state may have a significant adverse effect on the economies of other EU member states and their trading partners. Although certain European countries are not in the eurozone, many of these countries are obliged to meet the criteria for joining the eurozone.**

Consequently, these countries must comply with many of the restrictions noted above. The European financial markets have experienced volatility and adverse trends due to concerns about economic downturns, government debt levels and the possible default of government debt in several European countries, including, but not limited to, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus,

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France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine. In order to prevent further economic deterioration, certain countries, without prior warning, can institute "capital controls." Countries may use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering and exiting their country. Such controls may negatively affect a Fund's investments. A default or debt restructuring by any European country would adversely impact holders of that country's debt and sellers of credit default swaps linked to that country's creditworthiness, which may be located in countries other than those listed above. In addition, the credit ratings of certain European countries were downgraded in the past. These events have adversely affected the value and exchange rate of the euro and may continue to significantly affect the economies of every country in Europe, including countries that do not use the euro and non-EU member states. Responses to the financial problems by European governments, central banks and others, including austerity measures and reforms, may not produce the desired results, may result in social unrest and may limit future growth and economic recovery or have other unintended consequences. Further defaults or restructurings by governments and other entities of their debt could have additional adverse effects on economies, financial markets and asset valuations around the world. In addition, one or more countries may abandon the euro and/or withdraw from the EU. The impact of these actions, especially if they occur in a disorderly fashion, is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely impact the value of a Fund's investments in the region.

The United Kingdom (the "U.K.") left the EU ("Brexit") on January 31, 2020. Brexit could adversely affect European or worldwide political, regulatory, economic or market conditions and could contribute to instability in global political institutions, regulatory agencies and financial markets.

Certain European countries have also developed increasingly strained relationships with the U.S., and if these relations were to worsen, they could adversely affect European issuers that rely on the U.S. for trade. The national politics of countries in Europe have been unpredictable and subject to influence by disruptive political groups and ideologies, including for example, secessionist movements. The governments of European countries may be subject to change and such countries may experience social and political unrest. Unanticipated or sudden political or social developments may result in sudden and significant investment losses. The occurrence of terrorist incidents throughout Europe or war in the region also could impact financial markets. The impact of these events is not clear but could be significant and far-reaching and could adversely affect the value and liquidity of a Fund's investments.

*Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The extent and duration of the military action, resulting sanctions and resulting future market disruptions, including declines in its stock markets and the value of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, are impossible to predict, but could be significant. Disruptions caused by Russian military action or other actions (including cyberattacks and espionage) or resulting actual and threatened responses to such activity, including purchasing and financing restrictions, boycotts or changes in consumer or purchaser preferences, sanctions, import and export restrictions, tariffs or cyberattacks on the Russian government, Russian companies or Russian individuals, including politicians, may impact Russia's economy, Russian issuers of securities in which a Fund invests, or the economies of Europe as a whole. Actual and threatened responses to Russian military action may also impact the markets for certain Russian commodities, such as oil and natural gas, as well as other sectors of the Russian economy, and are likely to have collateral impacts on such sectors across Europe and globally.*

**Risk of Investing in North America. A decrease in imports or exports, changes in trade regulations or an economic recession in any North American country can have a significant economic effect on the entire North American region and on some or all of the North American countries in which a Fund invests.**

The U.S. is Canada's and Mexico's largest trading and investment partner. The Canadian and Mexican economies are significantly affected by developments in the U.S. economy. Since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement ("NAFTA") in 1994 among Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, total merchandise trade among the three countries has increased. However, political developments including the implementation of tariffs by the U.S., and the renegotiation of NAFTA in the form of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement ("USMCA"), which replaced NAFTA on July 1, 2020, could negatively affect North America's economic outlook and, as a result, the value of securities held by a Fund. Policy and legislative changes in one country may have a significant effect on North American markets generally, as well as on the value of certain securities held by the Fund.

**Risk of Investing in the Basic Materials Industry. Issuers in the basic materials industry could be adversely affected by commodity price volatility, exchange rate fluctuations, social and political unrest, import controls and increased competition. Companies in the basic materials industry may be subject to swift fluctuations in supply and demand. Fluctuations may be caused by events relating to political and economic developments, the environmental impact of basic materials operations,**

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and the success of exploration projects. Production of industrial materials often exceeds demand as a result of over-building or economic downturns, leading to poor investment returns. Issuers in the basic materials industry are at risk for environmental damage and product liability claims and may be adversely affected by depletion of resources, delays in technical progress, labor relations, tax and government regulations related to changes to, among other things, energy and environmental policies.

**Risk of Investing in the Capital Goods Industry. Companies in the capital goods industry may be affected by fluctuations in the business cycle and by other factors affecting manufacturing demands. Companies in the capital goods industry depend heavily on corporate spending. Companies in the capital goods industry may perform well during times of economic expansion, and as economic conditions worsen, the demand for capital goods may decrease due to weakening demand, worsening business cash flows, tighter credit controls and deteriorating profitability. During times of economic volatility, corporate spending may fall and adversely affect the capital goods industry. This industry may also be affected by changes in interest rates, corporate tax rates and other government policies. Many capital goods are sold internationally and such companies are subject to market conditions in other countries and regions.**

**Risk of Investing in the Communication Services Sector. The communication services sector consists of both companies in the telecommunication services industry as well as those in the media and entertainment industry. Examples of companies in the telecommunication services industry group include providers of fiber-optic, fixed-line, cellular and wireless telecommunications networks. Companies in the media and entertainment industry group encompass a variety of services and products including television broadcasting, gaming products, social media, networking platforms, online classifieds, online review websites, and Internet search engines. Companies in the communication services sector may be affected by industry competition, substantial capital requirements, government regulation, and obsolescence of communications products and services due to technological advancement. Fluctuating domestic and international demand, shifting demographics and often unpredictable changes in consumer tastes can drastically affect a communication services company's profitability. In addition, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the communication services sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.** 

The communication services sector of a country's economy is often subject to extensive government regulation. The costs of complying with governmental regulations, delays or failure to receive required regulatory approvals, or the enactment of new regulatory requirements may negatively affect the business of communications companies. Government actions around the world, specifically in the area of pre-marketing clearance of products and prices, can be arbitrary and unpredictable. The communications services industry can also be significantly affected by intense competition for market share, including competition with alternative technologies such as wireless communications, product compatibility and standardization, consumer preferences, rapid product obsolescence, research and development of new products, lack of standardization or compatibility with existing technologies, and a dependency on patent and copyright protections. Companies in the communication services sector may encounter distressed cash flows due to the need to commit substantial capital to meet increasing competition, particularly in developing new products and services using new technology. Technological innovations may make the products and services of certain communications companies obsolete.

Telecommunications providers with exposure to the U.S. are generally required to obtain franchises or licenses in order to provide services in a given location. Licensing and franchise rights in the telecommunications sector are limited, which may provide an advantage to certain participants. Limited availability of such rights, high barriers to market entry and regulatory oversight, among other factors, have led to consolidation of companies within the sector, which could lead to further regulation or other negative effects in the future. Telecommunication providers investing in non-U.S. countries may be subject to similar risks. Additional risks include those related to competitive challenges in the U.S. from non-U.S. competitors engaged in strategic joint ventures with U.S. companies and in non-U.S. markets from both U.S. and non-U.S. competitors.

Companies in the media and entertainment industries can be significantly affected by several factors, including competition, particularly in formulation of products and services using new technologies, cyclicality of revenues and earnings, a potential decrease in the discretionary income of targeted individuals, changing consumer tastes and interests, and the potential increase in government regulation. Companies in the media and entertainment industries may become obsolete quickly. Advertising spending can be an important revenue source for media and entertainment companies. During economic downturns advertising spending typically decreases and, as a result, media and entertainment companies tend to generate less revenue.

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**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Cyclical Industry. A Fund may invest in consumer cyclical companies, which rely heavily on business cycles and economic conditions. Consumer cyclical companies include automotive manufacturers, retail companies, and housing-related companies. The consumer cyclical industry can be significantly affected by several factors, including, without limitation, the performance of domestic and international economies, exchange rates, changing consumer tastes and trends, marketing campaigns, cyclical revenue generation, consumer confidence, commodity price volatility, labor relations, interest rates, import and export controls, intense competition, technological developments and government regulation.**

**Risk of Investing in the Consumer Staples Sector. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be adversely affected by changes in the global economy, consumer spending, competition, demographics and consumer preferences, and production spending. Companies in the consumer staples sector may also be affected by changes in global economic, environmental and political events, economic conditions, the depletion of resources, and government regulation. For instance, government regulations may affect the permissibility of using various food additives and production methods of companies that make food products, which could affect company profitability. In addition, tobacco companies may be adversely affected by the adoption of proposed legislation and/or by litigation. Companies in the consumer staples sector also may be subject to risks pertaining to the supply of, demand for and prices of raw materials. The prices of raw materials fluctuate in response to a number of factors, including, without limitation, changes in government agricultural support programs, exchange rates, import and export controls, changes in international agricultural and trading policies, and seasonal and weather conditions. Companies in the consumer staples sector may be subject to severe competition, which may also have an adverse impact on their profitability.**

**Risk of Investing in the Energy Sector. Companies in the energy sector are strongly affected by the levels and volatility of global energy prices, energy supply and demand, government regulations and policies, energy production and conservation efforts, technological change, development of alternative energy sources, and other factors that they cannot control. These companies may also lack resources and have limited business lines. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely to restructure their businesses if there are downturns in certain energy markets or in the global economy. If an energy company in a Fund's portfolio becomes distressed, a Fund could lose all or a substantial portion of its investment.**

The energy sector is cyclical and is highly dependent on commodity prices; prices and supplies of energy may fluctuate significantly over short and long periods of time due to, among other things, national and international political changes, Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries ("OPEC") policies, changes in relationships among OPEC members and between OPEC and oil-importing nations, the regulatory environment, taxation policies, the enactment or cessation of trade sanctions, war or other geopolitical conflicts, and the economies of the key energy-consuming countries. Commodity prices have recently been subject to increased volatility, which may negatively affect companies in which a Fund invests. For example, in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak and disputes among oil-producing countries regarding potential limits on the production of crude oil, the energy sector has experienced increased volatility. In particular, significant market volatility occurred in the crude oil markets as well as the oil futures markets, which resulted in the market price of certain crude oil futures contracts falling below zero for a period of time.

Companies in the energy sector may be adversely affected by terrorism, war, cyber incidents, natural disasters or other catastrophes. Companies in the energy sector are at risk of civil liability from accidents resulting in injury, loss of life or property, pollution or other environmental damage claims. Disruptions in the oil industry or shifts in fuel consumption may significantly impact companies in this sector. Significant oil and gas deposits are located in emerging markets countries where corruption and security may raise significant risks, in addition to the other risks of investing in emerging markets. Additionally, the Middle East, where many companies in the energy sector may operate, has historically and recently experienced widespread social unrest.

Companies in the energy sector may also be adversely affected by changes in exchange rates, interest rates, economic conditions, tax treatment, government regulation and intervention, negative perception, efforts at energy conservation and world events in the regions in which the companies operate (*e.g.,* expropriation, nationalization, confiscation of assets and property or the imposition of restrictions on foreign investments and repatriation of capital, military coups, social unrest, violence or labor unrest). Because a significant portion of revenues of companies in this sector is derived from a relatively small number of customers that are largely composed of governmental entities and utilities, governmental budget constraints may have a significant impact on the stock prices of companies in this sector. The energy sector is highly regulated. Entities operating in the energy sector are subject to significant regulation of nearly every aspect of their

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operations by governmental agencies. Such regulation can change rapidly or over time in both scope and intensity. Stricter laws, regulations or enforcement policies could be enacted in the future which would likely increase compliance costs and may materially adversely affect the financial performance of companies in the energy sector. Energy companies may have relatively high levels of debt and may be more likely than companies in other sectors to restructure their businesses during economic downturns or adversity in global energy markets.

Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has led to further disruptions and increased volatility in the energy and commodity futures markets due to actual and potential disruptions in the supply and demand for certain commodities, including oil and natural gas. The U.S. and certain European countries have announced bans or restrictions on imports of hydrocarbon commodities from Russia. The effect of such bans and any similar restrictions by other countries, as well as the extent, scope and duration of the conflict, resulting sanctions and associated market disruptions on the energy sector, are impossible to predict and depend on a number of factors. The effect of these events or any related developments could be significant and may have a severe adverse effect on the performance of a Fund.

**Risk of Investing in the Financials Sector. Companies in the financials sector include regional and money center banks, securities brokerage firms, asset management companies, savings banks and thrift institutions, specialty finance companies (*e.g.*, credit card, mortgage providers), insurance and insurance brokerage firms, consumer finance firms, financial conglomerates and foreign banking and financial companies. The global financial markets have experienced very difficult conditions and volatility as well as significant adverse trends. The conditions in these markets have resulted in a decrease in availability of corporate credit, capital and liquidity and have led indirectly to the insolvency, closure or acquisition of a number of financial institutions. These conditions have also contributed to consolidation within the financial industry. In addition, the global financial industry has been materially and adversely affected by a significant decline in the value of MBS and ABS, and by the sovereign debt crisis. The prospects of many financial companies are questionable and continue to evolve as financial companies revise their outlooks and write down assets that they hold.**

Most financial companies are subject to extensive governmental regulation, which limits their activities and may affect their ability to earn a profit from a given line of business. Government regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences for companies in the financials sector, including effects not intended by the regulation. Direct governmental intervention in the operations of financial companies and financial markets may materially and adversely affect the companies in which a Fund invests, including legislation in many countries that may increase government regulation, repatriation and other intervention. The impact of governmental intervention and legislative changes on any individual financial company or on the financials sector as a whole cannot be predicted. The valuation of financial companies has been and continues to be subject to unprecedented volatility and may be influenced by unpredictable factors, including interest rate risk and sovereign debt default. Certain financial businesses are subject to intense competitive pressures, including market share and price competition. Financial companies in foreign countries are subject to market specific and general regulatory and interest rate concerns. In particular, government regulation in certain foreign countries may include taxes and controls on interest rates, credit availability, minimum capital requirements, bans on short sales, limits on prices and restrictions on currency transfers. In addition, companies in the financials sector may be the targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or customer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.

The profitability of banks, savings and loan associations and financial companies is largely dependent on the availability and cost of capital funds and can fluctuate significantly when interest rates change; for instance, when interest rates go up, the value of securities issued by many types of companies in the financials sector generally goes down. In other words, financial companies may be adversely affected in certain market cycles, including, without limitation, during periods of rising interest rates, which may restrict the availability and increase the cost of capital, and during periods of declining economic conditions, which may cause, among other things, credit losses due to financial difficulties of borrowers.

In addition, general economic conditions are important to the operations of these companies, and financial difficulties of borrowers may have an adverse effect on the profitability of financial companies. Companies in the financials sector are exposed directly to the credit risk of their borrowers and counterparties, who may be leveraged to an unknown degree, including through swaps and other derivatives products, and who at times may be unable to meet their obligations to the financial services companies. Financial services companies may have significant exposure to the same borrowers and counterparties, with the result that a borrower's or counterparty's inability to meet its obligations to one company may affect other companies with exposure to the same borrower or counterparty. This interconnectedness of risk, including cross-default risk, may result in significant negative impacts to the financial condition and reputation of companies with direct

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exposure to the defaulting counterparty as well as adverse cascading effects in the markets and the financials sector generally. Financial companies can be highly dependent upon access to capital markets, and any impediments to such access, such as adverse overall economic conditions or a negative perception in the capital markets of a financial company's financial condition or prospects, could adversely affect its business. Deterioration of credit markets can have an adverse impact on a broad range of financial markets, causing certain financial companies to incur large losses. In these conditions, companies in the financials sector may experience significant declines in the valuation of their assets, take actions to raise capital and even cease operations. Some financial companies may also be required to accept or borrow significant amounts of capital from government sources and may face future government-imposed restrictions on their businesses or increased government intervention. In addition, there is no guarantee that governments will provide any such relief in the future. These actions may cause the securities of many companies in the financials sector to decline in value.

**Risk of Investing in the Technology Sector. Technology companies are characterized by periodic new product introductions, innovations and evolving industry standards, and, as a result, face intense competition, both domestically and internationally, which may have an adverse effect on profit margins. Companies in the technology sector are often smaller and less experienced companies and may be subject to greater risks than larger companies; these risks may be heightened for technology companies in foreign markets. Technology companies may have limited product lines, markets, financial resources or personnel. The products of technology companies may face product obsolescence due to rapid technological developments and frequent new product introduction, changes in consumer and business purchasing patterns, unpredictable changes in growth rates and competition for the services of qualified personnel. In addition, a rising interest rate environment tends to negatively affect companies in the technology sector because, in such an environment, those companies with high market valuations may appear less attractive to investors, which may cause sharp decreases in the companies' market prices. Companies in the technology sector are heavily dependent on patent and intellectual property rights. The loss or impairment of these rights may adversely affect the profitability of these companies. Companies in the technology sector are facing increased government and regulatory scrutiny and may be subject to adverse government or regulatory action. The technology sector may also be adversely affected by changes or trends in commodity prices, which may be influenced or characterized by unpredictable factors. Finally, while all companies may be susceptible to network security breaches, certain companies in the technology sector may be particular targets of hacking and potential theft of proprietary or consumer information or disruptions in service, which could have a material adverse effect on their businesses.**

**Risk of Investing in the Transportation Industry. Companies in the transportation industry may be adversely affected by changes in the economy, increases in fuel and operating costs, labor relations, technology developments, exchange rates, insurance costs, industry competition and government regulation. Companies in the transportation industry are also affected by severe weather events, mass casualty accidents or environmental catastrophes, acts of terrorism and other similar events that target or damage transportation infrastructure or vessels, war or risk of war, widespread disruption of technology systems and increasing equipment and operational costs. Such global or regional events and conditions may adversely affect the operations, financial condition and liquidity of companies in the transportation industry and cause insurance premiums to increase dramatically or result in insurance coverage becoming unavailable for certain business lines or assets. Securities of companies in the transportation industry are generally cyclical and occasionally subject to sharp price movements.**

**Risk of Investing in the Utilities Sector. The utilities sector may be adversely affected by changing commodity prices, government regulation stipulating rates charged by utilities, increased tariffs, changes in tax laws, interest rate fluctuations and changes in the cost of providing specific utility services. The utilities industry is also subject to potential terrorist attacks, natural disasters and severe weather conditions, as well as regulatory and operational burdens associated with the operation and maintenance of nuclear facilities. Government regulators monitor and control utility revenues and costs, and therefore may limit utility profits. In certain countries, regulatory authorities may also restrict a company's access to new markets, thereby diminishing the company's long-term prospects.**

There are substantial differences among the regulatory practices and policies of various jurisdictions, and any regulatory agency may make major shifts in policy from time to time. There is no assurance that regulatory authorities will, in the future, grant rate increases. Additionally, existing and possible future regulatory legislation may make it even more difficult for utilities to obtain adequate relief. Certain of the issuers of securities held in a Fund's portfolio may own or operate nuclear generating facilities. Governmental authorities may from time to time review existing policies and impose additional requirements governing the licensing, construction and operation of nuclear power plants. Prolonged changes in climate conditions can also have a significant impact on both the revenues of an electric and gas utility as well as the expenses of a utility, particularly a hydro-based electric utility.

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The rates that traditional regulated utility companies may charge their customers generally are subject to review and limitation by governmental regulatory commissions. Rate changes may occur only after a prolonged approval period or may not occur at all, which could adversely affect utility companies when costs are rising. The value of regulated utility debt securities (and, to a lesser extent, equity securities) tends to have an inverse relationship to the movement of interest rates. Certain utility companies have experienced full or partial deregulation in recent years. These utility companies are frequently more similar to industrial companies in that they are subject to greater competition and have been permitted by regulators to diversify outside of their original geographic regions and their traditional lines of business. As a result, some companies may be forced to defend their core business and may be less profitable. Deregulation may also permit a utility company to expand outside of its traditional lines of business and engage in riskier ventures.

## Proxy Voting Policy
For the Funds, the Board has delegated the voting of proxies for each Fund's securities to BFA pursuant to the Funds' Proxy Voting Policy (the "iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy"), and BFA has adopted policies and procedures (the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BFA, including the Funds.

Under the BlackRock Proxy Voting Policies, BFA will vote proxies related to Fund securities in the best interests of a Fund and its shareholders. From time to time, a vote may present a conflict between the interests of a Fund's shareholders, on the one hand, and those of BFA, or any affiliated person of a Fund or BFA, on the other. BFA maintains policies and procedures that are designed to prevent undue influence on BFA's proxy voting activity that might stem from any relationship between the issuer of a proxy (or any dissident shareholder) and BFA, BFA's affiliates, a Fund or a Fund's affiliates. Most conflicts are managed through a structural separation of BFA's Corporate Governance Group from BFA's employees with sales and client responsibilities. In addition, BFA maintains procedures to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers or dissident shareholders are managed consistently and without regard to BFA's relationship with the issuer of the proxy or the dissident shareholder. In certain instances, BFA may determine to engage an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest or as otherwise required by applicable law.

Copies of the iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy, the BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies and the BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies are attached as Appendices A1, A2 and A3, respectively.

Information with respect to how proxies relating to the Funds' portfolio securities were voted during the 12-month period ended June 30 is available: (i) without charge, upon request, by calling 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737) or through the Funds' website at *www.iShares.com*; and (ii) on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

## Portfolio Holdings Information
On each Business Day (as defined in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI), prior to the opening of regular trading on the Fund's primary listing exchange, a Fund discloses on its website (<u>www.iShares.com</u>) certain information relating to the portfolio holdings that will form the basis of a Fund's next net asset value per share calculation.

In addition, certain information may also be made available to certain parties:

• **Communications of Data Files: A Fund may make available through the facilities of the National Securities Clearing Corporation ("NSCC") or through posting on the <u>www.iShares.com</u>, prior to the opening of trading on each business day, a list of a Fund's holdings (generally pro-rata) that Authorized Participants could deliver to a Fund to settle purchases of a Fund (*i.e.* Deposit Securities) or that Authorized Participants would receive from a Fund to settle redemptions of a Fund (*i.e.* Fund Securities). These files are known as the Portfolio Composition File and the Fund Data File (collectively, "Files"). The Files are applicable for the next trading day and are provided to the NSCC and/or posted on <u>www.iShares.com</u> after the close of markets in the U.S.** 

• **Communications with Authorized Participants and Liquidity Providers: Certain employees of BFA are responsible for interacting with Authorized Participants and liquidity providers with respect to discussing custom basket proposals as described in the *Custom Baskets* section of this SAI. As part of these discussions, these employees may discuss with an Authorized Participant or liquidity provider the securities a Fund is willing to accept for a creation, and securities that a Fund will provide on a redemption.** 

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| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | BFA employees may also discuss portfolio holdings-related information with broker/dealers, in connection with settling a Fund's transactions, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with the disclosure in the Fund's current registration statements. |
| • | **Communications with Listing Exchanges: From time to time, employees of BFA may discuss portfolio holdings information with the applicable primary listing exchange for a Fund as needed to meet the exchange listing standards.** |
| • | **Communications with Other Portfolio Managers: Certain information may be provided to employees of BFA who manage funds that invest a significant percentage of their assets in shares of an underlying fund as necessary to manage the fund's investment objective and strategy.** |
| • | **Communication of Other Information: Certain explanatory information regarding the Files is released to Authorized Participants and liquidity providers on a daily basis, but is only done so after the Files are posted to <u>www.iShares.com</u>.** |
| • | **Third-Party Service Providers: Certain portfolio holdings information may be disclosed to Fund Trustees and their counsel, outside counsel for the Funds, auditors and to certain third-party service providers (*i.e.*, fund administrator, custodian, proxy voting service) for which a non-disclosure, confidentiality agreement or other obligation is in place with such service providers, as may be necessary to conduct business in the ordinary course in a manner consistent with applicable policies, agreements with the Funds, the terms of the current registration statements and federal securities laws and regulations thereunder.** |
| • | **Liquidity Metrics: "Liquidity Metrics," which seek to ascertain a Fund's liquidity profile under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology, include but are not limited to: (a) disclosure regarding the number of days needed to liquidate a portfolio or the portfolio's underlying investments; and (b) the percentage of a Fund's NAV invested in a particular liquidity tier under BlackRock's global liquidity risk methodology. The dissemination of position-level liquidity metrics data and any non-public regulatory data pursuant to the Liquidity Rule (including SEC liquidity tiering) is not permitted unless pre-approved. Disclosure of portfolio-level liquidity metrics prior to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires a non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement and approval of the Trust's Chief Compliance Officer. Portfolio-level liquidity metrics disclosure subsequent to 60 calendar days after calendar quarter-end requires the approval of portfolio management and must be disclosed to all parties requesting the information if disclosed to any party.** |

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The Trust's Chief Compliance Officer or his delegate may authorize disclosure of portfolio holdings information pursuant to the above policy and procedures, subject to restrictions on selective disclosure imposed by applicable law. The Board reviews the policy and procedures for disclosure of portfolio holdings information at least annually.

## Investment Policies
The Board has adopted as fundamental policies the following numbered investment policies, which cannot be changed without the approval of the holders of a majority of the applicable Fund's outstanding voting securities. A vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities of a Fund is defined in the 1940 Act as the lesser of (i) 67% or more of the voting securities present at a shareholder meeting, if the holders of more than 50% of the outstanding voting securities of the Fund are present or represented by proxy, or (ii) more than 50% of outstanding voting securities of the Fund. Each Fund has also adopted certain non-fundamental investment policies, including its investment objective. Non-fundamental investment policies may be changed by the Board without shareholder approval. Therefore, each Fund may change its investment objective without shareholder approval.

#### Fundamental Investment Policies

#### The BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF will not:
1. Purchase the securities of issuers conducting their principal business activity in the same industry if, immediately after the purchase and as a result thereof, the value of the Fund's investments in that industry would equal or exceed 25% of the current value of the Fund's total assets, provided that this restriction does not limit the Fund's: (i) investments in securities of other investment companies, (ii) investments in securities issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities, or (iii) investments in repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. government securities; and (iv) wholly-owned finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Financial services will be divided according to its industries; for example, commercial banks, thrifts and mortgage finance, diversified financial services, consumer finance, capital markets, insurance, REITs and real estate management and development will each be considered a separate industry.

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2. Borrow money, except that (i) the Fund may borrow from banks for temporary or emergency (not leveraging) purposes, including the meeting of redemption requests which might otherwise require the untimely disposition of securities; and (ii) the Fund may, to the extent consistent with its investment policies, enter into repurchase agreements, reverse repurchase agreements, forward roll transactions and similar investment strategies and techniques. To the extent that it engages in transactions described in (i) and (ii), the Fund will be limited so that no more than 33 1/3% of the value of its total assets (including the amount borrowed) is derived from such transactions. Any borrowings which come to exceed this amount will be reduced in accordance with applicable law.

3. Issue any senior security, except as permitted under the 1940 Act, as amended, and as interpreted, modified or otherwise permitted by regulatory authority having jurisdiction, from time to time.

4. Make loans, except as permitted under the 1940 Act, as interpreted, modified or otherwise permitted by regulatory authority having jurisdiction, from time to time.

5. Purchase or sell real estate unless acquired as a result of ownership of securities or other instruments (but this restriction shall not prevent the Fund from investing in securities of companies engaged in the real estate business or securities or other instruments backed by real estate or mortgages), or commodities or commodity contracts.

6. Engage in the business of underwriting securities issued by other persons, except to the extent that the Fund may technically be deemed to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act, in disposing of portfolio securities.

#### Each of the BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF and the BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF will not:
1. Concentrate its investments in a particular industry, as that term is used in the Investment Company Act.

2. Borrow money, except as permitted under the Investment Company Act.

3. Issue senior securities to the extent such issuance would violate the Investment Company Act.

4. Purchase or hold real estate, except the Fund may purchase and hold securities or other instruments that are secured by, or linked to, real estate or interests therein, securities of REITs, mortgage-related securities and securities of issuers engaged in the real estate business, and the Fund may purchase and hold real estate as a result of the ownership of securities or other instruments.

5. Underwrite securities issued by others, except to the extent that the sale of portfolio securities by the Fund may be deemed to be an underwriting or as otherwise permitted by applicable law.

6. Purchase or sell commodities or commodity contracts, except as permitted by the Investment Company Act.

7. Make loans to the extent prohibited by the Investment Company Act.

8. Make any investment inconsistent with the Fund's classification as a diversified company under the Investment Company Act.

#### Notations Regarding each of the BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF and BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF's Fundamental Investment Policies
The following notations are not considered to be part of each Fund's fundamental investment policies and are subject to change without shareholder approval.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to concentration set forth in (1) above, the Investment Company Act does not define what constitutes "concentration" in an industry. The SEC staff has taken the position that investment of 25% or more of a fund's total assets in one or more issuers conducting their principal activities in the same industry or group of industries constitutes concentration. It is possible that interpretations of concentration could change in the future. The policy in (1) above will be interpreted to refer to concentration as that term may be interpreted from time to time. The policy also will be interpreted to permit investment without limit in the following: securities of the U.S. government and its agencies or instrumentalities; securities of state, territory, possession or municipal governments and their authorities, agencies, instrumentalities or political subdivisions; and repurchase agreements collateralized by any such obligations. Accordingly, issuers of the foregoing securities will not be considered to be members of any industry. There also will be no limit on investment in issuers domiciled in a single jurisdiction or country. Finance companies will be considered to be in the industries of their parents if their activities are primarily related to financing the activities of the parents. Each foreign government will be considered to be a member of a separate industry. With respect to each Fund's industry classifications, each Fund currently utilizes any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized

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market indexes or rating group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. The policy also will be interpreted to give broad authority to each Fund as to how to classify issuers within or among industries.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to borrowing money set forth in (2) above, the Investment Company Act permits each Fund to borrow money in amounts of up to one-third of the Fund's total assets from banks for any purpose, and to borrow up to 5% of the Fund's total assets from banks or other lenders for temporary purposes. (Each Fund's total assets include the amounts being borrowed.) To limit the risks attendant to borrowing, the Investment Company Act requires each Fund to maintain at all times an "asset coverage" of at least 300% of the amount of its borrowings. Asset coverage means the ratio that the value of each Fund's total assets (including amounts borrowed), minus liabilities other than borrowings, bears to the aggregate amount of all borrowings. Borrowing money to increase portfolio holdings is known as "leveraging." Certain trading practices and investments, such as reverse repurchase agreements, may be considered to be borrowings or involve leverage and thus are subject to the Investment Company Act restrictions. In accordance with Rule 18f-4 under the Investment Company Act, when each Fund engages in reverse repurchase agreements and similar financing transactions, the Fund may either (i) maintain asset coverage of at least 300% with respect to such transactions and any other borrowings in the aggregate, or (ii) treat such transactions as "derivatives transactions" and comply with Rule 18f-4 with respect to such transactions. Short-term credits necessary for the settlement of securities transactions and arrangements with respect to securities lending will not be considered to be borrowings under the policy. Practices and investments that may involve leverage but are not considered to be borrowings are not subject to the policy.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to underwriting set forth in (5) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit a fund from engaging in the underwriting business or from underwriting the securities of other issuers; in fact, in the case of diversified funds, the Investment Company Act permits a fund to have underwriting commitments of up to 25% of its assets under certain circumstances. Those circumstances currently are that the amount of a fund's underwriting commitments, when added to the value of a fund's investments in issuers where a fund owns more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of those issuers, cannot exceed the 25% cap. A fund engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act. Although it is not believed that the application of the 1933 Act provisions described above would cause a fund to be engaged in the business of underwriting, the policy in (5) above will be interpreted not to prevent a fund from engaging in transactions involving the acquisition or disposition of portfolio securities, regardless of whether a fund may be considered to be an underwriter under the 1933 Act or is otherwise engaged in the underwriting business to the extent permitted by applicable law.

With respect to the fundamental policy relating to lending set forth in (7) above, the Investment Company Act does not prohibit each Fund from making loans (including lending its securities); however, SEC staff interpretations currently prohibit funds from lending more than one-third of their total assets (including lending its securities), except through the purchase of debt obligations or the use of repurchase agreements. In addition, collateral arrangements with respect to options, forward currency and futures transactions and other derivative instruments (as applicable), as well as delays in the settlement of securities transactions, will not be considered loans.

Each of the BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF and BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF is currently classified as a diversified fund under the Investment Company Act. This means that each Fund may not purchase securities of an issuer (other than (i) obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. government, its agencies or instrumentalities and (ii) securities of other investment companies) if, with respect to 75% of its total assets, (a) more than 5% of each Fund's total assets would be invested in securities of that issuer or (b) each Fund would hold more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of that issuer. With respect to the remaining 25% of its total assets, each Fund can invest more than 5% of its assets in one issuer. Under the Investment Company Act, each Fund cannot change its classification from diversified to non-diversified without shareholder approval.

#### Non-Fundamental Investment Policies

#### BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF and BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF
Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to make short sales of securities or maintain a short position, except to the extent permitted by each Fund's Prospectus and SAI, as amended from time to time, and applicable law.

In addition to the investment restrictions adopted as fundamental policies set forth above, each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to invest in the securities of a company for the purpose of exercising management or control, or

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purchase or otherwise acquire any illiquid investment, except as permitted under the 1940 Act, which currently limits each Fund's holdings in illiquid investments to 15% of a Fund's net assets. BFA monitors Fund holdings in illiquid investments pursuant to the Liquidity Program.

If any percentage restriction described above is complied with at the time of an investment, a later increase or decrease in percentage resulting from a change in values of assets will not constitute a violation of such restriction, except that certain percentage limitations will be observed continuously in accordance with applicable law.

Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental investment policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in a portfolio of U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade fixed-income securities. Each Fund also has adopted a policy to provide its shareholders with at least 60 days' prior written notice of any change in such policy. If, subsequent to an investment, the 80% requirement is no longer met, each Fund's future investments will be made in a manner that will bring each Fund into compliance with this policy.

The BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF has adopted a fundamental investment policy to invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of the value of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in investments the income of which is free from federal income tax.

#### All Funds
Each Fund has adopted a non-fundamental policy not to purchase securities of other investment companies, except to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act. As a matter of policy, however, a Fund will not purchase shares of any registered open-end investment company or registered unit investment trust, in reliance on Section 12(d)(1)(F) or (G) (the "fund of funds" provisions) of the 1940 Act, at any time the Fund has knowledge that its shares are purchased by another investment company investor in reliance on the provisions of subparagraph (G) of Section 12(d)(1).

Unless otherwise indicated, all limitations under each Fund's fundamental or non-fundamental investment policies apply only at the time that a transaction is undertaken. Any change in the percentage of each Fund's assets invested in certain securities or other instruments resulting from market fluctuations or other changes in each Fund's total assets will not require each Fund to dispose of an investment until BFA determines that it is practicable to sell or close out the investment without undue market or tax consequences.

## Continuous Offering
The method by which Creation Units are created and traded may raise certain issues under applicable securities laws. Because new Creation Units are issued and sold by the Funds on an ongoing basis, at any point a "distribution," as such term is used in the 1933 Act, may occur. Broker-dealers and other persons are cautioned that some activities on their part may, depending on the circumstances, result in their being deemed participants in a distribution in a manner that could render them statutory underwriters and subject them to the prospectus delivery requirement and liability provisions of the 1933 Act.

For example, a broker-dealer firm or its client may be deemed a statutory underwriter if it takes Creation Units after placing an order with the Distributor, breaks them down into constituent shares and sells such shares directly to customers or if it chooses to couple the creation of new shares with an active selling effort involving solicitation of secondary market demand for shares. A determination of whether one is an underwriter for purposes of the 1933 Act must take into account all of the facts and circumstances pertaining to the activities of the broker-dealer or its client in the particular case and the examples mentioned above should not be considered a complete description of all the activities that could lead to a categorization as an underwriter.

Broker-dealer firms should also note that dealers who are not "underwriters" but are effecting transactions in shares, whether or not participating in the distribution of shares, generally are required to deliver a prospectus. This is because the prospectus delivery exemption in Section 4(a)(3) of the 1933 Act is not available in respect of such transactions as a result of Section 24(d) of the 1940 Act. Firms that incur a prospectus delivery obligation with respect to shares of the Funds are reminded that, pursuant to Rule 153 under the 1933 Act, a prospectus delivery obligation under Section 5(b)(2) of the 1933 Act owed to an exchange member in connection with a sale on the Listing Exchange generally is satisfied by the fact that the prospectus is available at the Listing Exchange upon request. The prospectus delivery mechanism provided in Rule 153 is available only with respect to transactions on an exchange.

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## Management
**Trustees and Officers. The Board has responsibility for the overall management and operations of the Funds, including general supervision of the duties performed by BFA and other service providers. Each Trustee serves until he or she resigns, is removed, dies, retires or becomes incapacitated. The President, Chief Compliance Officer, Treasurer and Secretary shall each hold office until their successors are chosen and qualify, and all other officers shall hold office until he or she resigns or is removed. Trustees who are not "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust are referred to as independent trustees ("Independent Trustees").**

The registered investment companies advised by BFA or its affiliates (the "BlackRock-advised Funds") are organized into one complex of open-end equity, multi-asset, index and money market funds and ETFs (the "BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex"), one complex of closed-end funds and open-end non-index fixed-income funds (including ETFs) (the "BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex") and one complex of ETFs ("Exchange-Traded Fund Complex") (each, a "BlackRock Fund Complex"). Each Fund is included in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex. Each Trustee also serves as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust, and, as a result, oversees all of the funds within the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, which consists of 381 funds as of March 1, 2023. With the exception of Robert S. Kapito, Salim Ramji and Charles Park, the address of each Trustee and officer is c/o BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of Mr. Kapito, Mr. Ramji and Mr. Park is c/o BlackRock, Inc., Park Avenue Plaza, 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055. The Board has designated John E. Kerrigan as its Independent Board Chair. Additional information about the Funds' Trustees and officers may be found in this SAI, which is available without charge, upon request, by calling toll-free 1-800-iShares (1-800-474-2737).

#### Interested Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Robert S. Kapito<sup>1</sup><br> (1957) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;President, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group (since its formation in 1998) and BlackRock, Inc.'s predecessor entities (since 1988); Trustee, University of Pennsylvania (since 2009); President of Board of Directors, Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since 2006); Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2009); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2009). |
| Salim Ramji<sup>2</sup><br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2014); Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments Business (since 2019); Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory Business (2015-2019); Global Head of Corporate Strategy, BlackRock, Inc. (2014-2015); Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company (2010-2014). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2019); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2019). |

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<sup>1</sup> Robert S. Kapito is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

<sup>2</sup> Salim Ramji is deemed to be an "interested person" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust due to his affiliations with BlackRock, Inc. and its affiliates.

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#### Independent Trustees

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| John E. Kerrigan<br> (1955) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Independent Board Chair<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Investment Officer, Santa Clara University (since 2002). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005); Independent Board Chair of iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. (since 2022). |
| Jane D. Carlin<br> (1956) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2015); Risk Committee Chair (since 2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Consultant (since 2012); Member of the Audit Committee (2012-2018), Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee (2017-2018) and Director of PHH Corporation (mortgage solutions) (2012-2018); Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley (2006-2012). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2015); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2015); Member of the Audit Committee (since 2016), Chair of the Audit Committee (since 2020) and Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. (since 2016). |
| Richard L. Fagnani<br> (1954) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); Audit Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Partner, KPMG LLP (2002-2016); Director of One Generation Away (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Cecilia H. Herbert<br> (1949) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Nominating and Governance and Equity Plus Committee Chairs<br> (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair of the Finance Committee (since 2019) and Trustee and Member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees of Stanford Health Care (since 2016); Trustee of WNET, New York's public media company (since 2011) and Member of the Audit Committee (since 2018), Investment Committee (since 2011) and Personnel Committee (since 2022); Chair (1994-2005) and Member (1992-2021) of the Investment Committee, Archdiocese of San Francisco; Trustee of Forward Funds (14 portfolios) (2009-2018); Trustee of Salient MF Trust (4 portfolios) (2015-2018); Director (1998-2013) and President (2007-2011) of the Board of Directors, Catholic Charities CYO; Trustee (2002-2011) and Chair of the Finance and Investment Committee (2006-2010) of the Thacher School; Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole (since 2020); Director of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts (since 2021); Member of the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2005); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2005). |
| Drew E. Lawton<br> (1959) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2017); 15(c) Committee Chair (since 2017). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Senior Managing Director of New York Life Insurance Company (2010-2015). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2017); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2017); Director of Jackson Financial Inc. (since 2021). |
| John E. Martinez<br> (1961) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011);<br> Securities Lending Committee Chair<br> (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc. (since 2005); Director of Cloudera Foundation (2017-2020); and Director of Reading Partners (2012-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2003); Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2003). |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Other Directorships<br> Held by Trustee** |
| Madhav V. Rajan<br> (1964) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Trustee<br> (since 2011); Fixed Income Plus Committee Chair (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Dean, and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (since 2017); Advisory Board Member (since 2016) and Director (since 2020) of C.M. Capital Corporation; Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC (since 2020); Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2001-2017); Professor of Law (by courtesy), Stanford Law School (2005-2017); Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Head of MBA Program, Stanford University Graduate School of Business (2010-2016). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Director of iShares, Inc. (since 2011);<br> Trustee of iShares Trust (since 2011). |

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#### Officers

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Armando Senra<br> (1971) | &nbsp;&nbsp;President (since 2019). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2007); Head of U.S., Canada and Latin America iShares, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2019); Head of Latin America Region, BlackRock, Inc. (2006-2019); Managing Director, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (1994-2006). |
| Trent Walker<br> (1974) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer<br> (since 2020). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. (since September 2019); Chief Financial Officer of iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC, BlackRock Funds, BlackRock Funds II, BlackRock Funds IV, BlackRock Funds V and BlackRock Funds VI (since 2021); Executive Vice President of PIMCO (2016-2019); Senior Vice President of PIMCO (2008-2015); Treasurer (2013-2019) and Assistant Treasurer (2007-2017) of PIMCO Funds, PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust, PIMCO ETF Trust, PIMCO Equity Series, PIMCO Equity Series VIT, PIMCO Managed Accounts Trust, 2 PIMCO-sponsored interval funds and 21 PIMCO-sponsored closed-end funds. |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name (Year of Birth)** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Position** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Principal Occupation(s)<br> During the Past 5 Years** |
| Charles Park<br> (1967) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer (since 2011). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock Advisors, LLC and the BlackRock-advised Funds in the BlackRock Multi-Asset Complex and the BlackRock Fixed-Income Complex (since 2014); Chief Compliance Officer of BFA (since 2006). |
| Marisa Rolland<br> (1980) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Secretary (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2023); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2018-2022); Vice President, BlackRock, Inc. (2010-2017). |
| Rachel Aguirre<br> (1982) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2018); Director, BlackRock, Inc. (2009-2018); Head of U.S. iShares Product (since 2022); Head of EII U.S. Product Engineering (since 2021); Co-Head of EII's Americas Portfolio Engineering (2020-2021); Head of Developed Markets Portfolio Engineering (2016-2019). |
| Jennifer Hsui<br> (1976) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2022). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2009); Co-Head of Index Equity (since 2022). |
| James Mauro<br> (1970) | &nbsp;&nbsp;Executive Vice President (since 2021). | &nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director, BlackRock, Inc. (since 2010); Head of Fixed Income Index Investments in the Americas and Head of San Francisco Core Portfolio Management (since 2020). |

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The Board has concluded that, based on each Trustee's experience, qualifications, attributes or skills on an individual basis and in combination with those of the other Trustees, each Trustee should serve as a Trustee of the Board. Among the attributes common to all Trustees are their ability to review critically, evaluate, question and discuss information provided to them, to interact effectively with the Funds' investment adviser, other service providers, counsel and the independent registered public accounting firm, and to exercise effective business judgment in the performance of their duties as Trustees. A Trustee's ability to perform his or her duties effectively may have been attained through the Trustee's educational background or professional training; business, consulting, public service or academic positions; experience from service as a Board member of the Funds and the other funds in the Trust (and any predecessor funds), other investment funds, public companies, or non-profit entities or other organizations; and/or other life experiences. Also, set forth below is a brief discussion of the specific experience, qualifications, attributes or skills of each Trustee that led the Board to conclude that he or she should serve (or continue to serve) as a Trustee.

Robert S. Kapito has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011. Mr. Kapito has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2009 and a Director of BlackRock, Inc. since 2006. Mr. Kapito served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. In addition, he has over 20 years of experience as part of BlackRock, Inc. and BlackRock's predecessor entities. Mr. Kapito serves as President of BlackRock, Inc., and is a member of the Global Executive Committee and Chairman of the Global Operating Committee. He is responsible for day-to-day oversight of BlackRock's key operating units, including Investment Strategies, Client Businesses, Technology & Operations, and Risk & Quantitative Analysis. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2007, Mr. Kapito served as Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. and Head of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group. In that role, he was responsible for overseeing all portfolio management within BlackRock, including the Fixed Income, Equity, Liquidity, and Alternative Investment Groups. Mr. Kapito serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School Board of Dean's

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Advisors. He has also been President of the Board of Directors for the Hope & Heroes Children's Cancer Fund since 2002. Mr. Kapito earned a BS degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, and an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1983.

Salim Ramji has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2019. Mr. Ramji is the Global Head of BlackRock's ETF and Index Investments business. In addition, he is a member of BlackRock's Global Executive Committee. Prior to assuming his current responsibilities in 2019, Mr. Ramji was Head of BlackRock's U.S. Wealth Advisory business, where he was responsible for leading BlackRock's relationships with wealth management firms and platforms, for distributing BlackRock's alpha-seeking and iShares investment capabilities and for the adoption of BlackRock's portfolio construction and digital wealth technologies to financial advisors. Mr. Ramji joined BlackRock in 2014, serving initially as the Global Head of Corporate Strategy. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Ramji was a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he led the Asset and Wealth Management practice areas. He started his career as a corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Clifford Chance LLP in London and Hong Kong. He has served as a Trustee of Graham Windham, a New York-based child care agency, since 2007. Mr. Ramji earned a bachelor's degree in economics and politics from University of Toronto, a law degree from Cambridge University and is a CFA charter holder.

John E. Kerrigan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Trust's Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2005, Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board from 2019 to 2021, and as Chair of each Board since 2022. Mr. Kerrigan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Kerrigan has served as Chief Investment Officer of Santa Clara University since 2002. Mr. Kerrigan was formerly a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co., including the following responsibilities: Managing Director, Institutional Client Division, Western United States. Mr. Kerrigan has been a Director, since 1999, of The BASIC Fund (Bay Area Scholarships for Inner City Children). Mr. Kerrigan has a BA degree from Boston College and is a Chartered Financial Analyst Charterholder.

Jane D. Carlin has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2015 and Chair of the Risk Committee since 2016. Ms. Carlin has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2015, and Chair of the Risk Committee of each Board since 2016. Ms. Carlin has served as a consultant since 2012 and formerly served as Managing Director and Global Head of Financial Holding Company Governance & Assurance and the Global Head of Operational Risk Management of Morgan Stanley from 2006 to 2012. In addition, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Global Head of the Bank Operational Risk Oversight Department of Credit Suisse Group from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, Ms. Carlin served as Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of Morgan Stanley. Ms. Carlin has over 30 years of experience in the financial sector and has served in a number of legal, regulatory, and risk management positions. Ms. Carlin has served as a member of the Audit Committee and as a Director of The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., each since 2016, and as Chair of the Audit Committee since 2020. Ms. Carlin served as a member of the Audit Committee from 2012 to 2018, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee from 2017 to 2018 and as an Independent Director on the Board of PHH Corporation from 2012 to 2018. She previously served as a Director on the Boards of Astoria Financial Corporation and Astoria Bank. Ms. Carlin was appointed by the United States Treasury to the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, where she served as Chairperson from 2010 to 2012 and Vice Chair and Chair of the Cyber Security Committee from 2009 to 2010. Ms. Carlin has a BA degree in political science from State University of New York at Stony Brook and a JD degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

Richard L. Fagnani has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the Audit Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2017, and Chair of the Audit Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Fagnani served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. from April 2017 to June 2017. Mr. Fagnani served as a Senior Audit Partner at KPMG LLP from 2002 to 2016, most recently as the U.S. asset management audit practice leader responsible for setting strategic direction and execution of the operating plan for the asset management audit practice. In addition, from 1977 to 2002, Mr. Fagnani served as an Audit Partner at Andersen LLP, where he developed and managed the asset management audit practice in the Philadelphia office. Mr. Fagnani served as a Trustee on the Board of the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia from 2009 to 2014 and as a member of the School of Business Advisory Board at LaSalle University from 2006 to 2014. Mr. Fagnani has also served as a Director of One Generation Away, a non-profit which works to bring healthy food directly to people in need, since 2021. Mr. Fagnani has a BS degree in Accounting from LaSalle University.

Cecilia H. Herbert has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of the Trust since 2022. Ms. Herbert has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust

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since 2005, Chair of the Trust's Board from 2016 to 2021, and Chair of the Equity Plus and Nominating and Governance Committees of each Board since 2022. Ms. Herbert served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Previously, Ms. Herbert served as Trustee of the Montgomery Funds from 1992 to 2003, the Pacific Select Funds from 2004 to 2005, the Forward Funds from 2009 to 2018, the Salient Funds from 2015 to 2018 and the Thrivent Church Loan and Income Fund from 2019 to 2022. She has served as a member of the Finance, Audit and Quality Committees and Trustee of Stanford Health Care since 2016 and became Chair of the Finance Committee of Stanford Health Care in 2019. She has served as a Trustee of WNET, New York's public media station, since 2011 and a Member of its Audit Committee since 2018. She was appointed to the Wyoming State Investment Funds Committee in 2022. She became a member of the Governing Council of the Independent Directors Forum in 2018. She has served as a Director of the Senior Center of Jackson Hole since 2020 and of the Jackson Hole Center for the Arts since 2021. She was President of the Board of Catholic Charities CYO, the largest social services agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, from 2007 to 2011 and a member of that board from 1992 to 2013. She worked from 1973 to 1990 at J.P. Morgan/Morgan Guaranty Trust doing international corporate finance and corporate lending, retiring as Managing Director and Head of the West Coast Office. Ms. Herbert has been on numerous non-profit boards, chairing investment and finance committees. She holds a double major in economics and communications from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Drew E. Lawton has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2017 and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of the Trust since 2017. Mr. Lawton has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc., a Trustee of iShares Trust, and Chair of the 15(c) Committee of each Board since 2017. Mr. Lawton also served as an Advisory Board Member of the Trust, iShares, Inc. and iShares Trust from 2016 to 2017. Mr. Lawton served as Director of Principal Funds, Inc., Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc. and Principal Exchange-Traded Funds from March 2016 to October 2016. Mr. Lawton has also served as a member of the Compensation and Finance and Risk Committees and Director of Jackson Financial Inc. since 2021. Mr. Lawton served in various capacities at New York Life Insurance Company from 2010 to 2015, most recently as a Senior Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of New York Life Investment Management. From 2008 to 2010, Mr. Lawton was the President of Fridson Investment Advisors, LLC. Mr. Lawton previously held multiple roles at Fidelity Investments from 1997 to 2008. Mr. Lawton has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Texas since 2021. Mr. Lawton has a BA degree in Administrative Science from Yale University and an MBA from University of North Texas.

John E. Martinez has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Martinez has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2003, and Chair of the Securities Lending Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Martinez served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2010 to 2015. Mr. Martinez is a Director of Real Estate Equity Exchange, Inc., providing governance oversight and consulting services to this privately held firm that develops products and strategies for homeowners in managing the equity in their homes. From 2017 to 2020, Mr. Martinez served as a Board member for the Cloudera Foundation. Mr. Martinez previously served as Director of Barclays Global Investors ("BGI") UK Holdings, where he provided governance oversight representing BGI's shareholders (Barclays PLC, BGI management shareholders) through oversight of BGI's worldwide activities. Mr. Martinez also previously served as Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Global Index and Markets Group of BGI, Chairman of Barclays Global Investor Services and Chief Executive Officer of the Capital Markets Group of BGI. From 2003 to 2012, he was a Director and Executive Committee Member for Larkin Street Youth Services. He now serves on the Larkin Street Honorary Board. From 2012 to 2016, Mr. Martinez served as a Director for Reading Partners. Mr. Martinez has an AB degree in economics from The University of California, Berkeley and holds an MBA degree in finance and statistics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Madhav V. Rajan has been a Trustee of the Trust since 2011 and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of the Trust since 2019. Mr. Rajan has also served as a Director of iShares, Inc. and a Trustee of iShares Trust since 2011, and Chair of the Fixed Income Plus Committee of each Board since 2019. Mr. Rajan served as a Director of iShares MSCI Russia Capped ETF, Inc. from 2011 to 2015. Mr. Rajan is the Dean and George Pratt Shultz Professor of Accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and also serves as Chair of the Board for the Center for Research in Security Prices, LLC, an affiliate of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, since 2020. He has served on the Advisory Board of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2016 and as a Director of C.M. Capital Corporation since 2020. From 2001 to 2017, Mr. Rajan was the Robert K. Jaedicke Professor of Accounting at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. In April 2017, he received the school's Robert T. Davis Award for Lifetime Achievement and Service. He has taught accounting for over 25 years to undergraduate, MBA and law students, as well as to senior executives. From 2010 to 2016, Mr. Rajan served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and head of the MBA Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Mr. Rajan served as editor of "The Accounting Review" from 2002 to 2008 and is co-author of "Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis," a

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leading cost accounting textbook. From 2013 to 2018, Mr. Rajan served on the Board of Directors of Cavium Inc., a semiconductor company. Mr. Rajan holds MS and PhD degrees in Accounting from Carnegie Mellon University.

<u>Board – Leadership Structure and Oversight Responsibilities</u>

Overall responsibility for oversight of the Funds rests with the Board. The Board has engaged BFA to manage the Funds on a day-to-day basis. The Board is responsible for overseeing BFA and other service providers in the operations of the Funds in accordance with the provisions of the 1940 Act, applicable provisions of state and other laws and the Trust's charter. The Board is currently composed of nine members, seven of whom are Independent Trustees. The Board currently conducts regular in person meetings four times a year. In addition, the Board frequently holds special in person or telephonic meetings or informal conference calls to discuss specific matters that may arise or require action between regular meetings. The Independent Trustees meet regularly outside the presence of management, in executive session or with other service providers to the Trust.

The Board has appointed an Independent Trustee to serve in the role of Board Chair. The Board Chair's role is to preside at all meetings of the Board and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys, and other Trustees generally between meetings. The Board Chair may also perform such other functions as may be delegated by the Board from time to time. The Board has established seven standing Committees: a Nominating and Governance Committee, an Audit Committee, a 15(c) Committee, a Securities Lending Committee, a Risk Committee, an Equity Plus Committee and a Fixed Income Plus Committee to assist the Board in the oversight and direction of the business and affairs of the Funds, and from time to time the Board may establish ad hoc committees or informal working groups to review and address the policies and practices of the Funds with respect to certain specified matters. The Chair of each standing Committee is an Independent Trustee. The role of the Chair of each Committee is to preside at all meetings of the Committee and to act as a liaison with service providers, officers, attorneys and other Trustees between meetings. Each standing Committee meets regularly to conduct the oversight functions delegated to the Committee by the Board and reports its finding to the Board. The Board and each standing Committee conduct annual assessments of their oversight function and structure. The Board has determined that the Board's leadership structure is appropriate because it allows the Board to exercise independent judgment over management and it allocates areas of responsibility among committees of Independent Trustees and the full Board to enhance effective oversight.

Day-to-day risk management with respect to the Funds is the responsibility of BFA or other service providers (depending on the nature of the risk), subject to the supervision of BFA. Each Fund is subject to a number of risks, including investment, compliance, operational, reputational, counterparty and valuation risks, among others. While there are a number of risk management functions performed by BFA and other service providers, as applicable, it is not possible to identify and eliminate all of the risks applicable to the Funds. The Trustees have an oversight role in this area, satisfying themselves that risk management processes and controls are in place and operating effectively. Risk oversight forms part of the Board's general oversight of each Fund and is addressed as part of various Board and committee activities. In some cases, risk management issues are specifically addressed in presentations and discussions. For example, BFA has an independent dedicated Risk and Quantitative Analysis Group ("RQA") that assists BFA in managing fiduciary and corporate risks, including investment, operational, counterparty credit and enterprise risk. Representatives of RQA meet with the Board to discuss their analysis and methodologies, as well as specific risk topics such as operational and counterparty risks relating to the Funds. The Board, directly or through a committee, also reviews reports from, among others, management and the independent registered public accounting firm for the Trust, as appropriate, regarding risks faced by each Fund and management's risk functions. The Board has appointed a Chief Compliance Officer who oversees the implementation and testing of the Trust's compliance program, including assessments by independent third parties, and reports to the Board regarding compliance matters for the Trust and its principal service providers. In testing and maintaining the compliance program, the Chief Compliance Officer (and his or her delegates) assesses key compliance risks affecting each Fund, and addresses them in periodic reports to the Board. In addition, the Audit Committee meets with both the Funds' independent registered public accounting firm and BFA's internal audit group to review risk controls in place that support each Fund as well as test results. Board oversight of risk is also performed as needed between meetings through communications between BFA and the Board. The Independent Trustees have engaged independent legal counsel to assist them in performing their oversight responsibilities. From time to time, the Board may modify the manner in which it conducts risk oversight. The Board's oversight role does not make it a guarantor of the Funds' investment performance or other activities.

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**Committees of the Board of Trustees. The members of the Audit Committee are Richard L. Fagnani (Chair), Cecilia H. Herbert and Madhav V. Rajan, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The purposes of the Audit Committee are to assist the Board (i) in its oversight of the Trust's accounting and financial reporting principles and policies and related controls and procedures maintained by or on behalf of the Trust; (ii) in its oversight of the Trust's financial statements and the independent audit thereof; (iii) in selecting, evaluating and, where deemed appropriate, replacing the independent accountants (or nominating the independent accountants to be proposed for shareholder approval in any proxy statement); (iv) in evaluating the independence of the independent accountants; (v) in complying with legal and regulatory requirements that relate to the Trust's accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, compliance controls and independent audits; and (vi) to assume such other responsibilities as may be delegated by the Board. The Audit Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.**

The members of the Nominating and Governance Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), Madhav V. Rajan and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The Nominating and Governance Committee nominates individuals for Independent Trustee membership on the Board and recommends appointments to the Advisory Board. The Nominating and Governance Committee functions include, but are not limited to, the following: (i) reviewing the qualifications of any person properly identified or nominated to serve as an Independent Trustee; (ii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the nominee(s) for appointment as an Independent Trustee by the Board and current Independent Trustees and/or for election as Independent Trustees by shareholders to fill any vacancy for a position of Independent Trustee(s) on the Board; (iii) recommending to the Board and current Independent Trustees the size and composition of the Board and Board committees and whether they comply with applicable laws and regulations; (iv) recommending a current Independent Trustee to the Board and current Independent Trustees to serve as Board Chair; (v) periodic review of the Board's retirement policy; and (vi) recommending an appropriate level of compensation for the Independent Trustees for their services as Trustees, members or chairpersons of committees of the Board, Board Chair and any other positions as the Nominating and Governance Committee considers appropriate. The Nominating and Governance Committee does not consider Board nominations recommended by shareholders (acting solely in their capacity as a shareholder and not in any other capacity). The Nominating and Governance Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

Each Independent Trustee serves on the 15(c) Committee. The Chair of the 15(c) Committee is Drew E. Lawton. The principal responsibilities of the 15(c) Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for the annual review and renewal of the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements. These responsibilities include: (i) meeting with BlackRock, Inc. in advance of the Board meeting at which the Trust's advisory and sub-advisory agreements are to be considered to discuss generally the process for providing requested information to the Board and the format in which information will be provided; and (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to evaluate the investment advisory and sub-advisory agreements of the Trust. The 15(c) Committee met two times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Securities Lending Committee are John E. Martinez (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Securities Lending Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of the Trust's securities lending activities. These responsibilities include: (i) requesting that certain information be provided to the Committee for its review and consideration prior to such information being provided to the Board; (ii) considering and discussing with BlackRock, Inc. such other matters and information as may be necessary and appropriate for the Board to oversee the Trust's securities lending activities and make required findings and approvals; and (iii) providing a recommendation to the Board regarding the annual approval of the Trust's Securities Lending Guidelines and the required findings with respect to, and annual approval of, the Trust's agreement with the securities lending agent. The Securities Lending Committee met five times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Equity Plus Committee are Cecilia H. Herbert (Chair), John E. Martinez and Drew E. Lawton, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Equity Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for equity funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Equity Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

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The members of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are Madhav V. Rajan (Chair), Jane D. Carlin and Richard L. Fagnani, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibilities of the Fixed Income Plus Committee are to support, oversee and organize on behalf of the Board the process for oversight of Trust performance and related matters for fixed-income or multi-asset funds. These responsibilities include: (i) reviewing quarterly reports regarding Trust performance, secondary market trading and changes in net assets to identify any matters that should be brought to the attention of the Board; and (ii) considering any performance or investment related matters as may be delegated to the Committee by the Board from time to time and providing a report or recommendation to the Board as appropriate. The Fixed Income Plus Committee met four times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The members of the Risk Committee are Jane D. Carlin (Chair), Richard L. Fagnani and John E. Martinez, each of whom is an Independent Trustee. The principal responsibility of the Risk Committee is to consider and organize on behalf of the Board risk related matters of the Funds so the Board may most effectively structure itself to oversee them. The Risk Committee commenced on January 1, 2016. The Risk Committee met seven times during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

As the Chair of the Board, John E. Kerrigan may serve as an ex-officio member of each Committee.

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2022, the dollar range of equity securities beneficially owned by each Trustee in the Funds and in other registered investment companies overseen by the Trustee within the same family of investment companies as the Trust. If a fund is not listed below, the Trustee did not own any securities in that fund as of the date indicated above:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
| Robert S. Kapito |  |  |  |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares High Yield Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond Buywrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares TIPS Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Technology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Select Dividend ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares California Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares National Muni Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1-$10000 |  |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Biotechnology ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range of Equity<br> Securities in Named Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate Dollar Range<br> of Equity Securities in all<br> Registered Investment<br> Companies Overseen by<br> Trustee<br> in Family of<br> Investment Companies** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$50001-$100000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Exponential Technologies ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Financials ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10001-$50000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Russell 2000 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Over $100,000 |  |

---

As of December 31, 2022, none of the Independent Trustees or their immediate family members owned beneficially or of record any securities of BFA (the Funds' investment adviser), the Distributor or any person controlling, controlled by or under common control with BFA or the Distributor.

**Remuneration of Trustees and Advisory Board Members. Effective January 1, 2023, each current Independent Trustee is paid an annual retainer of $440,000 for his or her services as a Board member to the BlackRock-advised Funds in the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex, together with out-of-pocket expenses in accordance with the Board's policy on travel and other business expenses relating to attendance at meetings. The annual retainer for services as an Advisory Board Member is the same as the annual retainer for services as a Board member. The Independent Chair of the Board is paid an additional annual retainer of $125,000. The Chair of each of the Equity Plus Committee, Fixed Income Plus Committee, Securities Lending Committee, Nominating and Governance Committee and 15(c) Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $30,000. The Chair of each of the Audit Committee and Risk Committee is paid an additional annual retainer of $45,000. Each Independent Trustee that served as a director of subsidiaries of the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex is paid an additional annual retainer of $10,000 (plus an additional $1,765 paid annually to compensate for taxes due in the Republic of Mauritius in connection with such Trustee's service on the boards of certain Mauritius-based subsidiaries).**

The tables below set forth the compensation earned by each Independent Trustee and Interested Trustee for services to each Fund for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 and the aggregate compensation paid to them for services to the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex for the calendar year ended December 31, 2022.

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Short Maturity<br>Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Short<br> Maturity Municipal<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Ultra<br> Short-Term<br> Bond ETF** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;$958 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$116 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$1577 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;963 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;117 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1586 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;994 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;121 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1638 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1036 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;126 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1706 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;932 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;113 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1534 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;932 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;113 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1534 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;932 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;113 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1534 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Pension or<br> Retirement Benefits Accrued<br> As Part of<br> Trust<br> Expenses<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Estimated Annual<br> Benefits Upon<br> Retirement<sup>1</sup>** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total<br> Compensation<br> From the Funds<br> and Fund Complex<sup>2</sup>** |
| *Independent Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Jane D. Carlin | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$465000 |
| Richard L. Fagnani | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;476764 |
| Cecilia H. Herbert | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;475000 |
| John E. Kerrigan | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;505000 |
| Drew E. Lawton | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;461764 |
| John E. Martinez | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| Madhav V. Rajan | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;450000 |
| *Interested Trustees:* |  |  |  |
| Robert S. Kapito | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;$0 |
| Salim Ramji | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;Not Applicable | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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<sup>1</sup> No Trustee or Officer is entitled to any pension or retirement benefits from the Trust. <br> <sup>2</sup> Also includes compensation for service on the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc.

#### Control Persons and Principal Holders of Securities.
The Trustees and officers of the Trust collectively owned less than 1% of each Fund's outstanding shares as of January 31, 2023.

Although the Trust does not have information concerning the beneficial ownership of shares held in the names of Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants (as defined below), as of January 31, 2023, the name and percentage ownership of each DTC participant that owned of record 5% or more of the outstanding shares of a Fund were as follows:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;19.25% |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Name** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Percentage<br> of Ownership** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;15.83% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;11.86% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9.03% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC<br> One New York Plaza<br> New York, NY 10004 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6.58% |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;34.09% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;15.53% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;13.34% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.32% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Bank of America, National Association<br> GWIM TRUST OPERATIONS<br> 411 N. Akard Street<br> 5<sup>th</sup> Floor<br> Dallas, TX 75201 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5.61% |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;National Financial Services LLC<br> 499 Washington Blvd<br> Jersey City, NJ 07310 | &nbsp;&nbsp;27.30% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.<br> 101 Montgomery Street<br> San Francisco, CA 94014 | &nbsp;&nbsp;18.69% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;TD Ameritrade Clearing, Inc.<br> 4700 Alliance Gateway Freeway<br> Fort Worth, TX 76177 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9.06% |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated - TS Sub<br> 101 Hudson Street<br> 9th Floor<br> Jersey City, NJ 07302-3997 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8.67% |

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**Conflicts of Interest. Certain activities of BFA, BlackRock, Inc. and the other subsidiaries of BlackRock, Inc. (collectively referred to in this section as "BlackRock") and their respective directors, officers and employees, with respect to the Funds and/or other accounts managed by BlackRock, may give rise to actual or perceived conflicts of interest such as those described below.**

BlackRock is one of the world's largest asset management firms. BlackRock, its subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers and employees, including the business units or entities and personnel who may be involved in the investment activities and business operations of a Fund, are engaged worldwide in businesses, including managing equities, fixed-income securities, cash and alternative investments, and have interests other than that of managing the Funds. These are considerations of which investors in a Fund should be aware, and which may cause conflicts of interest that could disadvantage a Fund and its shareholders. These businesses and interests include potential multiple advisory, financial and other relationships with, or interests in, companies and interests in securities or other instruments that may be purchased or sold by a Fund.

BlackRock has proprietary interests in, and may manage or advise with respect to, accounts or funds (including separate accounts and other funds and collective investment vehicles) that have investment objectives similar to those of a Fund and/or that engage in transactions in the same types of securities, currencies and instruments as the Funds. BlackRock is also a major participant in the global currency, equities, swap and fixed income markets, in each case, for the accounts of clients and, in some cases, on a proprietary basis. As such, BlackRock is or may be actively engaged in transactions in the same securities, currencies, and instruments in which a Fund invests. Such activities could affect the prices and availability of the securities, currencies, and instruments in which a Fund invests, which could have an adverse impact on a Fund's performance. Such transactions, particularly in respect of most proprietary accounts or client accounts, will be executed independently of a Fund's transactions and thus at prices or rates that may be more or less favorable than those obtained by the Funds.

When BlackRock seeks to purchase or sell the same assets for managed accounts, including a Fund, the assets actually purchased or sold may be allocated among the accounts on a basis determined in its good faith discretion to be equitable. In some cases, this system may adversely affect the size or price of the assets purchased or sold for a Fund. In addition, transactions in investments by one or more other accounts managed by BlackRock may have the effect of diluting or otherwise disadvantaging the values, prices or investment strategies of a Fund, particularly, but not limited to, with respect to small-capitalization, emerging market or less liquid strategies. This may occur with respect to BlackRock-advised accounts when investment decisions regarding a Fund are based on research or other information that is also used to support decisions for other accounts. When BlackRock implements a portfolio decision or strategy on behalf of another account ahead of, or contemporaneously with, similar decisions or strategies for a Fund, market impact, liquidity constraints, or other factors could result in the Fund receiving less favorable trading results and the costs of implementing such decisions or strategies could be increased or the Fund could otherwise be disadvantaged. BlackRock may, in certain cases, elect to implement internal policies and procedures designed to limit such consequences, which may cause a Fund to be unable to engage in certain activities, including purchasing or disposing of securities, when it might otherwise be desirable for it to do so.

Conflicts may also arise because portfolio decisions regarding a Fund may benefit other accounts managed by BlackRock. For example, the sale of a long position or establishment of a short position by a Fund may impair the price of the same security sold short by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds, and the purchase of a security or covering of a short position in a security by a Fund may increase the price of the same security held by (and therefore benefit) BlackRock or its other accounts or funds. In addition, to the extent permitted by applicable law, certain Funds may invest their assets in other funds advised by BlackRock, including funds that are managed by one or more of the same portfolio managers, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to asset allocation, timing of Fund purchases and sales, and increased remuneration and profitability for BlackRock, and/or its personnel, including portfolio managers.

In certain circumstances, BlackRock, on behalf of the Funds, may seek to buy from or sell securities to another fund or account advised by BlackRock. BlackRock may (but is not required to) effect purchases and sales between BlackRock clients ("cross trades"), including the Funds, if BlackRock believes such transactions are appropriate based on each party's investment objectives and guidelines, subject to applicable law and regulation. There may be potential conflicts of interest or regulatory issues relating to these transactions which could limit BlackRock's decision to engage in these transactions for the Funds. BlackRock may have a potentially conflicting division of loyalties and responsibilities to the parties in such

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transactions. On any occasion when a Fund participates in a cross trade, BlackRock will comply with procedures adopted under applicable rules and SEC guidance.

BlackRock and its clients may pursue or enforce rights with respect to an issuer in which a Fund has invested, and those activities may have an adverse effect on the Fund. As a result, prices, availability, liquidity and terms of a Fund's investments may be negatively impacted by the activities of BlackRock or its clients, and transactions for the Fund may be impaired or effected at prices or terms that may be less favorable than would otherwise have been the case.

The results of a Fund's investment activities may differ significantly from the results achieved by BlackRock for its proprietary accounts or other accounts (including investment companies or collective investment vehicles) which it manages or advises. It is possible that one or more accounts managed or advised by BlackRock and such other accounts will achieve investment results that are substantially more or less favorable than the results achieved by a Fund. Moreover, it is possible that a Fund will sustain losses during periods in which one or more proprietary or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock achieve significant profits. The opposite result is also possible.

From time to time, a Fund may be restricted from purchasing or selling securities, or from engaging in other investment activities because of regulatory, legal or contractual requirements applicable to BlackRock or other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock, and/or the internal policies of BlackRock designed to comply with such requirements. As a result, there may be periods, for example, when BlackRock will not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions in certain securities or instruments with respect to which BlackRock is performing services or when position limits have been reached. For example, the investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and accounts under its management may limit the investment opportunities for a Fund in certain emerging and other markets in which limitations are imposed upon the amount of investment, in the aggregate or in individual issuers, by affiliated foreign investors.

In connection with its management of a Fund, BlackRock may have access to certain fundamental analysis and proprietary technical models developed by BlackRock. BlackRock will not be under any obligation, however, to effect transactions on behalf of a Fund in accordance with such analysis and models. In addition, BlackRock will not have any obligation to make available any information regarding its proprietary activities or strategies, or the activities or strategies used for other accounts managed by them, for the benefit of the management of a Fund and it is not anticipated that BlackRock will have access to such information for the purpose of managing the Fund. The proprietary activities or portfolio strategies of BlackRock, or the activities or strategies used for accounts managed by BlackRock or other client accounts could conflict with the transactions and strategies employed by BlackRock in managing a Fund.

The Funds may be included in investment models developed by BlackRock for use by clients and financial advisors. To the extent clients invest in these investment models and increase the assets under management of the Funds, the investment management fee amounts paid by the Funds to BlackRock may also increase. The price, availability and liquidity of a Fund may be impacted by purchases and sales of the Fund by model-driven investment portfolios, as well as by BlackRock itself and by its advisory clients.

In addition, certain principals and certain employees of a Fund's investment adviser are also principals or employees of other business units or entities within BlackRock. As a result, these principals and employees may have obligations to such other business units or entities or their clients and such obligations to other business units or entities or their clients may be a consideration of which investors in a Fund should be aware.

BlackRock may enter into transactions and invest in securities, instruments and currencies on behalf of a Fund in which clients of BlackRock or, to the extent permitted by the SEC and applicable law, BlackRock serves as the counterparty, principal or issuer. In such cases, such party's interests in the transaction will be adverse to the interests of the Fund, and such party may have no incentive to assure that the Fund obtains the best possible prices or terms in connection with the transactions. In addition, the purchase, holding and sale of such investments by a Fund may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock may also create, write or issue derivatives for clients based on the underlying securities, currencies or instruments in which a Fund may invest or on the performance of the Fund. An entity in which BlackRock has a significant minority interest will create, write or issue options which may be based on the performance of certain Funds. BlackRock has the right to receive a portion of the gross revenue earned by such entity. Options writing by such entity on a Fund could potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to the Fund and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

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BlackRock has entered into an arrangement with Markit Indices Limited, the index provider for underlying fixed-income indexes used by certain iShares funds, related to derivative fixed-income products that are based on such iShares funds. BlackRock may receive certain payments for licensing intellectual property belonging to BlackRock and for facilitating the provision of data in connection with such derivative products, which may include payments based on the trading volumes of, or revenues generated by, the derivative products. However, BlackRock will not receive any such payments on those derivative products utilized by the Funds or other BlackRock funds or accounts. Other funds and accounts managed by BlackRock may from time to time transact in such derivative products, which could contribute to the viability or success of such derivative products by making them more appealing to funds and accounts managed by third parties, and in turn lead to increased payments to BlackRock. Trading activity in such derivative products could also potentially lead to increased purchase activity with respect to these iShares funds and increased assets under management for BlackRock.

A Fund may, subject to applicable law, purchase investments that are the subject of an underwriting or other distribution by BlackRock and may also enter into transactions with other clients of BlackRock where such other clients have interests adverse to those of the Fund.

At times, these activities may cause business units or entities within BlackRock to give advice to clients that may cause these clients to take actions adverse to the interests of a Fund. To the extent such transactions are permitted, a Fund will deal with BlackRock on an arm's-length basis.

To the extent authorized by applicable law, BlackRock may act as broker, dealer, agent, lender or adviser or in other commercial capacities for a Fund. It is anticipated that the commissions, mark-ups, mark-downs, financial advisory fees, underwriting and placement fees, sales fees, financing and commitment fees, brokerage fees, other fees, compensation or profits, rates, terms and conditions charged by BlackRock will be in its view commercially reasonable, although BlackRock, including its sales personnel, will have an interest in obtaining fees and other amounts that are favorable to BlackRock and such sales personnel, which may have an adverse effect on the Funds. Index based funds may use an index provider that is affiliated with another service provider of a Fund or BlackRock that acts as a broker, dealer, agent, lender or in other commercial capacities for a Fund or BlackRock.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock (and its personnel and other distributors) will be entitled to retain fees and other amounts that they receive in connection with their service to the Funds as broker, dealer, agent, lender, adviser or in other commercial capacities. No accounting to the Funds or their shareholders will be required, and no fees or other compensation payable by the Funds or their shareholders will be reduced by reason of receipt by BlackRock of any such fees or other amounts.

When BlackRock acts as broker, dealer, agent, adviser or in other commercial capacities in relation to the Funds, BlackRock may take commercial steps in its own interests, which may have an adverse effect on the Funds. A Fund will be required to establish business relationships with its counterparties based on the Fund's own credit standing. BlackRock will not have any obligation to allow its credit to be used in connection with a Fund's establishment of its business relationships, nor is it expected that the Fund's counterparties will rely on the credit of BlackRock in evaluating the Fund's creditworthiness.

BTC, an affiliate of BFA pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, acts as securities lending agent to, and receives a share of securities lending revenues from, the Funds. BlackRock will also receive compensation for managing the reinvestment of the cash collateral from securities lending. There are potential conflicts of interests in managing a securities lending program, including but not limited to: (i) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to increase or decrease the amount of securities on loan or to lend particular securities in order to generate additional risk-adjusted revenue for BlackRock and its affiliates; and (ii) BlackRock as securities lending agent may have an incentive to allocate loans to clients that would provide more revenue to BlackRock. As described further below, BlackRock seeks to mitigate this conflict by providing its securities lending clients with equal lending opportunities over time in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation.

As part of its securities lending program, BlackRock indemnifies the Funds and certain other clients and/or funds against a shortfall in collateral in the event of borrower default. On a regular basis, BlackRock calculates the potential dollar exposure of collateral shortfall resulting from a borrower default ("shortfall risk") in the securities lending program. BlackRock establishes program-wide borrower limits ("credit limits") to actively manage borrower-specific credit exposure. BlackRock oversees the risk model that calculates projected collateral shortfall values using loan-level factors such as loan and collateral type and market value as well as specific borrower credit characteristics. When necessary, BlackRock may adjust securities lending program attributes by restricting eligible collateral or reducing borrower credit limits. As a result, the management of program-wide exposure as well as BlackRock-specific indemnification exposure may affect the amount of securities lending

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activity BlackRock may conduct at any given point in time by reducing the volume of lending opportunities for certain loans (including by asset type, collateral type and/or revenue profile).

BlackRock uses a predetermined systematic process in order to approximate *pro rata* allocation over time. In order to allocate a loan to a portfolio: (i) BlackRock as a whole must have sufficient lending capacity pursuant to the various program limits (*i.e.,* indemnification exposure limit and borrower credit limits); (ii) the lending portfolio must hold the asset at the time a loan opportunity arrives; and (iii) the lending portfolio must also have enough inventory, either on its own or when aggregated with other portfolios into one single market delivery, to satisfy the loan request. In doing so, BlackRock seeks to provide equal lending opportunities for all portfolios, independent of whether BlackRock indemnifies the portfolio. Equal opportunities for lending portfolios does not guarantee equal outcomes. Specifically, short and long-term outcomes for individual clients may vary due to asset mix, asset/liability spreads on different securities, and the overall limits imposed by the firm.

BlackRock may decline to make a securities loan on behalf of a Fund, discontinue lending on behalf of a Fund or terminate a securities loan on behalf of a Fund for any reason, including but not limited to regulatory requirements and/or market rules, liquidity considerations, or credit considerations, which may impact Funds by reducing or eliminating the volume of lending opportunities for certain types of loans, loans in particular markets, loans of particular securities or types of securities, or for loans overall.

Purchases and sales of securities and other assets for a Fund may be bunched or aggregated with orders for other BlackRock client accounts, including with accounts that pay different transaction costs solely due to the fact that they have different research payment arrangements. BlackRock, however, is not required to bunch or aggregate orders if portfolio management decisions for different accounts are made separately, or if they determine that bunching or aggregating is not practicable or required, or in cases involving client direction.

Prevailing trading activity frequently may make impossible the receipt of the same price or execution on the entire volume of securities purchased or sold. When this occurs, the various prices may be averaged, and the Funds will be charged or credited with the average price. Thus, the effect of the aggregation may operate on some occasions to the disadvantage of the Funds. In addition, under certain circumstances, the Funds will not be charged the same commission or commission equivalent rates in connection with a bunched or aggregated order.

Subject to applicable law, BlackRock may select brokers that furnish BlackRock, the Funds, other BlackRock client accounts or personnel, directly or through correspondent relationships, with research or other appropriate services which provide, in BlackRock's view, appropriate assistance to BlackRock in the investment decision-making process (including with respect to futures, fixed-price offerings and OTC transactions). Such research or other services may include, to the extent permitted by law, research reports on companies, industries and securities; economic and financial data; financial publications; proxy analysis; trade industry seminars; computer data bases; research-oriented software and other services and products. Research or other services obtained in this manner may be used in servicing any or all of the Funds and other BlackRock client accounts, including in connection with BlackRock client accounts other than those that pay commissions to the broker relating to the research or other service arrangements. Such products and services may disproportionately benefit other BlackRock client accounts relative to the Funds based on the amount of brokerage commissions paid by the Funds and such other BlackRock client accounts. For example, research or other services that are paid for through one client's commissions may not be used in managing that client's account. In addition, other BlackRock client accounts may receive the benefit, including disproportionate benefits, of economies of scale or price discounts in connection with products and services that may be provided to the Funds and to such other BlackRock client accounts. To the extent that BlackRock uses soft dollars, it will not have to pay for those products and services itself.

BlackRock does not currently enter into arrangements to use the Funds' assets for, or participate in, soft dollars, although BlackRock may receive research that is bundled with the trade execution, clearing, and/or settlement services provided by a particular broker-dealer. To the extent that BlackRock receives research on this basis, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist. For example, the research effectively will be paid by client commissions that also will be used to pay for the execution, clearing, and settlement services provided by the broker-dealer and will not be paid by BlackRock. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may endeavor to execute trades through brokers who, pursuant to such arrangements, provide research or other services in order to ensure the continued receipt of research or other services BlackRock believes are useful in its investment decision-making process. BlackRock may from time to time choose not to engage in the above described arrangements to varying degrees. BlackRock, unless prohibited by applicable law, may also

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enter into commission sharing arrangements under which BlackRock may execute transactions through a broker-dealer, and request that the broker-dealer allocate a portion of the commissions or commission credits to another firm that provides research to BlackRock. To the extent that BlackRock engages in commission sharing arrangements, many of the same conflicts related to traditional soft dollars may exist.

BlackRock may utilize certain electronic crossing networks ("ECNs") (including, without limitation, ECNs in which BlackRock has an investment or other interest, to the extent permitted by applicable law) in executing client securities transactions for certain types of securities. These ECNs may charge fees for their services, including access fees and transaction fees. The transaction fees, which are similar to commissions or markups/markdowns, will generally be charged to clients and, like commissions and markups/markdowns, would generally be included in the cost of the securities purchased. Access fees may be paid by BlackRock even though incurred in connection with executing transactions on behalf of clients, including the Funds. In certain circumstances, ECNs may offer volume discounts that will reduce the access fees typically paid by BlackRock. BlackRock will only utilize ECNs consistent with its obligation to seek to obtain best execution in client transactions.

BlackRock owns a minority interest in, and is a member of, Members Exchange ("MEMX"), a newly created U.S. stock exchange. Transactions for a Fund may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for execution of orders placed by BlackRock traders on behalf of such Funds. In addition, transactions in Fund shares may be executed on MEMX if third party brokers select MEMX as the appropriate venue for the execution of such orders.

BlackRock has adopted policies and procedures designed to prevent conflicts of interest from influencing proxy voting decisions that it makes on behalf of advisory clients, including the Funds, and to help ensure that such decisions are made in accordance with BlackRock's fiduciary obligations to its clients. Nevertheless, notwithstanding such proxy voting policies and procedures, actual proxy voting decisions of BlackRock may have the effect of favoring the interests of other clients or businesses of other divisions or units of BlackRock, provided that BlackRock believes such voting decisions to be in accordance with its fiduciary obligations. For a more detailed discussion of these policies and procedures, see the *Proxy Voting Policy* section of this SAI.

It is also possible that, from time to time, BlackRock and/or its advisory clients (including other funds and separately managed accounts) may, subject to compliance with applicable law, purchase and hold shares of a Fund. Increasing a Fund's assets may enhance liquidity, investment flexibility and diversification and may contribute to economies of scale that tend to reduce the Fund's expense ratio. BlackRock reserves the right, subject to compliance with applicable law, to sell into the market or redeem in Creation Units through an Authorized Participant at any time some or all of the shares of a Fund acquired for its own accounts or the account of a BlackRock advisory client. A large sale or redemption of shares of a Fund by BlackRock itself or a BlackRock advisory client could significantly reduce the asset size of the Fund, which might have an adverse effect on the Fund's liquidity, investment flexibility, portfolio diversification, expense ratio or ability to comply with the listing requirements for the Fund.

It is possible that a Fund may invest in securities of, or engage in transactions with, companies in which BlackRock has significant debt or equity investments or other interests. A Fund may also invest in issuances (such as structured notes) by entities for which BlackRock provides and is compensated for cash management services relating to the proceeds from the sale of such issuances. In making investment decisions for a Fund, BlackRock is not permitted to obtain or use material non-public information acquired by any unit of BlackRock in the course of these activities. In addition, from time to time, the activities of BlackRock may limit a Fund's flexibility in purchases and sales of securities. As indicated below, BlackRock may engage in transactions with companies in which BlackRock-advised funds or other clients of BlackRock have an investment.

BlackRock, its personnel and other financial service providers may have interests in promoting sales of the Funds. With respect to BlackRock and its personnel, the remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of the Funds or other products may be greater than remuneration and profitability relating to services to and sales of certain funds or other products that might be provided or offered. BlackRock and its sales personnel may directly or indirectly receive a portion of the fees and commissions charged to the Funds or their shareholders. BlackRock and its advisory or other personnel may also benefit from increased amounts of assets under management. Fees and commissions may also be higher than for other products or services, and the remuneration and profitability to BlackRock and such personnel resulting from transactions on behalf of or management of the Funds may be greater than the remuneration and profitability resulting from other funds or products.

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Third parties, including service providers to BlackRock or a Fund, may sponsor events (including, but not limited to, marketing and promotional activities and presentations, educational training programs and conferences) for registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors. There is a potential conflict of interest as such sponsorships may defray the costs of such activities to BlackRock, and may provide an incentive to BlackRock to retain such third parties to provide services to a Fund.

BlackRock may provide valuation assistance to certain clients with respect to certain securities or other investments and the valuation recommendations made for such clients' accounts may differ from the valuations for the same securities or investments assigned by a Fund's pricing vendors, especially if such valuations are based on broker-dealer quotes or other data sources unavailable to the Fund's pricing vendors. While BlackRock will generally communicate its valuation information or determinations to a Fund's pricing vendors and/or fund accountants, there may be instances where the Fund's pricing vendors or fund accountants assign a different valuation to a security or other investment than the valuation for such security or investment determined or recommended by BlackRock.

As disclosed in more detail in the *Determination of Net Asset Value* section in this SAI, when market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, each Fund's investments are valued at fair value by BFA. BFA has been designated as each Fund's valuation designee pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act and acts through BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee (the "2a-5 Committee"), with assistance from other BFA pricing committees and in accordance with BFA's policies and procedures (the "Valuation Procedures"). When determining a "fair value price," the 2a-5 Committee seeks to determine the price that a Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction. The price generally may not be determined based on what a Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. While fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models, fair value represents only a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining a Fund's NAV. As a result, a Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued by the 2a-5 Committee at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders and may affect the amount of revenue received by BFA with respect to services for which it receives an asset-based fee.

To the extent permitted by applicable law, a Fund may invest all or some of its short-term cash investments in any money market fund or similarly-managed private fund advised or managed by BlackRock. In connection with any such investments, a Fund, to the extent permitted by the 1940 Act, may pay its share of expenses of a money market fund or other similarly-managed private fund in which it invests, which may result in a Fund bearing some additional expenses.

BlackRock and its directors, officers and employees, may buy and sell securities or other investments for their own accounts and may have conflicts of interest with respect to investments made on behalf of a Fund. As a result of differing trading and investment strategies or constraints, positions may be taken by directors, officers and employees that are the same, different from or made at different times than positions taken for a Fund. To lessen the possibility that a Fund will be adversely affected by this personal trading, each Fund, BFA and BlackRock have each adopted a code of ethics in compliance with Section 17(j) of the 1940 Act that restricts securities trading in the personal accounts of investment professionals and others who normally come into possession of information regarding a Fund's portfolio transactions. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of each Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.

BlackRock will not purchase securities or other property from, or sell securities or other property to, a Fund, except that a Fund may in accordance with rules or guidance adopted under the 1940 Act engage in transactions with another Fund or accounts that are affiliated with a Fund as a result of common officers, directors, or investment advisers or pursuant to exemptive orders granted to the Funds and/or BlackRock by the SEC. These transactions would be effected in circumstances in which BlackRock determined that it would be appropriate for a Fund to purchase and another client of BlackRock to sell, or a Fund to sell and another client of BlackRock to purchase, the same security or instrument on the same day. From time to time, the activities of a Fund may be restricted because of regulatory requirements applicable to BlackRock and/or BlackRock's internal policies designed to comply with, limit the applicability of, or otherwise relate to such requirements. A client not advised by BlackRock would not be subject to some of those considerations. There may be periods when

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BlackRock may not initiate or recommend certain types of transactions, or may otherwise restrict or limit its advice in certain securities or instruments issued by or related to companies for which BlackRock is performing advisory or other services or has proprietary positions. For example, when BlackRock is engaged to provide advisory or risk management services for a company, BlackRock may be prohibited from or limited in purchasing or selling securities of that company on behalf of a Fund, particularly where such services result in BlackRock obtaining material non-public information about the company (*e.g.*, in connection with participation in a creditors' committee). Similar situations could arise if personnel of BlackRock serve as directors of companies the securities of which a Fund wishes to purchase or sell. However, if permitted by applicable law, and where consistent with BlackRock's policies and procedures (including the necessary implementation of appropriate information barriers), the Funds may purchase securities or instruments that are issued by such companies, are the subject of an advisory or risk management assignment by BlackRock, or where personnel of BlackRock are directors or officers of the issuer.

The investment activities of BlackRock for its proprietary accounts and for client accounts may also limit the investment strategies and rights of the Funds. For example, in certain circumstances where the Funds invest in securities issued by companies that operate in certain regulated industries or in certain emerging or international markets, or are subject to corporate or regulatory ownership restrictions, or invest in certain futures or other derivative transactions, there may be limits on the aggregate amount invested by BlackRock for their proprietary accounts and for client accounts (including the Funds) that may not be exceeded without the grant of a license or other regulatory or corporate consent or, if exceeded, may cause BlackRock, the Funds or other client accounts to suffer disadvantages or business restrictions.

If certain aggregate ownership thresholds are reached either through the actions of BlackRock or a Fund or as a result of third-party transactions, the ability of BlackRock, on behalf of clients (including the Funds), to purchase or dispose of investments, or exercise rights or undertake business transactions, may be restricted by regulation or otherwise impaired. As a result, BlackRock, on behalf of its clients (including the Funds), may limit purchases, sell existing investments, or otherwise restrict, forgo or limit the exercise of rights (including transferring, outsourcing or limiting voting rights or forgoing the right to receive dividends) when BlackRock, in its sole discretion, deems it appropriate in light of potential regulatory or other restrictions on ownership or other consequences resulting from reaching investment thresholds.

In those circumstances where ownership thresholds or limitations must be observed, BlackRock seeks to allocate limited investment opportunities equitably among clients (including the Funds), taking into consideration benchmark weight and investment strategy. BlackRock has adopted certain controls designed to prevent the occurrence of a breach of any applicable ownership threshold or limits, including, for example, when ownership in certain securities nears an applicable threshold, BlackRock may remove such securities from the list of Deposit Securities to be delivered to the Fund in connection with purchases of Creation Units of such Fund and may limit purchases in such securities to the issuer's weighting in the applicable benchmark used by BlackRock to manage such Fund. If client (including Fund) holdings of an issuer exceed an applicable threshold and BlackRock is unable to obtain relief to enable the continued holding of such investments, it may be necessary to sell down these positions to meet the applicable limitations. In these cases, benchmark overweight positions will be sold prior to benchmark positions being reduced to meet applicable limitations.

In addition to the foregoing, other ownership thresholds may trigger reporting requirements to governmental and regulatory authorities, and such reports may entail the disclosure of the identity of a client or BlackRock's intended strategy with respect to such security or asset.

BlackRock may not serve as an Authorized Participant in the creation and redemption of iShares ETFs.

BlackRock may maintain securities indices. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, the Funds may seek to license and use such indices as part of their investment strategy. Index based funds that seek to track the performance of securities indices also may use the name of the index or index provider in the fund name. Index providers, including BlackRock (to the extent permitted by applicable law), may be paid licensing fees for use of their index or index name. BlackRock may benefit from the Funds using BlackRock indices by creating increasing acceptance in the marketplace for such indices. BlackRock is not obligated to license its indices to a Fund and the Funds are under no obligation to use BlackRock indices. Any Fund that enters into a license for a BlackRock index cannot be assured that the terms of any index licensing agreement with BlackRock will be as favorable as those terms offered to other licensees.

The custody arrangement described in "Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services" may lead to potential conflicts of interest with BlackRock where BlackRock has agreed to waive fees and/or reimburse ordinary operating expenses in order to cap expenses of the Funds (or where BlackRock charges a unitary management fee). This is because the custody

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arrangements with certain Funds' custodian may have the effect of reducing custody fees when the Funds leave cash balances uninvested. This could be viewed as having the potential to provide BlackRock an incentive to keep high positive cash balances for Funds in order to offset fund custody fees that BlackRock might otherwise reimburse or pay. However, BlackRock's portfolio managers do not intentionally keep uninvested balances high, but rather make investment decisions that they anticipate will be beneficial to fund performance. For funds without a unitary management fee, when a fund's actual operating expense ratio exceeds a stated cap, a reduction in custody fees reduces the amount of waivers and/or reimbursements BlackRock would be required to make to the fund.

BlackRock may enter into contractual arrangements with third-party service providers to a Fund (*e.g.*, custodians, administrators and index providers) pursuant to which BlackRock receives fee discounts or concessions in recognition of BlackRock's overall relationship with such service providers. BlackRock may also enter into contractual arrangements with such service providers pursuant to which BlackRock incurs additional costs if the service provider's services are terminated with respect to a Fund. To the extent that BlackRock is responsible for paying these service providers out of its management fee, the benefits of any such fee discounts or concessions, or any additional costs, may accrue, in whole or in part, to BlackRock, which could result in conflicts of interest relating to the use or termination of service providers to a Fund.

BlackRock owns or has an ownership interest in certain trading, portfolio management, operations and/or information systems used by Fund service providers. These systems are, or will be, used by a Fund service provider in connection with the provision of services to accounts managed by BlackRock and funds managed and sponsored by BlackRock, including the Funds, that engage the service provider (typically the custodian). A Fund's service provider remunerates BlackRock for the use of the systems. A Fund service provider's payments to BlackRock for the use of these systems may enhance the profitability of BlackRock.

BlackRock's receipt of fees from a service provider in connection with the use of systems provided by BlackRock may create an incentive for BlackRock to recommend that a Fund enter into or renew an arrangement with the service provider.

In recognition of a BlackRock client's overall relationship with BlackRock, BlackRock may offer special pricing arrangements for certain services provided by BlackRock. Any such special pricing arrangements will not apply to the client's investment in a Fund.

Present and future activities of BlackRock (including BFA), its directors, officers and employees, in addition to those described in this section, may give rise to additional conflicts of interest.

## Investment Advisory, Administrative and Distribution Services
**Investment Adviser. BFA serves as investment adviser to each Fund pursuant to an investment advisory agreement between the Trust, on behalf of each Fund, and BFA. BFA is a California corporation indirectly owned by BlackRock, Inc. and is registered as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Under the investment advisory agreement, BFA, subject to the supervision of the Board and in conformity with the stated investment policies of each Fund, manages and administers the Trust and the investment of each Fund's assets. BFA is responsible for placing purchase and sale orders and providing continuous supervision of the investment portfolio of the Fund.**

Pursuant to the investment advisory agreement, BFA may, from time to time, in its sole discretion and to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory or other services with respect to a Fund. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the investment advisory agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion upon appropriate notice at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.

BFA is responsible, under the investment advisory agreement, for substantially all expenses of the Funds, including the cost of transfer agency, custody, fund administration, legal, audit and other services. BFA is not responsible for, and the Funds will bear the cost of the management fees, interest expenses, taxes, expenses incurred with respect to the acquisition and disposition of portfolio securities and the execution of portfolio transactions, including brokerage commissions, distribution fees or expenses, litigation expenses and extraordinary expenses (as determined by a majority of the Independent Trustees).

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BFA may from time to time voluntarily waive and/or reimburse fees or expenses to reduce the Total Annual Fund Operating Expenses (excluding Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any). Any such voluntary waiver or reimbursement may be eliminated by BFA at any time.

For its investment advisory services to each Fund, BFA received a management fee at the annual rate (as a percentage of such Fund's average net assets) set forth below for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management Fee<br> for<br> Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid,<br> Net of Waivers,<br> for Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid,<br> Net of Waivers,<br> for Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Management<br> Fees Paid,<br> Net of Waivers,<br> for Fiscal Year<br> Ended Oct. 31, 2020** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF<sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;09/25/13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$11220712 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$11478514 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$15278949 |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.25% | &nbsp;&nbsp;03/03/15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;884889 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;708852 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;585504 |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;0.08% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12/11/13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5125738 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4298193 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2660659 |

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<sup>1</sup> For the BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA, or its affiliates, through February 28, 2025. The contractual waiver may be terminated prior to February 28, 2025 only upon written agreement of the Trust and BFA. For the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022 and October 31, 2021, BFA waived $158,671 and $165,839 of its management fees, respectively.

**Investment Sub-Adviser. Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement between BFA and the Trust entered into on behalf of the Funds, BFA may from time to time, in its sole discretion, to the extent permitted by applicable law, appoint one or more sub-advisers, including, without limitation, affiliates of BFA, to perform investment advisory services with respect to the Funds. In addition, BFA may delegate certain of its investment advisory functions under the Investment Advisory Agreement to one or more of its affiliates to the extent permitted by applicable law. BFA may terminate any or all sub-advisers or such delegation arrangements in its sole discretion at any time to the extent permitted by applicable law.**

BFA has entered into an investment sub-advisory agreement (the "Sub-Advisory Agreement" and together with the Investment Advisory Agreement, the "Advisory Agreements") with the Sub-Adviser with respect to the BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF. The Sub-Adviser is an investment adviser located in the U.K. The Sub-Adviser is an affiliate of BFA and is an SEC registered investment adviser and a commodity pool operator organized in 1999.

Under the Sub-Advisory Agreement, subject to the supervision and oversight of the Board and BFA, the Sub-Adviser is primarily responsible for execution of securities transactions outside the U.S. and Canada and may, from time to time, participate in the management of specified assets in the BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF's portfolio.

Pursuant to the Sub-Advisory Agreement, BFA pays the Sub-Adviser for services it provides either: (i) a fee equal to a percentage of the management fee paid to BFA under the Investment Advisory Agreement, or (ii) an amount based on the cost of the services provided. If the Sub-Adviser provides services relating to both portfolio management and trading it is entitled to receive, from BFA, an amount equal to 20% of BFA's management fee, and if the Sub-Adviser provides services related solely to trading then it is entitled to receive, from BFA, an amount equal to 110% of the actual pre-tax costs incurred by the Sub-Adviser. The Sub-Adviser may be responsible for the day-to-day management of the BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF or portions of the Fund.

Unless earlier terminated as described below, each Advisory Agreement will remain in effect for an initial two year period and from year to year if approved annually (i) by the Board or by a vote of a majority of the applicable Fund's outstanding voting securities and (ii) by a majority of the Trustees who are not parties to such agreement or interested persons (as defined in the 1940 Act) of any such party by a vote cast in person at a meeting called for the purpose of voting on such approval.

Each Advisory Agreement with respect to each Fund is terminable without penalty, on 60 days' notice, by the Board or by a vote of the holders of a majority of the applicable Fund's outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act). The Sub-Advisory Agreement is also terminable on 60 days' written notice at the option of either BFA or the Sub-Adviser. Each Advisory Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

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**Portfolio Managers. As of October 31, 2022, the individuals named as Portfolio Managers in the Funds' Prospectuses were also primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of other iShares funds and certain other types of portfolios and/or accounts as follows:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Akiva Dickstein\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;22 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$20430000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;21 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5416000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;228 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;97250000000 |

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\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF only.

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Scott MacLellan\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$12997000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3458000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;138 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;56608000000 |

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\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF only.

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Eric Hiatt\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;14 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$383960000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;27 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;168397000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;44 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;110876000000 |

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\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF only.

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Kristi Manidis\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;11 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$6409000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3792000000 |

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\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only.

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **James Mauro** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;120 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$526648000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;31695000000 |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7414000000 |

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Christian Romaglino\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;24 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$10896000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only.

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Kevin A. Schiatta\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;6 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$5056000000 |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

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\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only.

Pursuant to BFA's policy, investment opportunities are allocated equitably among the Funds and other portfolios and accounts. For example, under certain circumstances, an investment opportunity may be restricted due to limited supply in the market, legal constraints or other factors, in which event the investment opportunity will be allocated equitably among those portfolios and accounts, including the Funds, seeking such investment opportunity. As a consequence, from time to time the Fund may receive a smaller allocation of an investment opportunity than it would have if the Portfolio Managers and BFA and its affiliates did not manage other portfolios or accounts.

Like the Funds, the other portfolios or accounts for which the Portfolio Managers are primarily responsible for the day-to-day portfolio management generally pay an asset-based fee to BFA or its affiliates, as applicable, for its advisory services. One or more of those other portfolios or accounts, however, may pay BFA or its affiliates a performance-based fee in lieu of, or in addition to, an asset-based fee for its advisory services. A portfolio or account with a performance-based fee would pay BFA or its affiliates a portion of that portfolio's or account's gains, or would pay BFA or its affiliates more for its services than would otherwise be the case if BFA or any of its affiliates meets or exceeds specified performance targets. Performance-based fee arrangements could present an incentive for BFA or its affiliates to devote greater resources, and allocate more investment opportunities, to the portfolios or accounts that have those fee arrangements, relative to other portfolios or accounts, in order to earn larger fees. Although BFA and each of its affiliates have an obligation to allocate resources and opportunities equitably among portfolios and accounts and intend to do so, shareholders of the Funds should be aware that, as with any group of portfolios and accounts managed by an investment adviser and/or its affiliates pursuant to varying fee arrangements, including performance-based fee arrangements, there is the potential for a conflict of interest, which may result in the Portfolio Managers favoring those portfolios or accounts with performance-based fee arrangements.

The tables below show, for each Portfolio Manager, the number of portfolios or accounts of the types set forth in the above tables and the aggregate of total assets in those portfolios or accounts with respect to which the investment management fees are based on the performance of those portfolios or accounts as of October 31, 2022:

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Akiva Dickstein\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

------

\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF only.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Eric Hiatt\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

------

\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF only.

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---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Scott MacLellan\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

------

\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF only.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Kristi Manidis\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

------

\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **James Mauro** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Christian Romaglino\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

------

\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Kevin A. Schiatta\*** <br>**Types of Accounts** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Number of Other<br> Accounts with Performance<br> Fees Managed by Portfolio Manager** | <br>&nbsp;&nbsp;**Aggregate<br> of Total Assets** |
| Registered Investment Companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Pooled Investment Vehicles | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |
| Other Accounts | &nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;N/A |

---

------

\* Portfolio Manager for BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF only.

*Portfolio Manager Compensation Overview*

The discussion below describes the Portfolio Managers' compensation as of October 31, 2022.

BlackRock, Inc.'s financial arrangements with its portfolio managers, its competitive compensation and its career path emphasis at all levels reflect the value senior management places on key resources. Compensation may include a variety of components and may vary from year to year based on a number of factors. The principal components of compensation

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include a base salary, a performance-based discretionary bonus, participation in various benefits programs and one or more of the incentive compensation programs established by BlackRock, Inc.

Each portfolio manager receives base compensation based on their position with the firm, as well as retirement and other benefits offered to all BlackRock employees. Additionally, each portfolio manager receives discretionary incentive compensation, determined based on several components, including: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the performance of portfolios managed by the portfolio manager and the team relative to the portfolios' investment objectives (which in the case of index ETFs would be how closely the ETF tracks its Underlying Index), and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. Discretionary incentive compensation is paid in cash up to a certain threshold with the remaining portion represented by deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock awards. In some cases, additional deferred BlackRock, Inc. stock may be granted to certain key employees as part of a long-term incentive award to aid in retention, align interests with long-term shareholders and motivate performance.

The discretionary incentive income for Kristi Manidis, James Mauro and Kevin A. Schiatta includes as an additional consideration the performance of actively-managed portfolios they manage over 1, 3 and 5 year periods measured against the respective benchmark of each portfolio as well as peer group performance. A portion of the discretionary incentive compensation for Kristi Manidis, James Mauro and Kevin A. Schiatta is distributed in the form of deferred cash awards that notionally track the returns of select BlackRock, Inc. investment products they manage, which provides direct alignment of portfolio manager discretionary incentive compensation with investment product results. Deferred cash awards vest ratably over a number of years and, once vested, settle in the form of cash.

With respect to Scott MacLellan and Akiva Dickstein, discretionary incentive compensation is a function of several components: the performance of BlackRock, Inc., the performance of the portfolio manager's group within BlackRock, the investment performance, including risk-adjusted returns, of the firm's assets under management or supervision by that portfolio manager relative to predetermined benchmarks, and the individual's performance and contribution to the overall performance of these portfolios and BlackRock. In most cases, these benchmarks are the same as the benchmark or benchmarks against which the performance of the BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF or other accounts managed by the portfolio managers are measured. Among other things, BlackRock's Chief Investment Officers make a subjective determination with respect to each portfolio manager's compensation based on the performance of the BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF and other accounts managed by each portfolio manager relative to the various benchmarks. Performance of fixed-income funds is measured on a pre-tax and/or after-tax basis over various time periods including 1-, 3- and 5- year periods, as applicable.

With respect to Scott MacLellan, such benchmarks are a combination of market-based indices (*e.g*., Bank of America Merrill Lynch U.S. Corporate & Government Index, 1-3 Years), certain customized indices and certain fund industry peer groups. With respect to Akiva Dickstein, such benchmarks are a combination of market-based indices (*e.g*., Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Index, Bloomberg U.S. Universal Index and Bloomberg Intermediate Aggregate Index), certain customized indices and certain fund industry peer groups.

As of October 31, 2022, the Portfolio Managers beneficially owned shares of the Funds in the amounts reflected in the following tables:

---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Eric Hiatt**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** |
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**None** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$1 to $10k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$10,001<br> to $50k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$50,001<br> to $100k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$100,001<br> to $500k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$500,001<br> to $1m** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**over<br> $1m** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Akiva Dickstein**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** |
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**None** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$1 to $10k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$10,001<br> to $50k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$50,001<br> to $100k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$100,001<br> to $500k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$500,001<br> to $1m** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**over<br> $1m** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Scott MacLellan**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** |
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**None** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$1 to $10k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$10,001<br> to $50k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$50,001<br> to $100k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$100,001<br> to $500k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$500,001<br> to $1m** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**over<br> $1m** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Kristi Manidis**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** |
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**None** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$1 to $10k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$10,001<br> to $50k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$50,001<br> to $100k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$100,001<br> to $500k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$500,001<br> to $1m** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**over<br> $1m** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **James Mauro**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** |
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**None** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$1 to $10k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$10,001<br> to $50k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$50,001<br> to $100k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$100,001<br> to $500k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$500,001<br> to $1m** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**over<br> $1m** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Christian Romaglino**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** |
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**None** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$1 to $10k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$10,001<br> to $50k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$50,001<br> to $100k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$100,001<br> to $500k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$500,001<br> to $1m** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**over<br> $1m** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |

---

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

---

| | | | | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Kevin A. Schiatta**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Dollar Range** |
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**None** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$1 to $10k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$10,001<br> to $50k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$50,001<br> to $100k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$100,001<br> to $500k** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**$500,001<br> to $1m** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**over<br> $1m** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;X |  |  |  |  |  |  |

---

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**Codes of Ethics. The Trust, BFA, the Sub-Adviser and the Distributor have adopted codes of ethics pursuant to Rule 17j-1 under the 1940 Act. The codes of ethics permit personnel subject to the codes of ethics to invest in securities, subject to certain limitations, including securities that may be purchased or held by the Funds. Each code of ethics is available by contacting BlackRock at the telephone number on the back cover of each Fund's Prospectus or by accessing the EDGAR Database on the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov, and copies may be obtained, after paying a duplicating fee, by e-mail at publicinfo@sec.gov.**

**Anti-Money Laundering Requirements. The Funds are subject to the USA PATRIOT Act (the "Patriot Act"). The Patriot Act is intended to prevent the use of the U.S. financial system in furtherance of money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities. Pursuant to requirements under the Patriot Act, a Fund may request information from Authorized Participants to enable it to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of its Authorized Participants. This information will be used to verify the identity of Authorized Participants or, in some cases, the status of financial professionals; it will be used only for compliance with the requirements of the Patriot Act.**

The Funds reserve the right to reject purchase orders from persons who have not submitted information sufficient to allow the Fund to verify their identity. Each Fund also reserves the right to redeem any amounts in a Fund from persons whose identity it is unable to verify on a timely basis. It is the Funds' policy to cooperate fully with appropriate regulators in any investigations conducted with respect to potential money laundering, terrorism or other illicit activities.

#### Administrator, Custodian and Transfer Agent.
State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") serves as administrator, custodian and transfer agent for the Funds under the Master Services Agreement and related Service Schedule (the "Service Module"). State Street's principal address is 1 Lincoln Street, Boston, MA 02111. Pursuant to the Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services with the Trust, State Street provides necessary administrative, legal, tax and accounting and financial reporting services for the maintenance and operations of the Trust and each Fund. In addition, State Street makes available the office space, equipment, personnel and facilities required to provide such services. Pursuant to the Service Module for Custodial Services with the Trust, State Street maintains, in separate accounts, cash, securities and other assets of the Trust and each Fund, keeps all necessary accounts and records and provides other services. State Street is required, upon the order of the Trust, to deliver securities held by State Street and to make payments for securities purchased by the Trust for each Fund. State Street is authorized to appoint certain foreign custodians or foreign custody managers for Fund investments outside the U.S. Pursuant to the Service Module for Transfer Agency Services with the Trust, State Street acts as a transfer agent for each Fund's authorized and issued shares of beneficial interest, and as dividend disbursing agent of the Trust. As compensation for these services, State Street receives certain out-of-pocket costs, transaction fees and asset-based fees which are accrued daily and paid monthly by BFA from its management fee.

The following table sets forth the administration, custodian and transfer agency expenses of each Fund paid by BFA to State Street for the fiscal years noted:

---

| | | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Fund<br> Inception<br> Date** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Administration, Custody<br> & Transfer Agency<br> Expenses Paid<br> During Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Administration, Custody<br> & Transfer Agency<br> Expenses Paid<br> During Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Administration, Custody<br> & Transfer Agency<br> Expenses Paid<br> During Fiscal<br> Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2020** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;09/25/13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$39848 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$72261 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$65653 |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;03/03/15 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;16275 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19586 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19566 |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;12/11/13 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;69786 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;82146 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;32459 |

---

JPMorgan serves as custodian for the Funds in connection with certain securities lending activities under a Custody Services Agreement. JPMorgan's principal address is 383 Madison Avenue, 11<sup>th</sup> Floor, New York, NY 10179. Pursuant to the Custody Services Agreement with BTC and the Trust, JPMorgan provides custody and related services required to facilitate securities lending by each Fund. JPMorgan maintains custody as may be necessary to facilitate Fund securities lending activity in coordination with other funds, maintains custodial records and provides other services. As compensation for these services, JPMorgan receives certain fees and expenses paid by BTC from its compensation for its services as securities lending agent.

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**Distributor. The Distributor's principal address is 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540. Shares are continuously offered for sale by the Funds through the Distributor or its agent only in Creation Units, as described in the applicable Prospectus and below in the *Creation and Redemption of Creation Units* section of this SAI. Fund shares in amounts less than Creation Units are generally not distributed by the Distributor or its agent. The Distributor or its agent will arrange for the delivery of the applicable Prospectus and, upon request, this SAI to persons purchasing Creation Units and will maintain records of both orders placed with it or its agents and confirmations of acceptance furnished by it or its agents. The Distributor is a broker-dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "1934 Act"), and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. ("FINRA"). The Distributor is also licensed as a broker-dealer in all 50 U.S. states, as well as in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.**

The Distribution Agreement for each Fund provides that it may be terminated at any time, without the payment of any penalty, on at least 60 days' prior written notice to the other party following (i) the vote of a majority of the Independent Trustees, or (ii) the vote of a majority of the outstanding voting securities (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Fund. The Distribution Agreement will terminate automatically in the event of its assignment (as defined in the 1940 Act).

The Distributor may also enter into agreements with securities dealers ("Soliciting Dealers") who will solicit purchases of Creation Units of Fund shares. Such Soliciting Dealers may also be Authorized Participants (as described below), Depository Trust Company ("DTC") participants and/or investor services organizations.

BFA or its affiliates may, from time to time and from its own resources, pay, defray or absorb costs relating to distribution, including payments out of its own resources to the Distributor, or to otherwise promote the sale of shares.

**Securities Lending. To the extent that a Fund engages in securities lending, each Fund conducts its securities lending pursuant to SEC exemptive relief, and BTC acts as securities lending agent for the Funds, subject to the overall supervision of BFA, pursuant to a written agreement (the "Securities Lending Agency Agreement").**

Each Fund retains a portion of the securities lending income and remits the remaining portion to BTC as compensation for its services as securities lending agent. Securities lending income is generally equal to the total of income earned from the reinvestment of cash collateral (and excludes collateral investment fees as defined below), and any fees or other payments to and from borrowers of securities. As securities lending agent, BTC bears all operational costs directly related to securities lending, including custodial costs of JPMorgan. Each Fund is responsible for fees in connection with the investment of cash collateral received for securities on loan in a money market fund managed by BFA (the "collateral investment fees"); however, BTC has agreed to reduce the amount of securities lending income it receives in order to effectively limit the collateral investment fees the Fund bears to an annual rate of 0.04%. Such money market fund shares will not be subject to a sales load, redemption fee, distribution fee or service fee.

Under the securities lending program, the Funds are categorized into one of several specific asset classes. The determination of a Fund's asset class category (fixed-income, domestic equity, international equity or fund-of-funds), each of which may be subject to a different fee arrangement, is based on a methodology agreed to by the Trust and BTC.

Pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement:

(i) fixed-income funds, such as the Funds, retain 82% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees), and (ii) this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

In addition, commencing the business day following the date that the aggregate securities lending income (which includes, for this purpose, collateral investment fees) earned across the Exchange-Traded Fund Complex (as defined in the *Management — Trustees and Officers* section of this SAI) in a calendar year exceeds a specified threshold, each applicable fixed-income fund, pursuant to the current Securities Lending Agency Agreement, will receive for the remainder of that calendar year securities lending income as follows:

(i) 85% of securities lending income (which excludes collateral investment fees) and (ii) this amount can never be less than 70% of the sum of securities lending income plus collateral investment fees.

The services provided to the Funds by BTC in the most recent fiscal year ended October 31, 2022 primarily included the following:

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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(1) selecting borrowers from an approved list of borrowers and executing a securities lending agreement as agent on behalf of the Funds with each such borrower;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(2) negotiating the terms of securities loans, including the amount of fees;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(3) directing the delivery of loaned securities;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(4) monitoring the daily value of the loaned securities and directing the payment of additional collateral or the return of excess collateral, as necessary;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(5) investing cash collateral received in connection with any loaned securities;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(6) monitoring distributions on loaned securities (for example, interest and dividend activity);

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(7) in the event of default by a borrower with respect to any securities loan, using the collateral or the proceeds of the liquidation of collateral to purchase replacement securities of the same issue, type, class and series as that of the loaned securities; and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(8) terminating securities loans and arranging for the return of loaned securities to the Funds at loan termination.

The following tables show the dollar amounts of income and fees/compensation related to the securities lending activities of each Fund during its most recent fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Short Maturity<br>Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Short<br> Maturity Municipal<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Ultra<br> Short-Term<br> Bond ETF** |
| **Gross income from<br> securities<br> lending activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$940633** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$647367** |
| *Fees and/or compensation<br> for securities lending<br> activities and<br> related services*  |  |  |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Securities lending<br> income paid to<br> BTC for services as<br> securities<br> lending agent | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;33299 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;22714 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cash collateral<br> management<br> expenses not included in<br> securities lending<br> income paid to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;22383 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;14855 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Administrative fees not<br> included in securities<br> lending income paid<br> to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Short Maturity<br>Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Short<br> Maturity Municipal<br> Bond ETF** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**BlackRock Ultra<br> Short-Term<br> Bond ETF** |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Indemnification fees not<br> included<br> in securities lending<br> income paid<br> to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rebates (paid to<br> borrowers) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;729483 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;504426 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Other fees not<br> included in<br> securities lending<br> income paid to BTC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;N/A | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;0 |
| **Aggregate<br> fees/compensation for<br> securities lending<br> activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$785165** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$541995** |
| **Net income from securities<br> lending activities**  | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$155468** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**N/A** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**$105372** |

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**Payments by BFA and its Affiliates. BFA and/or its affiliates ("BFA Entities") may pay certain broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, banks and other financial intermediaries ("Intermediaries") for certain activities related to the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products in general. BFA Entities make these payments from their own assets and not from the assets of the Funds. Although a portion of BFA Entities' revenue comes directly or indirectly in part from fees paid by the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, these payments do not increase the price paid by investors for the purchase of shares of, or the cost of owning, the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. BFA Entities make payments for Intermediaries' participation in activities that are designed to make registered representatives, other professionals and individual investors more knowledgeable about exchange-traded products, including the Funds and other iShares funds, or for other activities, such as participation in marketing activities and presentations, educational training programs, conferences, the development of technology platforms and reporting systems ("Education Costs"). BFA Entities also make payments to Intermediaries for certain printing, publishing and mailing costs or materials relating to the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products ("Publishing Costs"). In addition, BFA Entities make payments to Intermediaries that make shares of the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products available to their clients, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, develop new products that feature iShares, create educational content about the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products that is featured on an Intermediary's platform, or otherwise promote the Funds, other iShares funds and exchange-traded products. BFA Entities may also reimburse expenses or make payments from their own assets to Intermediaries or other persons in consideration of services or other activities that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products. Payments of the type described above are sometimes referred to as revenue-sharing payments.**

Payments to an Intermediary may be significant to the Intermediary, and amounts that Intermediaries pay to your salesperson or other investment professional may also be significant for your salesperson or other investment professional. Because an Intermediary may make decisions about which investment options it will recommend or make available to its clients, what services to provide for various products, or what marketing content to make available to its clients based on payments it receives or is eligible to receive, such payments may create conflicts of interest between the Intermediary and its clients. These financial incentives may cause the Intermediary to recommend the Funds, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products, or otherwise promote the Fund, other iShares funds or exchange-traded products over other investments.

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The same conflicts of interest and financial incentives exist with respect to your salesperson or other investment professional if he or she receives similar payments from his or her Intermediary firm.

In addition to the payments described above, BFA Entities have developed proprietary tools, calculators and related interactive or digital content that is made available through the www.BlackRock.com website at no additional cost to Intermediaries. BlackRock may configure these tools and calculators and localize the content for Intermediaries as part of its customary digital marketing support and promotion of the Funds, other iShares funds, exchange-traded products and BlackRock mutual funds.

As of March 1, 2013, BFA Entities have contractual arrangements to make payments (in addition to payments for Education Costs or Publishing Costs) to one Intermediary, Fidelity Brokerage Services LLC ("FBS"). Effective June 4, 2016, this relationship was expanded to include National Financial Services, LLC ("NFS"), an affiliate of FBS. Pursuant to this special, long-term and significant arrangement (the "Marketing Program"), FBS, NFS and certain of their affiliates (collectively "Fidelity") have agreed, among other things, to actively promote iShares funds to customers, investment professionals and other intermediaries and in advertising campaigns as the preferred exchange-traded product, to offer certain iShares funds in certain Fidelity platforms and investment programs, in some cases at a waived or reduced commission rate or ticket charge, and to provide marketing data to BFA Entities. BFA Entities have agreed to facilitate the Marketing Program by, among other things, making certain payments to FBS and NFS for marketing and implementing certain brokerage and investment programs. Upon termination of the arrangement, the BFA Entities will make additional payments to FBS and/or NFS based upon a number of criteria, including the overall success of the Marketing Program and the level of services provided by FBS and NFS during the wind-down period.

In addition, BFA Entities may enter into other contractual arrangements with Intermediaries and certain other third parties that the BFA Entities believe may benefit the iShares business or facilitate investment in iShares funds. Such agreements may include payments by BFA Entities to such Intermediaries and third parties for data collection and provision, technology support, platform enhancement, or educational content, co-marketing and cross-promotional efforts. Payments made pursuant to such arrangements may vary in any year and may be different for different Intermediaries and third parties. In certain cases, the payments described in the preceding sentence may be subject to certain minimum payment levels. As of the date of this SAI, the Intermediaries and other third parties receiving one or more types of the contractual payments described above include (in addition to FBS and NFS): Advisor Credit Exchange, BNY Mellon Capital Markets, LLC, BNY Mellon Performance & Risk Analytics, LLC, Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Commonwealth Equity Services, LLC, Dorsey Wright and Associates, LLC, Edward D. Jones & Co., L.P., Envestnet Asset Management, Inc., FDx Advisors, Inc., LPL Financial LLC, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, Orion Portfolio Solutions, LLC, Pershing LLC, Public Holdings, Inc., Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., Riskalyze, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Inc., UBS Financial Services Inc., Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC. Any additions, modifications, or deletions to Intermediaries and other third parties listed above that have occurred since the date of this SAI are not included in the list.

Further, BFA Entities make Education Costs and Publishing Costs payments to other Intermediaries that are not listed in the immediately preceding paragraph. BFA Entities may determine to make such payments based on any number of metrics. For example, BFA Entities may make payments at year-end or other intervals in a fixed amount, an amount based upon an Intermediary's services at defined levels or an amount based on the Intermediary's net sales of one or more iShares funds in a year or other period, any of which arrangements may include an agreed-upon minimum or maximum payment, or any combination of the foregoing. As of the date of this SAI, BFA anticipates that the payments paid by BFA Entities in connection with the Funds, iShares funds and exchange-traded products in general will be immaterial to BFA Entities in the aggregate for the next year. **Please contact your salesperson or other investment professional for more information regarding any such payments or financial incentives his or her Intermediary firm may receive. Any payments made, or financial incentives offered, by the BFA Entities to an Intermediary may create the incentive for the Intermediary to encourage customers to buy shares of the Funds, other iShares funds or other exchange-traded products.**

The Funds may participate in certain market maker incentive programs of a national securities exchange in which an affiliate of the Funds would pay a fee to the exchange used for the purpose of incentivizing one or more market makers in the securities of a Fund to enhance the liquidity and quality of the secondary market of securities of a Fund. The fee would then be credited by the exchange to one or more market makers that meet or exceed liquidity and market quality standards with respect to the securities of a Fund. Each market maker incentive program is subject to approval from the SEC. Any such fee

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payments made to an exchange will be made by an affiliate of a Fund solely for the benefit of a Fund and will not be paid from any Fund assets. Other funds managed by BFA may also participate in such programs.

## Determination of Net Asset Value
**Valuation of Shares. The NAV for each Fund is generally calculated as of the close of regular trading hours on the New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") (normally 4:00 p.m., Eastern Time) on each business day the NYSE is open. Valuation of assets held by a Fund is as follows:**

**Equity Investments. Equity securities traded on a recognized securities exchange (*e.g.*, NYSE), on separate trading boards of a securities exchange or through a market system that provides contemporaneous transaction pricing information (each an "Exchange") are valued using information obtained via independent pricing services, generally at the closing price or, if an Exchange closing price is not available, the last traded price on that Exchange prior to the time as of which the assets or liabilities are valued. However, under certain circumstances, other means of determining current market value may be used. If an equity security is traded on more than one Exchange, the current market value of the security where it is primarily traded generally will be used. In the event that there are no sales involving an equity security held by a Fund on a day on which a Fund values such security, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the security, in which case such asset would be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below).**

**Fixed-Income Investments. Fixed-income securities for which market quotations are readily available are generally valued using such securities' current market value. A Fund values fixed-income portfolio securities using the last available bid prices or current market quotations provided by dealers or prices (including evaluated prices) supplied by a Fund's approved independent third-party pricing services, each in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. The pricing services may use matrix pricing or valuation models that utilize certain inputs and assumptions to derive values, including transaction data (*e.g*., recent representative bids and offers), credit quality information, perceived market movements, news, and other relevant information and by other methods, which may include consideration of: yields or prices of securities of comparable quality, coupon, maturity and type; indications as to values from dealers; general market conditions; and/or other factors and assumptions. Pricing services generally value fixed-income securities assuming orderly transactions of an institutional round lot size, but a Fund may hold or transact in such securities in smaller, odd lot sizes. Odd lots may trade at lower prices than institutional round lots. The amortized cost method of valuation may be used with respect to debt obligations with 60 days or less remaining to maturity unless such method does not represent fair value. Certain fixed-income investments, including asset-backed and mortgage-related securities, may be valued based on valuation models that consider the estimated cash flows of each tranche of the issuer, establish a benchmark yield and develop an estimated tranche-specific spread to the benchmark yield based on the unique attributes of the tranche.**

**Options, Futures, Swaps and Other Derivatives. Exchange-traded equity options (except those that are customized) for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the mean of the last bid and ask prices as quoted on the Exchange or the board of trade on which such options are traded. In the event that there is no mean price available for an exchange traded equity option held by a Fund on a day on which a Fund values such option, the last bid (long positions) or ask (short positions) price, if available, will be used as the value of such option. If no bid or ask price is available on a day on which a Fund values such option, the prior day's price will be used, unless BFA determines that such prior day's price no longer reflects the fair value of the option, in which case such option will be treated as a Fair Value Asset (as defined below). Customized exchange-traded equity options, as well as OTC derivatives, may be valued using a mathematical model which may incorporate a number of market data factors. Financial futures contracts and options thereon, which are traded on exchanges, are valued at their last sale price or settle price as of the close of such exchanges. Swap agreements and other derivatives are generally valued daily based upon quotations from market makers or by a pricing service in accordance with the Valuation Procedures.**

**Underlying Funds. Shares of underlying open-end funds (including money market funds) are valued at NAV. Shares of underlying exchange-traded closed-end funds or other ETFs will be valued at their most recent closing price.**

**General Valuation Information. Prices obtained from independent third-party pricing services, broker-dealers or market makers to value a Fund's securities and other assets and liabilities are based on information available at the time a Fund values its assets and liabilities. In the event that a pricing service quotation is revised or updated subsequent to the day on**

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which a Fund valued such security, the revised pricing service quotation generally will be applied prospectively. Such determination will be made considering pertinent facts and circumstances surrounding the revision.

The price a Fund could receive upon the sale of any particular portfolio investment may differ from a Fund's valuation of the investment, particularly for assets that trade in thin or volatile markets or that are valued using a fair valuation methodology or a price provided by an independent pricing service. As a result, the price received upon the sale of an investment may be less than the value ascribed by a Fund, and a Fund could realize a greater than expected loss or lesser than expected gain upon the sale of the investment. A Fund's ability to value its investment may also be impacted by technological issues and/or errors by pricing services or other third-party service providers.

All cash, receivables and current payables are carried on a Fund's books at their fair value.

In the event that application of the methods of valuation discussed above result in a price for a security which is deemed not to be representative of the fair market value of such security, the security will be valued by, under the direction of or in accordance with a method approved by BFA, each Fund's valuation designee, as reflecting fair value. All other assets and liabilities (including securities for which market quotations are not readily available) held by a Fund (including restricted securities) are valued at fair value as determined in good faith by BFA pursuant to the Valuation Procedures. Any assets and liabilities which are denominated in a foreign currency are translated into U.S. dollars at the prevailing market rates.

**Fair Value. When market quotations are not readily available or are believed by BFA to be unreliable, a Fund's investments are valued at fair value ("Fair Value Assets"). Fair Value Assets are valued by BFA in accordance with the Valuation Procedures. Pursuant to Rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act, the Board of Trustees has designated BFA as the valuation designee for the respective Funds for which it serves as investment adviser. BFA may reasonably conclude that a market quotation is not readily available or is unreliable if, among other things, a security or other asset or liability does not have a price source due to its complete lack of trading, if BFA believes a market quotation from a broker-dealer or other source is unreliable (*e.g.*, where it varies significantly from a recent trade, or no longer reflects the fair value of the security or other asset or liability subsequent to the most recent market quotation), or where the security or other asset or liability is only thinly traded or due to the occurrence of a significant event subsequent to the most recent market quotation. For this purpose, a "significant event" is deemed to occur if BFA determines, in its reasonable business judgment, that an event has occurred after the close of trading for an asset or liability but prior to or at the time of pricing a Fund's assets or liabilities, is likely to cause a material change to the last exchange closing price or closing market price of one or more assets held by, or liabilities of, a Fund. On any day the NYSE is open and a foreign market or the primary exchange on which a foreign asset or liability is traded is closed, such asset or liability will be valued using the prior day's price, provided that BFA is not aware of any significant event or other information that would cause such price to no longer reflect the fair value of the asset or liability, in which case such asset or liability would be treated as a Fair Value Asset.**

BFA's Rule 2a-5 Committee is responsible for reviewing and approving methodologies by investment type and significant inputs used in the fair valuation of Fund assets or liabilities. In addition, a Fund's accounting agent assists BFA by periodically endeavoring to confirm the prices it receives from all third-party pricing services, index providers and broker-dealers and regularly evaluating the values assigned to the securities and other assets and liabilities of a Fund. The pricing of all Fair Value Assets is subsequently reported to the Board or a committee thereof.

When determining the price for a Fair Value Asset, BFA will seek to determine the price that a Fund might reasonably expect to receive from the current sale of that asset or liability in an arm's-length transaction on the date on which the asset or liability is being valued, and does not seek to determine the price a Fund might reasonably expect to receive for selling an asset or liability at a later time or if it holds the asset or liability to maturity. Fair value determinations will be based upon all available factors that BFA deems relevant at the time of the determination, and may be based on analytical values determined by BFA using proprietary or third-party valuation models.

Fair value represents a good faith approximation of the value of an asset or liability. When determining the fair value of an investment, one or more fair value methodologies may be used (depending on certain factors, including the asset type). For example, the investment may be initially priced based on the original cost of the investment or, alternatively, using proprietary or third-party models that may rely upon one or more unobservable inputs. Prices of actual, executed or historical transactions in the relevant investment (or comparable instruments) or, where appropriate, an appraisal by a third-party experienced in the valuation of similar instruments, may also be used as a basis for establishing the fair value of an investment.

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The fair value of one or more assets or liabilities may not, in retrospect, be the price at which those assets or liabilities could have been sold during the period in which the particular fair values were used in determining a Fund's NAV. As a result, a Fund's sale or redemption of its shares at NAV, at a time when a holding or holdings are valued at fair value, may have the effect of diluting or increasing the economic interest of existing shareholders.

Each Fund's annual audited financial statements, which are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("US GAAP"), follow the requirements for valuation set forth in Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, "Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures" ("ASC 820"), which defines and establishes a framework for measuring fair value under US GAAP and expands financial statement disclosure requirements relating to fair value measurements.

Generally, ASC 820 and other accounting rules applicable to funds and various assets in which they invest are evolving. Such changes may adversely affect a Fund. For example, the evolution of rules governing the determination of the fair market value of assets or liabilities, to the extent such rules become more stringent, would tend to increase the cost and/or reduce the availability of third-party determinations of fair market value. This may in turn increase the costs associated with selling assets or affect their liquidity due to a Fund's inability to obtain a third-party determination of fair market value.

## Brokerage Transactions
Subject to policies established by the Board, BFA is primarily responsible for the execution of a Fund's portfolio transactions and the allocation of brokerage. BFA does not execute transactions through any particular broker or dealer, but seeks to obtain the best net results for the Funds, taking into account such factors as price (including the applicable brokerage commission or dealer spread), size of order, difficulty of execution, operational facilities of the firm and the firm's risk and skill in positioning blocks of securities. While BFA generally seeks reasonable trade execution costs, a Fund does not necessarily pay the lowest spread or commission available, and payment of the lowest commission or spread is not necessarily consistent with obtaining the best price and execution in particular transactions. Subject to applicable legal requirements, BFA may select a broker based partly upon brokerage or research services provided to BFA and its clients, including a Fund. In return for such services, BFA may cause a Fund to pay a higher commission than other brokers would charge if BFA determines in good faith that the commission is reasonable in relation to the services provided.

In selecting brokers or dealers to execute portfolio transactions, BFA seeks to obtain the best price and most favorable execution for a Fund and may take into account a variety of factors including: (i) the size, nature and character of the security or instrument being traded and the markets in which it is purchased or sold; (ii) the desired timing of the transaction; (iii) BFA's knowledge of the expected commission rates and spreads currently available; (iv) the activity existing and expected in the market for the particular security or instrument, including any anticipated execution difficulties; (v) the full range of brokerage services provided; (vi) the broker's or dealer's capital; (vii) the quality of research and research services provided; (viii) the reasonableness of the commission, dealer spread or its equivalent for the specific transaction; and (ix) BFA's knowledge of any actual or apparent operational problems of a broker or dealer. Brokers may also be selected because of their ability to handle special or difficult executions, such as may be involved in large block trades, thinly traded securities, or other circumstances.

Section 28(e) of the 1934 Act ("Section 28(e)") permits a U.S. investment adviser, under certain circumstances, to cause an account to pay a broker or dealer a commission for effecting a transaction in securities that exceeds the amount another broker or dealer would have charged for effecting the same transaction in recognition of the value of brokerage and research services provided by that broker or dealer. This includes commissions paid on riskless principal transactions in securities under certain conditions.

From time to time, a Fund may purchase new issues of securities in a fixed price offering. In these situations, the broker may be a member of the selling group that will, in addition to selling securities, provide BFA with research services. FINRA has adopted rules expressly permitting these types of arrangements under certain circumstances. Generally, the broker will provide research "credits" in these situations at a rate that is higher than that available for typical secondary market transactions. These arrangements may not fall within the safe harbor of Section 28(e).

The BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF and BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF anticipate that brokerage transactions involving foreign equity securities generally will be conducted primarily on the principal stock exchanges of the applicable country. Foreign equity securities may be held by the Fund in the form of depositary receipts, or other securities convertible

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into foreign equity securities. Depositary receipts may be listed on stock exchanges, or traded in OTC markets in the U.S. or Europe, as the case may be. American Depositary Receipts, like other securities traded in the U.S., will be subject to negotiated commission rates.

OTC issues, including most fixed-income securities such as corporate debt and U.S. Government securities, are normally traded on a "net" basis without a stated commission, through dealers acting for their own account and not as brokers. The Funds will primarily engage in transactions with these dealers or deal directly with the issuer unless a better price or execution could be obtained by using a broker. Prices paid to a dealer with respect to both foreign and domestic securities will generally include a "spread," which is the difference between the prices at which the dealer is willing to purchase and sell the specific security at the time, and includes the dealer's normal profit.

Under the 1940 Act, persons affiliated with a Fund and persons who are affiliated with such affiliated persons are prohibited from dealing with the Fund as principal in the purchase and sale of securities unless a permissive order allowing such transactions is obtained from the SEC. Since transactions in the OTC market usually involve transactions with the dealers acting as principal for their own accounts, the Funds will not deal with affiliated persons and affiliated persons of such affiliated persons in connection with such transactions. The Funds will not purchase securities during the existence of any underwriting or selling group relating to such securities of which BFA, BRIL or any affiliated person (as defined in the 1940 Act) thereof is a member except pursuant to procedures adopted by the Board in accordance with Rule 10f-3 under the 1940 Act.

Purchases of money market instruments by the Funds are made from dealers, underwriters and issuers. The Funds does not currently expect to incur any brokerage commission expense on such transactions because money market instruments are generally traded on a "net" basis with dealers acting as principal for their own accounts without a stated commission. The price of the security, however, usually includes a profit to the dealer.

BFA may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Funds with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with Rule 17e-1 under the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions.

Securities purchased in underwritten offerings include a fixed amount of compensation to the underwriter, generally referred to as the underwriter's concession or discount. When securities are purchased or sold directly from or to an issuer, no commissions or discounts are paid.

Investment decisions for the Funds and for other investment accounts managed by BFA and the other Affiliates are made independently of each other in light of differing conditions. A variety of factors will be considered in making investment allocations. These factors include: (i) investment objectives or strategies for particular accounts, including sector, industry, country or region and capitalization weightings; (ii) tax considerations of an account; (iii) risk or investment concentration parameters for an account; (iv) supply or demand for a security at a given price level; (v) size of available investment; (vi) cash availability and liquidity requirements for accounts; (vii) regulatory restrictions; (viii) minimum investment size of an account; (ix) relative size of account; and (x) such other factors as may be approved by BlackRock's general counsel. Moreover, investments may not be allocated to one client account over another based on any of the following considerations: (i) to favor one client account at the expense of another; (ii) to generate higher fees paid by one client account over another or to produce greater performance compensation to BlackRock; (iii) to develop or enhance a relationship with a client or prospective client; (iv) to compensate a client for past services or benefits rendered to BlackRock or to induce future services or benefits to be rendered to BlackRock; or (v) to manage or equalize investment performance among different client accounts. BFA and the other Affiliates may deal, trade and invest for their own respective accounts in the types of securities in which the Funds may invest.

Initial public offerings ("IPOs") of securities may be over-subscribed and subsequently trade at a premium in the secondary market. When BFA is given an opportunity to invest in such an initial offering or "new" or "hot" issue, the supply of securities available for client accounts is often less than the amount of securities the accounts would otherwise take. In order to allocate these investments fairly and equitably among client accounts over time, each portfolio manager or a member of his or her respective investment team will indicate to BFA's trading desk their level of interest in a particular offering with respect to eligible clients' accounts for which that team is responsible. IPOs of U.S. equity securities will be identified as eligible for particular client accounts that are managed by portfolio teams who have indicated interest in the offering based on market capitalization of the issuer of the security and the investment mandate of the client account and in the case of international

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equity securities, the country where the offering is taking place and the investment mandate of the client account. Generally, shares received during the IPO will be allocated among participating client accounts within each investment mandate on a *pro rata* basis. This *pro rata* allocation may result in a Fund receiving less of a particular security than if pro-rating had not occurred. All allocations of securities will be subject, where relevant, to share minimums established for accounts and compliance constraints. In situations where supply is too limited to be allocated among all accounts for which the investment is eligible, portfolio managers may rotate such investment opportunities among one or more accounts so long as the rotation system provides for fair access for all client accounts over time. Other allocation methodologies that are considered by BFA to be fair and equitable to clients may be used as well.

Because different accounts may have differing investment objectives and policies, BFA may buy and sell the same securities at the same time for different clients based on the particular investment objective, guidelines and strategies of those accounts. For example, BFA may decide that it may be entirely appropriate for a growth fund to sell a security at the same time a value fund is buying that security. To the extent that transactions on behalf of more than one client of BFA or the other Affiliates during the same period increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, there may be an adverse effect on price. For example, sales of a security by BlackRock on behalf of one or more of its clients may decrease the market price of such security, adversely impacting other BlackRock clients that still hold the security. If purchases or sales of securities arise for consideration at or about the same time that would involve the Funds or other clients or funds for which BFA or another Affiliate act as investment manager, transactions in such securities will be made, insofar as feasible, for the respective funds and clients in a manner deemed equitable to all.

In certain instances, BFA may find it efficient for purposes of seeking to obtain best execution, to aggregate or "bunch" certain contemporaneous purchases or sale orders of its advisory accounts and advisory accounts of affiliates. In general, all contemporaneous trades for client accounts under management by the same portfolio manager or investment team will be bunched in a single order if the trader believes the bunched trade would provide each client with an opportunity to achieve a more favorable execution at a potentially lower execution cost. The costs associated with a bunched order will be shared *pro rata* among the clients in the bunched order. Generally, if an order for a particular portfolio manager or management team is filled at several different prices through multiple trades, all accounts participating in the order will receive the average price (except in the case of certain international markets where average pricing is not permitted). While in some cases this practice could have a detrimental effect upon the price or value of the security as far as the Funds are concerned, in other cases it could be beneficial to the Funds. Transactions effected by BFA or the other Affiliates on behalf of more than one of its clients during the same period may increase the demand for securities being purchased or the supply of securities being sold, causing an adverse effect on price. The trader will give the bunched order to the broker-dealer that the trader has identified as being able to provide the best execution of the order. Orders for purchase or sale of securities will be placed within a reasonable amount of time of the order receipt and bunched orders will be kept bunched only long enough to execute the order.

There were no brokerage commissions paid on behalf of each Fund for the fiscal years ended October 31, 2022, October 31, 2021 and October 31, 2020.

None of the Funds paid any brokerage commissions to BRIL, an affiliate of BFA, or to any other broker-dealer that is part of the BlackRock group of companies, during the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022.

The following table sets forth the names of the Funds' "regular" broker-dealers, as defined under Rule 10b-1 of the 1940 Act, which derive more than 15% of their gross revenues from securities-related activities and in which the Funds invest, together with the market value of each investment as of the fiscal year ended October 31, 2022:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | **Issuer** | **Market Value of<br> Investment** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | Morgan Stanley | $115308919 |
|  | Bank of America Corp. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;111967465 |
|  | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;92574056 |
|  | Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (The) | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;67305832 |
|  | Barclays PLC | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;40496393 |
|  | Citigroup, Inc. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;37945015 |
|  | Mizuho Financial Group Inc. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;32823284 |

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | **Issuer** | **Market Value of<br> Investment** |
|  | Bank of Montreal | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;19826378 |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (The) | $108105454 |
|  | Citigroup, Inc. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;99290050 |
|  | Royal Bank of Canada | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;67690301 |
|  | Bank of America Corp. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;52628629 |
|  | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;39360914 |
|  | Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;24285342 |

---

The Funds' purchase and sale orders for securities may be combined with those of other investment companies, clients or accounts that BlackRock manages or advises. If purchases or sales of portfolio securities of the Funds and one or more other accounts managed or advised by BlackRock are considered at or about the same time, transactions in such securities are allocated among the Funds and the other accounts in a manner deemed equitable to all by BlackRock. In some cases, this procedure could have a detrimental effect on the price or volume of the security as far as the Funds are concerned. However, in other cases, it is possible that the ability to participate in volume transactions and to negotiate lower transaction costs will be beneficial to the Funds. BlackRock may deal, trade and invest for its own account in the types of securities in which the Funds may invest. BlackRock may, from time to time, effect trades on behalf of and for the account of the Funds with brokers or dealers that are affiliated with BFA, in conformity with the 1940 Act and SEC rules and regulations. Under these provisions, any commissions paid to affiliated brokers or dealers must be reasonable and fair compared to the commissions charged by other brokers or dealers in comparable transactions. The Funds will not deal with affiliates in principal transactions unless permitted by applicable SEC rules or regulations, or by SEC exemptive order.

Portfolio turnover may vary from year to year, as well as within a year. Certain Funds may use TBA transactions, which are expected to cause a higher portfolio turnover rate because TBA positions are rolled every month. High turnover rates may result in comparatively greater brokerage expenses.

The table below sets forth the portfolio turnover rates for the Funds for the fiscal years noted:

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2022** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Fiscal Year Ended<br> Oct. 31, 2021** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF<sup>1</sup> | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;44% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;55% |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;98% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;52% |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;27% | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;47% |

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<sup>1</sup> Portfolio turnover rate includes TBA transactions.

## Additional Information Concerning the Trust
**Shares. The Trust currently consists of 16 separate investment series or portfolios called funds. The Trust issues shares of beneficial interests in the funds with no par value. The Board may designate additional iShares funds.**

Each share issued by a fund has a *pro rata* interest in the assets of that fund. Shares have no preemptive, exchange, subscription or conversion rights and are freely transferable. Each share is entitled to participate equally in dividends and distributions declared by the Board with respect to the relevant fund, and in the net distributable assets of such fund on liquidation.

Each share has one vote with respect to matters upon which the shareholder is entitled to vote. In any matter submitted to shareholders for a vote, each fund shall hold a separate vote, provided that shareholders of all affected funds will vote together when: (i) required by the 1940 Act, or (ii) the Trustees determine that the matter affects the interests of more than one fund.

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Under Delaware law, the Trust is not required to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. The policy of the Trust is not to hold an annual meeting of shareholders unless required to do so under the 1940 Act. All shares (regardless of the fund) have noncumulative voting rights in the election of members of the Board. Under Delaware law, Trustees of the Trust may be removed by vote of the shareholders.

Following the creation of the initial Creation Unit(s) of shares of a fund and immediately prior to the commencement of trading in such fund's shares, a holder of shares may be a "control person" of the fund, as defined in Rule 0-1 under the 1940 Act. A fund cannot predict the length of time for which one or more shareholders may remain a control person of the fund.

Shareholders may make inquiries by writing to iShares U.S. ETF Trust, c/o BlackRock Investments, LLC, 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

Absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, beneficial owners of more than 5% of the shares of a fund may be subject to the reporting provisions of Section 13 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. In addition, absent an applicable exemption or other relief from the SEC or its staff, officers and trustees of a fund and beneficial owners of 10% of the shares of a fund ("Insiders") may be subject to the insider reporting, short-swing profit and short sale provisions of Section 16 of the 1934 Act and the SEC's rules promulgated thereunder. Beneficial owners and Insiders should consult with their own legal counsel concerning their obligations under Sections 13 and 16 of the 1934 Act and existing guidance provided by the SEC staff.

In accordance with the Trust's current Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust"), the Board may, without shareholder approval (unless such shareholder approval is required by the Declaration of Trust or applicable law, including the 1940 Act), authorize certain funds to merge, reorganize, consolidate, sell all or substantially all of their assets, or take other similar actions with, to or into another fund. The Trust or a fund may be terminated by a majority vote of the Board, or the affirmative vote of a majority of the shareholders of the Trust or such fund entitled to vote on termination; however, in certain circumstances described in the Declaration of Trust, only a majority vote of the Board is required. Although the shares are not automatically redeemable upon the occurrence of any specific event, the Declaration of Trust provides that the Board will have the unrestricted power to alter the number of shares in a Creation Unit. Therefore, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Board, in its sole discretion, could determine to permit the shares to be redeemable in aggregations smaller than Creation Units or to be individually redeemable. In such circumstance, the Trust or a fund may make redemptions in-kind, for cash or for a combination of cash or securities. Further, in the event of a termination of the Trust or a fund, the Trust or a fund might elect to pay cash redemptions to all shareholders, with an in-kind election for shareholders owning in excess of a certain stated minimum amount.

**DTC as Securities Depository for Shares of the Funds. Shares of each Fund are represented by securities registered in the name of DTC or its nominee and deposited with, or on behalf of, DTC.**

DTC was created in 1973 to enable electronic movement of securities between its participants ("DTC Participants"), and NSCC was established in 1976 to provide a single settlement system for securities clearing and to serve as central counterparty for securities trades among DTC Participants. In 1999, DTC and NSCC were consolidated within The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation ("DTCC") and became wholly-owned subsidiaries of DTCC. The common stock of DTCC is owned by the DTC Participants, but NYSE and FINRA, through subsidiaries, hold preferred shares in DTCC that provide them with the right to elect one member each to the DTCC board of directors. Access to the DTC system is available to entities, such as banks, brokers, dealers and trust companies, that clear through or maintain a custodial relationship with a DTC Participant, either directly or indirectly ("Indirect Participants").

Beneficial ownership of shares is limited to DTC Participants, Indirect Participants and persons holding interests through DTC Participants and Indirect Participants. Ownership of beneficial interests in shares (owners of such beneficial interests are referred to herein as "Beneficial Owners") is shown on, and the transfer of ownership is effected only through, records maintained by DTC (with respect to DTC Participants) and on the records of DTC Participants (with respect to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners that are not DTC Participants). Beneficial Owners will receive from or through the DTC Participant a written confirmation relating to their purchase of shares. The laws of some jurisdictions may require that certain purchasers of securities take physical delivery of such securities in definitive form. Such laws may impair the ability of certain investors to acquire beneficial interests in shares of the Fund.

Conveyance of all notices, statements and other communications to Beneficial Owners is effected as follows. Pursuant to the Depositary Agreement between the Trust and DTC, DTC is required to make available to the Trust upon request and for a fee

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to be charged to the Trust a listing of the shares of each Fund held by each DTC Participant. The Trust shall inquire of each such DTC Participant as to the number of Beneficial Owners holding shares, directly or indirectly, through such DTC Participant. The Trust shall provide each such DTC Participant with copies of such notice, statement or other communication, in such form, number and at such place as such DTC Participant may reasonably request, in order that such notice, statement or communication may be transmitted by such DTC Participant, directly or indirectly, to such Beneficial Owners. In addition, the Trust shall pay to each such DTC Participant a fair and reasonable amount as reimbursement for the expenses attendant to such transmittal, all subject to applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

Share distributions shall be made to DTC or its nominee, Cede & Co., as the registered holder of all shares of the Trust. DTC or its nominee, upon receipt of any such distributions, shall credit immediately DTC Participants' accounts with payments in amounts proportionate to their respective beneficial interests in shares of each Fund as shown on the records of DTC or its nominee. Payments by DTC Participants to Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners of shares held through such DTC Participants will be governed by standing instructions and customary practices, as is now the case with securities held for the accounts of customers in bearer form or registered in a "street name," and will be the responsibility of such DTC Participants.

The Trust has no responsibility or liability for any aspect of the records relating to or notices to Beneficial Owners, or payments made on account of beneficial ownership interests in such shares, or for maintaining, supervising or reviewing any records relating to such beneficial ownership interests, or for any other aspect of the relationship between DTC and the DTC Participants or the relationship between such DTC Participants and the Indirect Participants and Beneficial Owners owning through such DTC Participants. DTC may decide to discontinue providing its service with respect to shares of the Trust at any time by giving reasonable notice to the Trust and discharging its responsibilities with respect thereto under applicable law. Under such circumstances, the Trust shall take action to find a replacement for DTC to perform its functions at a comparable cost.

**Distribution of Shares. In connection with each Fund's launch, each Fund was seeded through the sale of one or more Creation Units by each Fund to one or more initial investors. Initial investors participating in the seeding may be Authorized Participants, a lead market maker or other third party investor or an affiliate of each Fund or each Fund's adviser. Each such initial investor may sell some or all of the shares underlying the Creation Unit(s) held by them pursuant to the registration statement for each Fund (each, a "Selling Shareholder"), which shares have been registered to permit the resale from time to time after purchase. Each Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the resale by the Selling Shareholders of these shares.**

Selling Shareholders may sell shares owned by them directly or through broker-dealers, in accordance with applicable law, on any national securities exchange on which the shares may be listed or quoted at the time of sale, through trading systems, in the OTC market or in transactions other than on these exchanges or systems at fixed prices, at prevailing market prices at the time of the sale, at varying prices determined at the time of sale, or at negotiated prices. These sales may be effected through brokerage transactions, privately negotiated trades, block sales, entry into options or other derivatives transactions or through any other means authorized by applicable law. Selling Shareholders may redeem the shares held in Creation Unit size by them through an Authorized Participant.

Any Selling Shareholder and any broker-dealer or agents participating in the distribution of shares may be deemed to be "underwriters" within the meaning of Section 2(a)(11) of the 1933 Act, in connection with such sales.

Any Selling Shareholder and any other person participating in such distribution will be subject to applicable provisions of the 1934 Act and the rules and regulations thereunder.

## Creation and Redemption of Creation Units
**General. The Trust issues and sells shares of each Fund only in Creation Units on a continuous basis through the Distributor or its agent, without a sales load, at a price based on the NAV next determined after receipt, on any Business Day (as defined below), of an order received by the Distributor or its agent in proper form. On days when the Listing Exchange or the bond markets close earlier than normal, the Funds may require orders to be placed earlier in the day. The following table sets forth the number of shares of a Fund that constitute a Creation Unit for such Fund and the approximate value of such Creation Unit as of November 30, 2022:**

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Shares Per<br> Creation Unit** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Approximate<br> Value Per<br> Creation<br> Unit** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;$2464517.75 |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2489997.65 |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;50000 | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2504927.05 |

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In its discretion, the Trust reserves the right to increase or decrease the number of a Fund's shares that constitute a Creation Unit. The Board reserves the right to declare a split or a consolidation in the number of shares outstanding of any Fund, and to make a corresponding change in the number of shares constituting a Creation Unit, in the event that the per share price in the secondary market rises (or declines) to an amount that falls outside the range deemed desirable by the Board.

A "Business Day" with respect to each Fund is any day the Fund is open for business, including any day when it satisfies redemption requests as required by Section 22(e) of the 1940 Act. Each Fund is open for business any day on which the Listing Exchange on which the Fund is listed for trading is open for business. As of the date of this SAI, each Listing Exchange observes the following holidays, as observed: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.

**Fund Deposit. The consideration for purchase of Creation Units of each Fund is generally cash. However, in some cases the consideration consists of a designated portfolio of securities, assets or other positions (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) ("Deposit Securities" or "Creation Basket") and the Cash Component computed as described below. Together, the Deposit Securities and the Cash Component constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will be applicable (subject to possible amendment or correction) to creation requests received in proper form. The Fund Deposit represents the minimum initial and subsequent investment amount for a Creation Unit of each applicable Fund. Such Fund Deposit is applicable, subject to any adjustments as described below, to purchases of Creation Units of shares of a given Fund until such time as the next-announced Fund Deposit is made available.**

The "Cash Component" is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares (per Creation Unit) and the "Deposit Amount," which is an amount equal to the market value of the Deposit Securities, and serves to compensate for any differences between the NAV per Creation Unit and the Deposit Amount. Payment of any stamp duty or other similar fees and expenses payable upon transfer of beneficial ownership of the Deposit Securities are the sole responsibility of the Authorized Participant purchasing a Creation Unit.

Each Fund's current policy is to accept cash in substitution for the Deposit Securities it might otherwise accept as in-kind consideration for the purchase of Creation Units. A Fund may, at times, elect to receive Deposit Securities (*i.e.*, the in-kind deposit of a designated portfolio of securities) and a Cash Component as consideration for the purchase of Creation Units. If a Fund elects to accept Deposit Securities, a purchaser's delivery of the Deposit Securities together with the Cash Component will constitute the "Fund Deposit," which will represent the consideration for a Creation Unit of the Fund. Please see the *Cash Purchase Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the Deposit Security method for further information on purchasing Creation Units of the Funds.

The identity and number or par value of the Deposit Securities change pursuant to changes in the composition of a Fund's portfolio and as rebalancing adjustments and corporate action events are reflected from time to time by BFA with a view to the investment objective of the Fund. The composition of the Deposit Securities may also change in response to adjustments to the weighting or composition of the component securities constituting the Fund's portfolio.

The Trust may require the substitution of an amount of cash (*i.e*., a "cash-in-lieu" amount) to replace any Deposit Security of the BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF or the BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF that is a TBA transaction or an interest in a mortgage pass-through security. The amount of cash contributed will be equivalent to the price of the TBA transaction or mortgage pass-through security interest listed as a Deposit Security. A transaction fee may be charged on the cash amount contributed in lieu of the TBA transaction or mortgage pass-through security.

The Fund Deposit may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Deposit Securities portion of the Fund Deposit through "systematic rounding." The rounding methodology "rounds up" position sizes of securities in the Deposit Securities (which in turn reduces the cash portion). However, the methodology limits the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Fund Deposit.

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Fund Deposits may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to be added to the Cash Component to replace any Deposit Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when instruments are not available in sufficient quantity for delivery; (ii) when instruments are not eligible for transfer through DTC or the clearing process (as discussed below); (iii) when instruments that the Authorized Participant (or an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) are not able to be traded due to a trading restriction; (iv) when delivery of the Deposit Security by the Authorized Participant (or by an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws; (v) in connection with distribution payments to be made by a Fund; or (vi) in certain other situations.

**Cash Purchase Method. Although the Trust does not generally permit partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units of its funds, when partial or full cash purchases of Creation Units are available or specified (Creation Units of the Funds are generally offered solely for cash), they will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind purchases thereof. In the case of a partial or full cash purchase, the Authorized Participant must pay the cash equivalent of the Deposit Securities it would otherwise be required to provide through an in-kind purchase, plus the same Cash Component required to be paid by an in-kind purchaser.**

**Procedures for Creation of Creation Units. To be eligible to place orders with the Distributor and to create a Creation Unit of the Funds, an entity must be: (i) a "Participating Party," *i.e*., a broker-dealer or other participant in the clearing process through the Continuous Net Settlement System of the NSCC (the "Clearing Process"), a clearing agency that is registered with the SEC, or (ii) a DTC Participant, and must have executed an agreement with the Distributor, with respect to creations and redemptions of Creation Units ("Authorized Participant Agreement") (discussed below). A member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC which has a written agreement with the Funds or one of their service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units is referred to as an "Authorized Participant." All shares of the Funds, however created, will be entered on the records of DTC in the name of Cede & Co. for the account of a DTC Participant.**

**Role of the Authorized Participant. Creation Units may be purchased only by or through a member or participant of a clearing agency registered with the SEC, which has a written agreement with the Funds or one of their service providers that allows such member or participant to place orders for the purchase and redemption of Creation Units. Such Authorized Participant will agree, pursuant to the terms of such Authorized Participant Agreement and on behalf of itself or any investor on whose behalf it will act, to certain conditions, including that such Authorized Participant will make available in advance of each purchase of shares an amount of cash sufficient to pay the Cash Component, once the NAV of a Creation Unit is next determined after receipt of the purchase order in proper form, together with the transaction fees described below. An Authorized Participant, acting on behalf of an investor, may require the investor to enter into an agreement with such Authorized Participant with respect to certain matters, including payment of the Cash Component. Investors who are not Authorized Participants must make appropriate arrangements with an Authorized Participant. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not be a DTC Participant or may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that orders to purchase Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant. As a result, purchase orders placed through an Authorized Participant may result in additional charges to such investor. The Trust does not expect to enter into an Authorized Participant Agreement with more than a small number of DTC Participants. A list of current Authorized Participants may be obtained from the Distributor. The Distributor has adopted guidelines regarding Authorized Participants' transactions in Creation Units that are made available to all Authorized Participants. These guidelines set forth the processes and standards for Authorized Participants to transact with the Distributor and its agents in connection with creation and redemption transactions. In addition, the Distributor may be appointed as the proxy of the Authorized Participant and may be granted a power of attorney under its Authorized Participant Agreement.**

**Placement of Creation Orders. Fund Deposits must be delivered through the Federal Reserve System (for cash and U.S. government securities), through DTC (for corporate and municipal securities) or through a central depository account, such as with Euroclear or DTC, maintained by State Street or a sub-custodian (a "Central Depository Account"). Any portion of a Fund Deposit that may not be delivered through the Federal Reserve System or DTC must be delivered through a Central Depository Account. The Fund Deposit transfers made through DTC must be ordered by the DTC Participant in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite number of Deposit Securities through DTC to the account of the Funds generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. Fund Deposit transfers made through the Federal Reserve System must be deposited by the participant institution in a timely fashion so as to ensure the delivery of the requisite**

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number or amount of Deposit Securities or cash through the Federal Reserve System to the account of the Funds generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. Fund Deposit transfers made through a Central Depository Account must be completed pursuant to the requirements established by the custodian or sub-custodian for such Central Depository Account generally before 2:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. The "Settlement Date" for all funds is generally the second business day after the Transmittal Date. All questions as to the number of Deposit Securities to be delivered, and the validity, form and eligibility (including time of receipt) for the deposit of any tendered securities, will be determined by the Trust, whose determination shall be final and binding. The amount of cash equal to the Cash Component must be transferred directly to State Street through the Federal Reserve Bank wire transfer system in a timely manner so as to be received by State Street generally before 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date. If the Cash Component and the Deposit Securities are not received by 3:00 p.m., Eastern time on the Settlement Date, the creation order may be canceled. Upon written notice to the Distributor, such canceled order may be resubmitted the following Business Day using the Fund Deposit as newly constituted to reflect the then current NAV of the Funds. The delivery of Creation Units so created generally will occur no later than the second Business Day following the day on which the purchase order is deemed received by the Distributor, provided that the relevant Fund Deposit has been received by the Funds prior to such time.

**Purchase Orders. To initiate an order for a Creation Unit, an Authorized Participant must submit to the Distributor or its agent an irrevocable order to purchase shares of a Fund, in proper form, generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day to receive that day's NAV. The Distributor or its agent will notify BFA and the custodian of such order. The custodian will then provide such information to any appropriate sub-custodian. Procedures and requirements governing the delivery of the Fund Deposit are set forth in the procedures handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a creation request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request. Those placing orders to purchase Creation Units through an Authorized Participant should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the purchase order to the Distributor or its agent by the Cutoff Time (as defined below) on such Business Day.**

The Authorized Participant must also make available on or before the contractual settlement date, by means satisfactory to the Funds, immediately available or same day funds estimated by the Funds to be sufficient to pay the Cash Component next determined after acceptance of the purchase order, together with the applicable purchase transaction fees. Those placing orders should ascertain the applicable deadline for cash transfers by contacting the operations department of the broker or depositary institution effectuating the transfer of the Cash Component. This deadline is likely to be significantly earlier than the Cutoff Time of the Funds. Investors should be aware that an Authorized Participant may require orders for purchases of shares placed with it to be in the particular form required by the individual Authorized Participant.

The Authorized Participant is responsible for any and all expenses and costs incurred by a Fund, including any applicable cash amounts, in connection with any purchase order.

**Timing of Submission of Purchase Orders. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable order to purchase shares of a Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. Creation Orders must be transmitted by an Authorized Participant in the form required by the Funds to the Distributor or its agent pursuant to procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Economic or market disruptions or changes, or telephone or other communication failure, may impede the ability to reach the Distributor or its agent or an Authorized Participant. Orders to create shares of a Fund that are submitted on the Business Day immediately preceding a holiday or a day (other than a weekend) when the equity markets in the relevant non-U.S. market are closed may not be accepted. Each Fund's deadline specified above for the submission of purchase orders is referred to as the Fund's "Cutoff Time." The Distributor or its agent, in their discretion, may permit the submission of such orders and requests by or through an Authorized Participant at any time (including on days on which the Listing Exchange is not open for business) via communication through the facilities of the Distributor's or its agent's proprietary website maintained for this purpose. Purchase orders and redemption requests, if accepted by the Trust, will be processed based on the NAV next determined after such acceptance in accordance with the Fund's Cutoff Times as provided in the Authorized Participant Agreement and disclosed in this SAI.**

**Acceptance of Orders for Creation Units. Subject to the conditions that (i) an irrevocable purchase order has been submitted by the Authorized Participant (either on its own or another investor's behalf) and (ii) arrangements satisfactory to the Funds are in place for payment of the Cash Component and any other cash amounts which may be due, the Funds will accept the order, subject to each Fund's right (and the right of the Distributor and BFA) to reject any order until acceptance, as set forth below.**

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Once a Fund has accepted an order, upon the next determination of the NAV of the shares, the Fund will confirm the issuance of a Creation Unit, against receipt of payment, at such NAV. The Distributor or its agent will then transmit a confirmation of acceptance to the Authorized Participant that placed the order.

Each Fund reserves the right to reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent provided that a rejection or revocation of a creation order does not violate Rule 6c-11 under the Investment Company Act. For example, a Fund may reject or revoke a creation order transmitted to it by the Distributor or its agent if (i) the order is not in proper form; (ii) the investor(s), upon obtaining the shares ordered, would own 80% or more of the currently outstanding shares of the Fund; (iii) the Deposit Securities delivered do not conform to the identity and number of shares specified, as described above; (iv) acceptance of the Deposit Securities is not legally required or would, in the opinion of the Trust, be unlawful or have an adverse effect on the Fund or its shareholders (*e.g*., jeopardize the Fund's tax status); or (v) circumstances outside the control of the Fund, the Distributor or its agent and BFA make it impracticable to process purchase orders. The Distributor or its agent shall notify a prospective purchaser of a Creation Unit and/or the Authorized Participant acting on behalf of such purchaser of its rejection of such order. The Funds, State Street, the sub-custodian and the Distributor or its agent are under no duty, however, to give notification of any defects or irregularities in the delivery of Fund Deposits nor shall any of them incur any liability for failure to give such notification.

**Issuance of a Creation Unit. Except as provided herein, a Creation Unit will not be issued until the transfer of good title to the applicable Fund of the Deposit Securities and the payment of the Cash Component have been completed. When the sub-custodian has confirmed to the custodian that the securities included in the Fund Deposit (or the cash value thereof) have been delivered to the account of the relevant sub-custodian or sub-custodians, the Distributor or its agent and BFA shall be notified of such delivery and the applicable Fund will issue and cause the delivery of the Creation Unit. Creation Units are generally issued on a "T+2 basis" (*i.e.*, two Business Days after trade date). Each Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law. For example, each Fund reserves the right to settle Creation Unit transactions on a basis other than T+2 in order to accommodate non-U.S. market holiday schedules, to account for different treatment among non-U.S. and U.S. markets of dividend record dates and ex-dividend dates (*i.e.*, the last day the holder of a security can sell the security and still receive dividends payable on the security) and in certain other circumstances.**

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant Agreement with the Distributor, each Fund will issue Creation Units to such Authorized Participant, notwithstanding the fact that the corresponding Fund Deposits have not been received in part or in whole, in reliance on the undertaking of the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing Deposit Securities as soon as possible, which undertaking shall be secured by such Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. The Trust may use such collateral at any time to buy Deposit Securities for the Funds. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the contractual settlement date. Information concerning the Funds' current procedures for collateralization of missing Deposit Securities is available from the Distributor or its agent. The Authorized Participant Agreement will permit the Funds to buy the missing Deposit Securities at any time and will subject the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the cost to the Funds of purchasing such securities and the collateral including, without limitation, liability for related brokerage, borrowings and other charges.

In certain cases, Authorized Participants may create and redeem Creation Units on the same trade date and in these instances, the Funds reserve the right to settle these transactions on a net basis or require a representation from the Authorized Participants that the creation and redemption transactions are for separate beneficial owners. All questions as to the number of shares of each security in the Deposit Securities and the validity, form, eligibility and acceptance for deposit of any securities to be delivered shall be determined by each Fund and the Fund's determination shall be final and binding.

#### Costs Associated with Creation Transactions.
A standard creation transaction fee is imposed to offset the transfer and other transaction costs associated with the issuance of Creation Units. The standard creation transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant creates a Creation Unit, and is the same, regardless of the number of Creation Units purchased by the Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a purchase consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs

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of transferring the Deposit Securities to the Funds. Certain fees/costs associated with creation transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to acquire Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth each Fund's standard creation transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Creation<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge for Creations\*** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$600 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;300 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;500 | &nbsp;&nbsp;3.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit.

**Redemption of Creation Units. Shares of a Fund may be redeemed by Authorized Participants only in Creation Units at their NAV next determined after receipt of a redemption request in proper form by the Distributor or its agent and only on a Business Day. The Funds will not redeem shares in amounts less than Creation Units. There can be no assurance, however, that there will be sufficient liquidity in the secondary market at any time to permit assembly of a Creation Unit. Investors should expect to incur brokerage and other costs in connection with assembling a sufficient number of shares to constitute a Creation Unit that could be redeemed by an Authorized Participant. Beneficial owners also may sell shares in the secondary market.**

The Funds generally redeem Creation Units solely for cash. However, the Funds reserve the right to distribute securities in-kind as payment for Creation Units being redeemed at any time. For example, the Funds may determine to offer in-kind redemptions instead of cash redemptions in response to changing market conditions or during periods of volatility. The Funds are permitted to offer either cash or in-kind redemptions, which may vary throughout the trading day, in the discretion of the Funds. Please see the *Cash Redemption Method* section below and the following discussion summarizing the in-kind method for further information on redeeming Creation Units of the Funds.

Each Fund publishes the designated portfolio of securities (including any portion of such securities for which cash may be substituted) that will be applicable to redemption requests received in proper form (as defined below) on that day ("Fund Securities" or "Redemption Basket"), and an amount of cash (the "Cash Amount," as described below) in order to effect redemptions of Creation Units of a Fund. Such Fund Securities and Cash Amount will remain in effect until such time as the next announced composition of the Fund Securities and Cash Amount is made available. The Fund Securities and Cash Amount are subject to possible amendment or correction. Procedures and requirements governing redemption transactions are set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants and may change from time to time.

Unless cash redemptions are available or specified for a Fund, the redemption proceeds for a Creation Unit generally consist of Fund Securities, plus the Cash Amount, which is an amount equal to the difference between the NAV of the shares being redeemed, as next determined after the receipt of a redemption request in proper form, and the value of Fund Securities, less a redemption transaction fee (as described below).

The Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash in lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security in certain circumstances, including: (i) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant (or to an investor on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting) would be restricted under applicable securities or other local laws or due to a trading restriction; (ii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in the disposition of the Fund Security by the Authorized Participant due to restrictions under applicable securities or other local laws; (iii) when the delivery of a Fund Security to the Authorized Participant would result in unfavorable tax treatment; (iv) when a Fund Security cannot be settled or otherwise delivered in time to facilitate an in-kind redemption; or (v) in certain other situations. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Trust may, in its sole discretion, substitute a "cash-in-lieu" amount to replace any Fund Security of the Fund that is a TBA transaction or mortgage pass-through security. The amount of cash paid out in such cases will be equivalent to the value of the substituted security listed as a Fund Security. In the event that the Fund Securities have a value greater than the NAV of the shares, a compensating cash payment equal to the difference is required to be made by or through an Authorized Participant by the redeeming shareholder. Each Fund generally redeems Creation Units for cash

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and/or in-kind. The Redemption Basket may also be modified to minimize the Cash Component by redistributing the cash to the Fund Securities portion of the Redemption Basket through systematically rounding. The rounding methodology allows position sizes of securities in the Fund Securities to be "rounded up," while limiting the maximum allowed percentage change in weight and share quantity of any given security in the Redemption Basket. Redemption Baskets may also be modified to position a fund towards a forward index rebalance to reflect revisions that account for index additions, deletions, and re-weights.

**Cash Redemption Method. Partial or full cash redemptions will be effected in essentially the same manner as in-kind redemptions thereof. In the case of partial or full cash redemption, the Authorized Participant receives the cash equivalent of the Fund Securities it would otherwise receive through an in-kind redemption, plus the same Cash Amount to be paid to an in-kind redeemer.**

#### Costs Associated with Redemption Transactions.
A standard redemption transaction fee is imposed to offset transfer and other transaction costs that may be incurred by the Fund. The standard redemption transaction fee is charged to the Authorized Participant on the day such Authorized Participant redeems a Creation Unit, and is the same regardless of the number of Creation Units redeemed by an Authorized Participant on the applicable Business Day. If a redemption consists solely or partially of cash, the Authorized Participant may also be required to cover (up to the maximum amount shown below) certain brokerage, tax, foreign exchange, execution, price movement and other costs and expenses related to the execution of trades resulting from such transaction (which may, in certain instances, be based on a good faith estimate of transaction costs). Authorized Participants will also bear the costs of transferring the Fund Securities from a Fund to their account on their order. Certain fees/costs associated with redemption transactions may be waived in certain circumstances. Investors who use the services of a broker or other financial intermediary to dispose of Fund shares may be charged a fee for such services.

The following table sets forth each Fund's standard redemption transaction fees and maximum additional charge (as described above):

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Standard Redemption<br> Transaction Fee** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Maximum Additional<br> Charge for Redemptions\*** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;$600 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;300 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;500 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2.0% |

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\* As a percentage of the net asset value per Creation Unit, inclusive of the standard redemption transaction fee.

**Placement of Redemption Orders. Redemption requests for Creation Units of the Funds must be submitted to the Distributor or its agent by or through an Authorized Participant. An Authorized Participant must submit an irrevocable request to redeem shares of a Fund generally before 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on any Business Day in order to receive that day's NAV. On days when the Listing Exchange closes earlier than normal, the Fund may require orders to redeem Creation Units to be placed earlier that day. Investors, other than Authorized Participants, are responsible for making arrangements for a redemption request to be made through an Authorized Participant. The Distributor or its agent will provide a list of current Authorized Participants upon request.**

The Authorized Participant must transmit the request for redemption in the form required by the Funds to the Distributor or its agent in accordance with procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors should be aware that their particular broker may not have executed an Authorized Participant Agreement and that, therefore, requests to redeem Creation Units may have to be placed by the investor's broker through an Authorized Participant who has executed an Authorized Participant Agreement. At any time, only a limited number of broker-dealers will have an Authorized Participant Agreement in effect. Investors making a redemption request should be aware that such request must be in the form specified by such Authorized Participant. Investors making a request to redeem Creation Units should allow sufficient time to permit proper submission of the request by an Authorized Participant and transfer of the shares to a Fund's transfer agent; such investors should allow for the additional time that may be required to effect redemptions through their banks, brokers or other financial intermediaries if such intermediaries are not Authorized Participants.

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A redemption request is considered to be in "proper form" if: (i) an Authorized Participant has transferred or caused to be transferred to the Funds' transfer agent the Creation Unit redeemed through the book-entry system of DTC so as to be effective by the Listing Exchange closing time on any Business Day on which the redemption request is submitted; (ii) a request in form satisfactory to the applicable Fund is received by the Distributor or its agent from the Authorized Participant on behalf of itself or another redeeming investor within the time periods specified above; and (iii) all other procedures set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement are properly followed.

Upon receiving a redemption request, the Distributor or its agent shall notify the applicable Fund and the Fund's transfer agent of such redemption request. The tender of an investor's shares for redemption and the distribution of the securities and/or cash included in the redemption payment made in respect of Creation Units redeemed will be made through DTC and the relevant Authorized Participant to the Beneficial Owner thereof as recorded on the book-entry system of DTC or the DTC Participant through which such investor holds, as the case may be, or by such other means specified by the Authorized Participant submitting the redemption request.

A redeeming Authorized Participant, whether on its own account or acting on behalf of a Beneficial Owner, must maintain appropriate security arrangements with a qualified broker-dealer, bank or other custody providers in each jurisdiction in which any of the portfolio securities are customarily traded, to which account such portfolio securities will be delivered.

Deliveries of redemption proceeds by a Fund are generally made within two Business Days (*i.e.*,"T+2"). Each Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2, including a shorter settlement period, if necessary or appropriate under the circumstances and compliant with applicable law. For example, each Fund reserves the right to settle redemption transactions on a basis other than T+2 to accommodate non-U.S. market holiday schedules, to account for different treatment among non-U.S. and U.S. markets of dividend record dates and dividend ex-dates (*i.e*., the last date the holder of a security can sell the security and still receive dividends payable on the security sold) and in certain other circumstances consistent with applicable law.

If neither the Authorized Participant nor the Beneficial Owner on whose behalf the Authorized Participant is acting has appropriate arrangements to take delivery of Fund Securities in the applicable non-U.S. jurisdiction and it is not possible to make other such arrangements, or if it is not possible to effect deliveries of Fund Securities in such jurisdiction, a Fund may in its discretion exercise its option to redeem such shares in cash, and the redeeming Beneficial Owner will be required to receive its redemption proceeds in cash. In such case, the investor will receive a cash payment equal to the net asset value of its shares based on the NAV of the Fund next determined after the redemption request is received in proper form (minus a redemption transaction fee and additional charges specified above to offset the Fund's brokerage and other transaction costs associated with the disposition of Fund Securities). Redemptions of shares for Fund Securities will be subject to compliance with applicable U.S. federal and state securities laws and a Fund (whether or not it otherwise permits cash redemptions) reserves the right to redeem Creation Units for cash to the extent that the Fund cannot lawfully deliver specific Fund Securities upon redemptions or cannot do so without first registering the Fund Securities under such laws.

Proceeds of a redemption request will be paid to the Authorized Participant redeeming shares as soon as practicable after the date of redemption (within seven calendar days thereafter). If a Fund includes a foreign investment in its basket, and if a local market holiday, or series of consecutive holidays, or the extended delivery cycles for transferring foreign investments to redeeming Authorized Participants prevents timely delivery of the foreign investment in response to a redemption request, a Fund may delay delivery of the foreign investment more than seven days if a Fund delivers the foreign investment as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 15 days.

To the extent contemplated by an Authorized Participant's agreement with the Distributor or its agent, in the event an Authorized Participant has submitted a redemption request in proper form but is unable to transfer all or part of the Creation Unit to be redeemed to a Fund, at or prior to the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request, the Distributor or its agent will accept the redemption request in reliance on the undertaking by the Authorized Participant to deliver the missing shares as soon as possible. Such undertaking shall be secured by the Authorized Participant's delivery and maintenance of collateral as set forth in the handbook for Authorized Participants. Such collateral must be delivered no later than the time specified by a Fund or its custodian on the Business Day after the date of submission of such redemption request and shall be held by State Street and marked-to-market daily. The fees of State Street and any sub-custodians in respect of the delivery, maintenance and redelivery of the collateral shall be payable by the Authorized Participant. The Authorized Participant Agreement permits the Funds to acquire shares of the Funds at any time and subjects the Authorized Participant to liability for any shortfall between the aggregate of the cost to

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the Funds of purchasing such shares, plus the value of the Cash Amount, and the value of the collateral together with liability for related brokerage and other charges.

Because the portfolio securities of a Fund may trade on exchange(s) on days that the Listing Exchange is closed or are otherwise not Business Days for such Fund, shareholders may not be able to redeem their shares of such Fund or purchase or sell shares of such Fund on the Listing Exchange on days when the NAV of such a Fund could be significantly affected by events in the relevant non-U.S. markets.

The right of redemption may be suspended or the date of payment postponed with respect to any Fund: (i) for any period during which the Listing Exchange is closed (other than customary weekend and holiday closings); (ii) for any period during which trading on the Listing Exchange is suspended or restricted; (iii) for any period during which an emergency exists as a result of which disposal of the shares of the Fund's portfolio securities or determination of its NAV is not reasonably practicable; or (iv) in such other circumstance as is permitted by the SEC.

**Custom Baskets. Creation and Redemption baskets may differ and each Fund may accept "custom baskets." A custom basket may include any of the following: (i) a basket that is composed of a non-representative selection of a Fund's portfolio holdings; (ii) a representative basket that is different from the initial basket used in transactions on the same business day; or (iii) a basket that contains bespoke cash substitutions for a single Authorized Participant. Each Fund has adopted policies and procedures that govern the construction and acceptance of baskets, including heightened requirements for certain types of custom baskets. Such policies and procedures provide the parameters for the construction and acceptance of custom baskets that are in the best interests of a Fund and its shareholders, establish processes for revisions to, or deviations from, such parameters, and specify the titles and roles of the employees of BFA who are required to review each custom basket for compliance with those parameters. In addition, when constructing custom baskets for redemptions, the tax efficiency of a Fund may be taken into account. The policies and procedures distinguish among different types of custom baskets that may be used for each Fund and impose different requirements for different types of custom baskets in order to seek to mitigate against potential risks of conflicts and/or overreaching by an Authorized Participant. BlackRock has established a governance process to oversee basket compliance for the Funds, as set forth in each Fund's policies and procedures.**

**Taxation on Creations and Redemptions of Creation Units. An Authorized Participant generally will recognize either gain or loss upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units. This gain or loss is calculated by taking the market value of the Creation Units purchased over the Authorized Participant's aggregate basis in the Deposit Securities exchanged therefor. However, the IRS may apply the wash sales rules to determine that any loss realized upon the exchange of Deposit Securities for Creation Units is not currently deductible. Authorized Participants should consult their own tax advisors.**

Current U.S. federal income tax laws dictate that capital gain or loss realized from the redemption of Creation Units will generally create long-term capital gain or loss if the Authorized Participant holds the Creation Units for more than one year, or short-term capital gain or loss if the Creation Units were held for one year or less, if the Creation Units are held as capital assets.

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## Taxes
The following is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations regarding the purchase, ownership and disposition of shares of a Fund. This summary does not address all of the potential U.S. federal income tax consequences that may be applicable to a Fund or to all categories of investors, some of which may be subject to special tax rules. Current and prospective shareholders are urged to consult their own tax advisors with respect to the specific federal, state, local and non-U.S. tax consequences of investing in a Fund. The summary is based on the laws and judicial and administrative interpretations thereof in effect on the date of this SAI, all of which are subject to change, possibly with retroactive effect.

**Regulated Investment Company Qualifications. Each Fund intends to qualify for and to elect treatment as a separate RIC under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code. To qualify for treatment as a RIC, each Fund must annually distribute at least 90% of its investment company taxable income (which includes dividends, interest and net short-term capital gains) and meet several other requirements. Among such other requirements are the following: (i) at least 90% of each Fund's annual gross income must be derived from dividends, interest, payments with respect to securities loans, gains from the sale or other disposition of stock or securities or non-U.S. currencies, other income (including, but not limited to, gains from options, futures or forward contracts) derived with respect to its business of investing in such stock, securities or currencies, and net income derived from interests in qualified publicly-traded partnerships (*i.e.*, partnerships that are traded on an established securities market or tradable on a secondary market, other than a partnership that derives at least 90% of its income from interest, dividends, capital gains and other traditionally permitted RIC income); and (ii) at the close of each quarter of each Fund's taxable year, (a) at least 50% of the market value of each Fund's total assets must be represented by cash and cash items, U.S. government securities, securities of other RICs and other securities, with such other securities limited for purposes of this calculation in respect of any one issuer to an amount not greater than 5% of the value of the Fund's assets and not greater than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of such issuer, and (b) not more than 25% of the value of the Fund's total assets may be invested in the securities of any one issuer, of two or more issuers of which 20% or more of the voting stock is held by the Fund and that are engaged in the same or similar trades or businesses or related trades or businesses (other than the securities of other RICs) or the securities of one or more qualified publicly-traded partnerships.**

A Fund may be able to cure a failure to derive at least 90% of its income from the sources specified above or a failure to diversify its holdings in the manner described above by paying a tax and/or by disposing of certain assets. If, in any taxable year, a Fund fails one of these tests and does not timely cure the failure, the Fund will be taxed in the same manner as an ordinary corporation and distributions to its shareholders will not be deductible by the Fund in computing its taxable income.

Although in general the passive loss rules of the Internal Revenue Code do not apply to RICs, such rules do apply to a RIC with respect to items attributable to an interest in a qualified publicly-traded partnership. A Fund's investments in partnerships, including in qualified publicly-traded partnerships, may result in the Fund being subject to state, local, or non-U.S. income, franchise or withholding tax liabilities.

**Taxation of RICs. As a RIC, a Fund will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the portion of its taxable investment income and capital gains that it distributes to its shareholders, provided that it satisfies a minimum distribution requirement. To satisfy the minimum distribution requirement, a Fund must distribute to its shareholders at least the sum of (i) 90% of its "investment company taxable income" (*i.e.*, income other than its net realized long-term capital gain over its net realized short-term capital loss), plus or minus certain adjustments, and (ii) 90% of its net tax-exempt income for the taxable year. A Fund will be subject to income tax at regular corporate rates on any taxable income or gains that it does not distribute to its shareholders. If a Fund fails to qualify for any taxable year as a RIC or fails to meet the distribution requirement, all of its taxable income will be subject to tax at regular corporate income tax rates without any deduction for distributions to shareholders, and such distributions generally will be taxable to shareholders as ordinary dividends to the extent of the Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits. In such event, distributions to individuals should be eligible to be treated as qualified dividend income and distributions to corporate shareholders generally should be eligible for the dividends-received deduction. Although each Fund intends to distribute substantially all of its net investment income and its capital gains for each taxable year, a Fund may decide to retain a portion of its income or gains if the Fund determines that doing so is in the interest of its shareholders. The Fund will be subject to U.S. federal income taxation to the extent any such income or gains are not distributed. Moreover, if a Fund fails to qualify as a RIC in any year, it must pay out its earnings and**

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profits accumulated in that year in order to qualify again as a RIC. If a Fund fails to qualify as a RIC for a period greater than two taxable years, the Fund may be required to recognize any net built-in gains with respect to certain of its assets (*i.e.*, the excess of the aggregate gains, including items of income, over aggregate losses that would have been realized with respect to such assets if the Fund had been liquidated) if it qualifies as a RIC in a subsequent year.

**Net Capital Loss Carryforwards. Net capital loss carryforwards may be applied against any net realized capital gains in each succeeding year, until they have been reduced to zero.**

In the event that a Fund were to experience an ownership change as defined under the Internal Revenue Code, the loss carryforwards and other favorable tax attributes of a Fund, if any, may be subject to limitation.

The following Funds had tax basis net capital loss carryforwards as set forth in the table below as of October 31, 2022, the tax year-end for the Funds listed:

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|:---|:---|
| **Fund** | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;**Non-Expiring Capital Loss<br> Carryforward** |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;$37653426 |
| BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;120691 |
| BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2189489 |

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**Excise Tax. A Fund will be subject to a 4% excise tax on certain undistributed income if it does not distribute to its shareholders in each calendar year at least 98% of its ordinary income for the calendar year plus at least 98.2% of its capital gain net income for the 12 months ended October 31 of such year. For this purpose, however, any ordinary income or capital gain net income retained by a Fund that is subject to corporate income tax will be considered to have been distributed by year-end. In addition, the minimum amounts that must be distributed in any year to avoid the excise tax will be increased or decreased to reflect any underdistribution or overdistribution, as the case may be, from the previous year. Each Fund intends to declare and distribute dividends and distributions in the amounts and at the times necessary to avoid the application of this 4% excise tax.**

**Taxation of U.S. Shareholders. Dividends and other distributions by a Fund are generally treated under the Internal Revenue Code as received by the shareholders at the time the dividend or distribution is made. However, any dividend or capital gain distribution declared by a Fund in October, November or December of any calendar year and payable to shareholders of record on a specified date in such a month shall be deemed to have been received by each shareholder on December 31 of such calendar year and to have been paid by the Fund not later than such December 31, provided such dividend is actually paid by the Fund during January of the following calendar year.**

Each Fund intends to distribute annually to its shareholders substantially all of its net tax-exempt income, investment company taxable income and any net realized long-term capital gains in excess of net realized short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers). However, if a Fund retains for investment an amount equal to all or a portion of its net long-term capital gains in excess of its net short-term capital losses (including any capital loss carryovers), it will be subject to a corporate tax (at a flat rate of 21%) on the amount retained. In that event, the Fund will report such retained amounts as undistributed capital gains in a notice to its shareholders who (a) will be required to include in income for U.S. federal income tax purposes, as long-term capital gains, their proportionate shares of the undistributed amount, (b) will be entitled to credit their proportionate shares of the tax paid by the Fund on the undistributed amount against their U.S. federal income tax liabilities, if any, and to claim refunds to the extent their credits exceed their liabilities, if any, and (c) will be entitled to increase their tax basis, for U.S. federal income tax purposes, in their shares by an amount equal to the excess of the amount in clause (a) over the amount in clause (b). Organizations or persons not subject to U.S. federal income tax on such capital gains will be entitled to a refund of their *pro rata* share of such taxes paid by the Fund upon filing appropriate returns or claims for refund with the IRS.

Distributions of net realized long-term capital gains, if any, that a Fund reports as capital gain dividends are taxable as long-term capital gains, whether paid in cash or in shares and regardless of how long a shareholder has held shares of the Fund. All other dividends of a Fund (including dividends from short-term capital gains) from its current and accumulated earnings and profits ("regular dividends") are generally subject to tax as ordinary income. Long-term capital gains are eligible for taxation at a maximum rate of 15% or 20% for non-corporate shareholders, depending on whether their income exceeds certain threshold amounts.

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If an individual receives a regular dividend qualifying for the long-term capital gain rates and such dividend constitutes an "extraordinary dividend," and the individual subsequently recognizes a loss on the sale or exchange of stock in respect of which the extraordinary dividend was paid, then the loss will be long-term capital loss to the extent of such extraordinary dividend. An "extraordinary dividend" on common stock for this purpose is generally a dividend (i) in an amount greater than or equal to 10% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within an 85-day period, or (ii) in an amount greater than 20% of the taxpayer's tax basis (or trading value) in a share of stock, aggregating dividends with ex-dividend dates within a 365-day period.

Distributions in excess of a Fund's current and accumulated earnings and profits will, as to each shareholder, be treated as a tax-free return of capital to the extent of a shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund, and as a capital gain thereafter (if the shareholder holds shares of the Fund as capital assets). Distributions in excess of a Fund's minimum distribution requirements, but not in excess of the Fund's earnings and profits, will be taxable to shareholders and will not constitute nontaxable returns of capital. Shareholders receiving dividends or distributions in the form of additional shares should be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as receiving a distribution in an amount equal to the amount of money that the shareholders receiving cash dividends or distributions will receive and should have a cost basis in the shares received equal to such amount. No deduction would be allowed to an investor for interest on indebtedness incurred or continued to purchase or carry shares of the Fund to the extent the interest deduction would relate to exempt-interest dividends received.

A 3.8% U.S. federal Medicare contribution tax is imposed on net investment income, including, but not limited to, interest, dividends, and net gain from investments, of U.S. individuals with income exceeding $200,000 (or $250,000 if married and filing jointly), and of estates and trusts.

Investors considering buying shares just prior to a dividend or capital gain distribution should be aware that, although the price of shares purchased at that time may reflect the amount of the forthcoming distribution, such dividend or distribution may nevertheless be taxable to them. If a Fund is the holder of record of any security on the record date for any dividends payable with respect to such security, such dividends will be included in the Fund's gross income not as of the date received but as of the later of (i) the date such security became ex-dividend with respect to such dividends (*i.e*., the date on which a buyer of the security would not be entitled to receive the declared, but unpaid, dividends); or (ii) the date the Fund acquired such security. Accordingly, in order to satisfy its income distribution requirements, a Fund may be required to pay dividends based on anticipated earnings, and shareholders may receive dividends in an earlier year than would otherwise be the case.

In certain situations, a Fund may, for a taxable year, defer all or a portion of its net capital loss (or if there is no net capital loss, then any net long-term or short-term capital loss) realized after October and its late-year ordinary loss (defined as the sum of the excess of post-October foreign currency and passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") losses over post-October foreign currency and PFIC gains, plus the excess of post-December ordinary losses over post-December ordinary income) until the next taxable year in computing its investment company taxable income and net capital gain, which will defer the recognition of such realized losses. Such deferrals and other rules regarding gains and losses realized after October (or December) may affect the tax character of shareholder distributions.

**Sales of Shares. Upon the sale or exchange of shares of a Fund, a shareholder will realize a taxable gain or loss equal to the difference between the amount realized and the shareholder's basis in shares of the Fund. A redemption of shares by a Fund will be treated as a sale for this purpose. Such gain or loss will be treated as capital gain or loss if the shares are capital assets in the shareholder's hands and will be long-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for more than one year and short-term capital gain or loss if the shares are held for one year or less. Any loss realized on a sale or exchange will be disallowed to the extent the shares disposed of are replaced, including replacement through the reinvesting of dividends or capital gains distributions, or by an option, or contract to acquire substantially identical shares, within a 61-day period beginning 30 days before and ending 30 days after the disposition of the shares. In such a case, the basis of the shares acquired will be increased to reflect the disallowed loss. Any loss realized by a shareholder on the sale of Fund shares held by the shareholder for six months or less will be treated for U.S. federal income tax purposes as a long-term capital loss to the extent of any distributions or deemed distributions of long-term capital gains received by the shareholder with respect to such share. The Medicare contribution tax described above will apply to the sale of Fund shares.**

If a shareholder incurs a sales charge in acquiring shares of a Fund, disposes of those shares within 90 days and then, on or before January 31 of the following calendar year, acquires shares in a mutual fund for which the otherwise applicable sales charge is reduced by reason of a reinvestment right (*e.g.*, an exchange privilege), the original sales charge will not be taken into account in computing gain/loss on the original shares to the extent the subsequent sales charge is reduced. Instead, the

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disregarded portion of the original sales charge will be added to the tax basis of the newly acquired shares. Furthermore, the same rule also applies to a disposition of the newly acquired shares made within 90 days of the second acquisition. This provision prevents a shareholder from immediately deducting the sales charge by shifting his or her investment within a family of mutual funds.

**Backup Withholding. In certain cases, a Fund will be required to withhold at a 24% rate and remit to the U.S. Treasury such amounts withheld from any distributions paid to a shareholder who: (i) has failed to provide a correct taxpayer identification number; (ii) is subject to backup withholding by the IRS; (iii) has failed to certify to a Fund that such shareholder is not subject to backup withholding; or (iv) has not certified that such shareholder is a U.S. person (including a U.S. resident alien). Backup withholding is not an additional tax and any amount withheld may be credited against a shareholder's U.S. federal income tax liability.**

**Sections 351 and 362. The Trust, on behalf of each Fund, has the right to reject an order for a purchase of shares of the Fund if the purchaser (or group of purchasers) would, upon obtaining the shares so ordered, own 80% or more of the outstanding shares of the Fund and if, pursuant to Sections 351 and 362 of the Internal Revenue Code, the Fund would have a basis in the securities different from the market value of such securities on the date of deposit. If a Fund's basis in such securities on the date of deposit was less than market value on such date, the Fund, upon disposition of the securities, would recognize more taxable gain or less taxable loss than if its basis in the securities had been equal to market value. It is not anticipated that the Trust will exercise the right of rejection except in a case where the Trust determines that accepting the order could result in material adverse tax consequences to a Fund or its shareholders. The Trust also has the right to require information necessary to determine beneficial share ownership for purposes of the 80% determination.**

**Tax-Exempt Interest Income. Dividends paid by the Fund that are properly reported as exempt-interest dividends will not be subject to regular federal income tax. Dividends paid on Fund shares that are loaned out pursuant to securities lending arrangements will not be exempt from income tax. The Fund intends to invest its assets in a manner such that dividend distributions to its shareholders will generally be exempt from U.S. federal income taxation, but not necessarily free from federal AMT. The 3.8% Medicare contribution tax (discussed above) will not apply to exempt-interest dividends paid by a Fund. Dividends paid by the Fund will be exempt from federal income tax (though not necessarily exempt from state and local taxation) to the extent of the Fund's tax-exempt interest income as long as 50% or more of the value of the Fund's assets at the end of each quarter is invested in state, municipal and other bonds that are excluded from gross income for federal income tax purposes and as long as the Fund properly reports such dividends as exempt-interest dividends. The receipt of exempt-interest dividends may require a shareholder to recharacterize a portion of certain non-taxable social security and railroad retirement benefit payments as taxable income. Shareholders should consult their own tax advisors. A Fund may engage in derivative transactions with respect to obligations producing tax-exempt interest that may cause the Fund to not be treated as the owner of such obligations for purposes of the 50% threshold described above.**

**Taxation of Certain Derivatives. A Fund's transactions in zero coupon securities, non-U.S. currencies, forward contracts, options and futures contracts (including options and futures contracts on non-U.S. currencies), to the extent permitted, will be subject to special provisions of the Internal Revenue Code (including provisions relating to "hedging transactions" and "straddles") that, among other consequences, may affect the character of gains and losses realized by the Fund (*i.e.*, may affect whether gains or losses are ordinary or capital), accelerate recognition of income to the Fund and defer Fund losses. These rules could therefore affect the character, amount and timing of distributions to shareholders. These provisions also (a) will require the Fund to mark-to-market certain types of the positions in its portfolio (*i.e.*, treat them as if they were closed out at the end of each year) and (b) may cause the Fund to recognize income without receiving cash with which to pay dividends or make distributions in amounts necessary to satisfy the distribution requirements for avoiding income and excise taxes. The Fund will monitor its transactions, will make the appropriate tax elections and will make the appropriate entries in its books and records when it acquires any zero coupon security, non-U.S. currency, forward contract, option, futures contract or hedged investment in order to mitigate the effect of these rules and prevent disqualification of the Fund as a RIC.** 

A Fund's investments in so-called "section 1256 contracts," such as regulated futures contracts, most non-U.S. currency forward contracts traded in the interbank market and options on most security indexes, are subject to special tax rules. All section 1256 contracts held by a Fund at the end of its taxable year are required to be marked to their market value, and any unrealized gain or loss on those positions will be included in the Fund's income as if each position had been sold for its fair market value at the end of the taxable year. The resulting gain or loss will be combined with any gain or loss realized by the Fund from positions in section 1256 contracts closed during the taxable year. Provided such positions were held as capital assets and were not part of a "hedging transaction" nor part of a "straddle," 60% of the resulting net gain or loss will be

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treated as long-term capital gain or loss, and 40% of such net gain or loss will be treated as short-term capital gain or loss, regardless of the period of time the positions were actually held by the Fund.

As a result of entering into swap contracts, a Fund may make or receive periodic net payments. A Fund may also make or receive a payment when a swap is terminated prior to maturity through an assignment of the swap or other closing transaction. Periodic net payments will generally constitute ordinary income or deductions, while termination of a swap will generally result in capital gain or loss (which will be a long-term capital gain or loss if the Fund has been a party to the swap for more than one year). The cost of any payments made by the Fund on a swap transaction will be netted *pro rata* against both tax exempt and taxable gross income. With respect to certain types of swaps, a Fund may be required to currently recognize income or loss with respect to future payments on such swaps or may elect under certain circumstances to mark such swaps to market annually for tax purposes as ordinary income or loss.

**Market Discount. Any market discount recognized on a bond is taxable as ordinary income. A market discount bond is a bond acquired in the secondary market at a price below redemption value or adjusted issue price if issued with original issue discount ("OID"). To the extent a Fund does not include the market discount in income as it accrues, gain on the Fund's disposition of such an obligation will be treated as ordinary income rather than capital gain to the extent of the accrued market discount.**

**Non-U.S. Investments. Income (including, in some cases, capital gains) received by the Fund from investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by non-U.S. countries. Tax conventions between certain countries and the U.S. may reduce or eliminate such taxes in some cases. If more than 50% of the Fund's total assets at the close of its taxable year consists of securities of non-U.S. corporations, the Fund may elect for U.S. income tax purposes to treat non-U.S. income taxes paid by it as paid by its shareholders. The Fund may qualify for and make this election in some, but not necessarily all, of its taxable years. If the Fund were to make this election, shareholders of the Fund would be required to take into account an amount equal to their *pro rata* portions of such non-U.S. taxes in computing their taxable income and then treat an amount equal to those non-U.S. taxes as a U.S. federal income tax deduction or as a foreign tax credit against their U.S. federal income taxes. Shortly after any year for which it makes such an election, the Fund will report to its shareholders the amount per share of such non-U.S. income tax that must be included in each shareholder's gross income and the amount which will be available for the deduction or credit. No deduction for non-U.S. taxes may be claimed by a shareholder who does not itemize deductions. Certain limitations will be imposed on the extent to which the credit (but not the deduction) for non-U.S. taxes may be claimed.**

Under Section 988 of the Internal Revenue Code, gains or losses attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the time the Fund accrues income or receivables or expenses or other liabilities denominated in a non-U.S. currency and the time the Fund actually collects such income or pays such liabilities are generally treated as ordinary income or ordinary loss. In general, gains (and losses) realized on debt instruments will be treated as Section 988 gain (or loss) to the extent attributable to changes in exchange rates between the U.S. dollar and the currencies in which the instruments are denominated. Similarly, gains or losses on non-U.S. currency, non-U.S. currency forward contracts, certain non-U.S. currency options or futures contracts and the disposition of debt securities denominated in non-U.S. currency, to the extent attributable to fluctuations in exchange rates between the acquisition and disposition dates, are also treated as ordinary income or loss unless the Fund were to elect otherwise.

**Original Issue Discount. OID on tax-exempt bonds is recognized over the term of the bond and is tax-exempt to the holder of the bond. Special U.S. federal income tax rules apply to inflation-indexed bonds. Generally, all stated interest on such bonds is taken into income by a Fund under its regular method of accounting for interest income. The amount of a positive inflation adjustment, which results in an increase in the inflation-adjusted principal amount of the bond, is treated as OID. The OID is included in a Fund's gross income ratably during the period ending with the maturity of the bond, under the general OID inclusion rules. The amount of a Fund's OID in a taxable year with respect to a bond will increase a Fund's taxable income for such year without a corresponding receipt of cash, until the bond matures. As a result, a Fund may need to use other sources of cash to satisfy its distributions for such year. The amount of negative inflation adjustment, which results in a decrease in the inflation-adjusted principal amount of the bond, reduces the amount of interest (including stated, interest, OID, and market discount, if any) otherwise includible in a Fund's income with respect to the bond for the taxable year.**

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**Reporting. If a shareholder recognizes a loss with respect to a Fund's shares of $2 million or more for an individual shareholder or $10 million or more for a corporate shareholder, the shareholder must file with the IRS a disclosure statement on IRS Form 8886. Direct shareholders of portfolio securities are in many cases exempted from this reporting requirement, but under current guidance, shareholders of a RIC are not exempted. The fact that a loss is reportable under these regulations does not affect the legal determination of whether the taxpayer's treatment of the loss is proper. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors to determine the applicability of these regulations in light of their individual circumstances.**

#### Other Taxes. Dividends, distributions and redemption proceeds may also be subject to additional state, local and non-U.S. taxes depending on each shareholder's particular situation.
**Taxation of Non-U.S. Shareholders. Dividends paid by a Fund to non-U.S. shareholders are generally subject to withholding tax at a 30% rate or a reduced rate specified by an applicable income tax treaty to the extent derived from investment income and short-term capital gains. Dividends paid by a Fund from net tax-exempt income or long-term capital gains are generally not subject to such withholding tax. In order to obtain a reduced rate of withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will be required to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN or IRS Form W-8BEN-E certifying its entitlement to benefits under a treaty. The withholding tax does not apply to regular dividends paid to a non-U.S. shareholder who provides an IRS Form W-8ECI, certifying that the dividends are effectively connected with the non-U.S. shareholder's conduct of a trade or business within the U.S. Instead, the effectively connected dividends will be subject to regular U.S. income tax as if the non-U.S. shareholder were a U.S. shareholder. A non-U.S. corporation receiving effectively connected dividends may also be subject to additional "branch profits tax" imposed at a rate of 30% (or lower treaty rate). A non-U.S. shareholder who fails to provide an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or other applicable form may be subject to backup withholding at the appropriate rate.**

Properly-reported dividends are generally exempt from U.S. federal withholding tax where they (i) are paid in respect of a Fund's "qualified net interest income" (generally, a Fund's U.S. source interest income, other than certain contingent interest and interest from obligations of a corporation or partnership in which a Fund is at least a 10% shareholder or partner, reduced by expenses that are allocable to such income); or (ii) are paid in respect of a Fund's "qualified short-term capital gains" (generally, the excess of a Fund's net short-term capital gain over a Fund's long-term capital loss for such taxable year). However, depending on its circumstances, a Fund may report all, some or none of its potentially eligible dividends as such qualified net interest income or as qualified short-term capital gains and/or treat such dividends, in whole or in part, as ineligible for this exemption from withholding. In order to qualify for this exemption from withholding, a non-U.S. shareholder will need to comply with applicable certification requirements relating to its non-U.S. status (including, in general, furnishing an IRS Form W-8BEN, IRS Form W-8BEN-E or substitute Form). In the case of shares held through an intermediary, the intermediary may withhold even if a Fund reports the payment as qualified net interest income or qualified short-term capital gain. Non-U.S. shareholders should contact their intermediaries with respect to the application of these rules to their accounts.

Special rules may apply to a foreign shareholder receiving a Fund distribution if at least 50% of the Fund's assets consist of interests in U.S. real property interests, including certain REITs and U.S. real property holding corporations (as defined in the Internal Revenue Code and Treasury regulations). Fund distributions that are attributable to gain from the disposition of a U.S. real property interest will be taxable as ordinary dividends and subject to withholding at a 30% or lower treaty rate if the foreign shareholder held no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the one-year period ending on the date of the distribution. If the foreign shareholder held at least 5% of the Fund's shares, the distribution would be treated as income effectively connected with a trade or business within the U.S. and the foreign shareholder would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 21% and would generally be required to file a U.S. federal income tax return.

Similar consequences would generally apply to a foreign shareholder's gain on the sale of Fund shares unless the Fund is domestically controlled (meaning that more than 50% of the value of the Fund's shares is held by U.S. shareholders) or the foreign shareholder owns no more than 5% of the Fund's shares at any time during the five-year period ending on the date of sale. Finally, a domestically controlled Fund may be required to recognize a portion of its gain on the in-kind distribution of certain U.S. real property interests. Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in the Fund.

The rules laid out in the previous paragraph, other than the withholding rules, will apply notwithstanding the Fund's participation in a wash sale transaction or its payment of a substitute dividend.

Shareholders that are nonresident aliens or foreign entities are urged to consult their own tax advisors concerning the particular tax consequences to them of an investment in a Fund.

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Separately, a 30% withholding tax is currently imposed on U.S.-source dividends, interest and other income items paid to: (i) foreign financial institutions, including non-U.S. investment funds, unless they agree to collect and disclose to the IRS information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. account holders and (ii) certain other foreign entities, unless they certify certain information regarding their direct and indirect U.S. owners. To avoid withholding, foreign financial institutions will need to: (i) enter into agreements with the IRS that state that they will provide the IRS information including the names, addresses and taxpayer identification numbers of direct and indirect U.S. account holders; comply with due diligence procedures with respect to the identification of U.S. accounts; report to the IRS certain information with respect to U.S. accounts maintained; agree to withhold tax on certain payments made to non-compliant foreign financial institutions or to account holders who fail to provide the required information; and determine certain other information as to their account holders, or (ii) in the event that an applicable intergovernmental agreement and implementing legislation are adopted, provide local revenue authorities with similar account holder information. Other foreign entities will need to provide the name, address and taxpayer identification number of each substantial U.S. owner or provide certifications of no substantial U.S. ownership, unless certain exceptions apply.

Shares of a Fund held by a non-U.S. shareholder at death will be considered situated within the U.S. and subject to the U.S. estate tax.

The foregoing discussion is a summary of certain material U.S. federal income tax considerations only and is not intended as a substitute for careful tax planning. Purchasers of shares should consult their own tax advisors as to the tax consequences of investing in such shares, including consequences under state, local and non-U.S. tax laws. Finally, the foregoing discussion is based on applicable provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, regulations, judicial authority and administrative interpretations in effect on the date of this SAI. Changes in applicable authority could materially affect the conclusions discussed above, and such changes often occur.

## Financial Statements
Each Fund's audited Financial Statements, including the Financial Highlights, appearing in the applicable [Annual Report](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312523000440/d425863dncsr.htm) to Shareholders and the report therein of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, are hereby incorporated by reference in this SAI. The applicable Annual Report to Shareholders, which contains the referenced audited financial statements, is available upon request and without charge.

## Miscellaneous Information

#### Counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, located at 787 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10019, is counsel to the Trust.
**Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, located at Two Commerce Square, 2001 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, serves as the Trust's independent registered public accounting firm, audits the Funds' financial statements, and may perform other services.**

**Shareholder Communications to the Board. The Board has established a process for shareholders to communicate with the Board. Shareholders may contact the Board by mail. Correspondence should be addressed to iShares Board of Trustees, c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors, iShares Fund Administration, 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Shareholder communications to the Board should include the following information: (i) the name and address of the shareholder; (ii) the number of shares owned by the shareholder; (iii) the Fund(s) of which the shareholder owns shares; and (iv) if these shares are owned indirectly through a broker, financial intermediary or other record owner, the name of the broker, financial intermediary or other record owner. All correspondence received as set forth above shall be reviewed by the Secretary of the Trust and reported to the Board.**

**Investors' Rights. Each Fund relies on the services of BFA and its other service providers, including the Distributor, administrator, custodian and transfer agent. Further information about the duties and roles of these service providers is set out in this SAI. Investors who acquire shares of a Fund are not parties to the relevant agreement with these service providers and do not have express contractual rights against the Fund or its service providers, except certain institutional investors that are Authorized Participants may have certain express contractual rights with respect to the Distributor under the terms of the**

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relevant Authorized Participant Agreement. Investors may have certain legal rights under federal or state law against a Fund or its service providers. In the event that an investor considers that it may have a claim against a Fund, or against any service provider in connection with its investment in a Fund, such investor should consult its own legal advisor.

By contract, Authorized Participants irrevocably submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of any New York State or U.S. federal court sitting in New York City over any suit, action or proceeding arising out of or relating to the Authorized Participant Agreement. Jurisdiction over other claims, whether by investors or Authorized Participants, will turn on the facts of the particular case and the law of the jurisdiction in which the proceeding is brought.

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## Appendix A1 - iShares ETFs Proxy Voting Policy

#### BlackRock U.S. Registered Funds

#### Open-End Fund Proxy Voting Policy

#### Procedures Governing Delegation of Proxy Voting to Fund Advisers

#### August 1, 2022

#### Open-End Mutual Funds (including money market funds)

#### iShares and BlackRock ETFs
The Boards of Trustees/Directors ("Directors") of open-end funds (the "Funds") advised by BlackRock Fund Advisors or BlackRock Advisors, LLC ("BlackRock"), have the responsibility for the oversight of voting proxies relating to portfolio securities of the Funds, and have determined that it is in the best interests of the Funds and their shareholders to delegate the responsibility to vote proxies to BlackRock, subject to the principles outlined in this Policy, as part of BlackRock's authority to manage, acquire and dispose of account assets, all as contemplated by the Funds' respective investment management agreements.

BlackRock has adopted guidelines and procedures (together and as from time to time amended, the "BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines") governing proxy voting by accounts managed by BlackRock.

BlackRock will cast votes on behalf of each of the Funds on specific proxy issues in respect of securities held by each such Fund (or may refrain from voting) in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines.

BlackRock will report on an annual basis to the Directors on (1) a summary of all proxy votes that BlackRock has made on behalf of the Funds in the preceding year together with a representation that all votes were in accordance with the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines, and (2) any changes to the BlackRock Proxy Voting Guidelines that have not previously been reported.

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## Appendix A2 – BlackRock Global Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles

#### January 2020

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| [Introduction to BlackRock](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Philosophy on corporate governance](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [Corporate governance, engagement and voting](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_1) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-4 |
| [- Boards and directors](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_2) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-5 |
| [- Auditors and audit-related issues](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_3) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-6 |
| [- Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Compensation and benefits](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_4) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-7 |
| [- Environmental and social issues](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_5) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-8 |
| [- General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Oversight](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_6) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-9 |
| [- Vote execution](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_7) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-10 |
| [- Conflicts management policies and procedures](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_8) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-11 |
| [- Voting guidelines](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |
| [- Reporting and vote transparency](#xx_e8f4a2ca-f971-4b4d-a5cd-f758bb8f309e_9) | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-12 |

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#### INTRODUCTION TO BLACKROCK
BlackRock's purpose is to help more and more people experience financial well-being. As a fiduciary to our clients, we provide the investment and technology solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. We manage assets on behalf of institutional and individual clients, across a full spectrum of investment strategies, asset classes and regions. Our client base includes pension plans, endowments, foundations, charities, official institutions, insurers and other financial institutions, as well as individuals around the world.

#### PHILOSOPHY ON CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") activities are focused on maximizing long-term value for our clients. BIS does this through engagement with boards and management of investee companies and, for those clients who have given us authority, through voting at shareholder meetings.

We believe that there are certain fundamental rights attached to shareholding. Companies and their boards should be accountable to shareholders and structured with appropriate checks and balances to ensure that they operate in shareholders' best interests. Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and there should be one vote for one share. Shareholders should have the right to elect, remove and nominate directors, approve the appointment of the auditor and to amend the corporate charter or by-laws. Shareholders should be able to vote on matters that are material to the protection of their investment, including but not limited to, changes to the purpose of the business, dilution levels and pre-emptive rights, and the distribution of income and capital structure. In order to make informed decisions, we believe that shareholders have the right to sufficient and timely information.

Our primary focus is on the performance of the board of directors. As the agent of shareholders, the board should set the company's strategic aims within a framework of prudent and effective controls, which enables risk to be assessed and managed. The board should provide direction and leadership to management and oversee management's performance. Our starting position is to be supportive of boards in their oversight efforts on shareholders' behalf and we would generally expect to support the items of business they put to a vote at shareholder meetings. Votes cast against or withheld from resolutions proposed by the board are a signal that we are concerned that the directors or management have either not acted in the best interests of shareholders or have not responded adequately to shareholder concerns. We assess voting matters on a case-by-case basis and in light of each company's unique circumstances taking into consideration regional best practices and long-term value creation.

These principles set out our approach to engaging with companies, provide guidance on our position on corporate governance and outline how our views might be reflected in our voting decisions. Corporate governance practices can vary internationally, so our expectations in relation to individual companies are based on the legal and regulatory framework of each local market. However, we believe there are overarching principles of corporate governance that apply globally and provide a framework for more detailed, market-specific assessments.

We believe BlackRock has a responsibility in relation to monitoring and providing feedback to companies, sometimes known as "stewardship." These ownership responsibilities include engaging with management or board members on corporate governance matters, voting proxies in the best long-term economic interests of our clients, and engaging with regulatory bodies to ensure a sound policy framework consistent with promoting long-term shareholder value creation. We also believe in the responsibility to our clients to have appropriate resources and oversight structures. Our approach is set out in the section below titled "BlackRock's oversight of its investment stewardship activities" and is further detailed in a <u>team profile on our website</u>.

#### CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ENGAGEMENT AND VOTING
We recognize that accepted standards of corporate governance differ between markets, but we believe there are sufficient common threads globally to identify an overarching set of principles. The objective of our investment stewardship activities is the protection and enhancement of the value of our clients' investments in public corporations. Thus, these principles focus on practices and structures that we consider to be supportive of long-term value creation. We discuss below the principles under six key themes. In our regional and market-specific voting guidelines we explain how these principles inform our voting decisions in relation to specific resolutions that may appear on the agenda of a shareholder meeting in the relevant market.

The six key themes are:

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• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions

• Compensation and benefits

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections

At a minimum, we expect companies to observe the accepted corporate governance standards in their domestic market or to explain why doing so is not in the interests of shareholders. Where company reporting and disclosure is inadequate or the approach taken is inconsistent with our view of what is in the best interests of shareholders, we will engage with the company and/or use our vote to encourage a change in practice. In making voting decisions, we perform independent research and analysis, such as reviewing relevant information published by the company and apply our voting guidelines to achieve the outcome we believe best protects our clients' long-term economic interests. We also work closely with our active portfolio managers, and may take into account internal and external research.

BlackRock views engagement as an important activity; engagement provides us with the opportunity to improve our understanding of the challenges and opportunities that investee companies are facing and their governance structures. Engagement also allows us to share our philosophy and approach to investment and corporate governance with companies to enhance their understanding of our objectives. Our engagements often focus on providing our feedback on company disclosures, particularly where we believe they could be enhanced. There are a range of approaches we may take in engaging companies depending on the nature of the issue under consideration, the company and the market.

BlackRock's engagements emphasize direct dialogue with corporate leadership on the governance issues identified in these principles that have a material impact on financial performance. These engagements enable us to cast informed votes aligned with clients' long-term economic interests. We generally prefer to engage in the first instance where we have concerns and give management time to address or resolve the issue. As a long-term investor, we are patient and persistent in working with our portfolio companies to have an open dialogue and develop mutual understanding of governance matters, to promote the adoption of best practices and to assess the merits of a company's approach to its governance. We monitor the companies in which we invest and engage with them constructively and privately where we believe doing so helps protect shareholders' interests. We do not try to micro-manage companies, or tell management and boards what to do. We present our views as a long-term shareholder and listen to companies' responses. The materiality and immediacy of a given issue will generally determine the level of our engagement and whom we seek to engage at the company, which could be management representatives or board directors.

#### Boards and directors
The performance of the board is critical to the economic success of the company and to the protection of shareholders' interests. Board members serve as agents of shareholders in overseeing the strategic direction and operation of the company. For this reason, BlackRock focuses on directors in many of our engagements and sees the election of directors as one of our most important responsibilities in the proxy voting context.

We expect the board of directors to promote and protect shareholder interests by:

• establishing an appropriate corporate governance structure

• supporting and overseeing management in setting long-term strategic goals, applicable measures of value-creation and milestones that will demonstrate progress, and steps taken if any obstacles are anticipated or incurred

• ensuring the integrity of financial statements

• making independent decisions regarding mergers, acquisitions and disposals

• establishing appropriate executive compensation structures

• addressing business issues, including environmental and social issues, when they have the potential to materially impact company reputation and performance

There should be clear definitions of the role of the board, the committees of the board and senior management such that the responsibilities of each are well understood and accepted. Companies should report publicly the approach taken to

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governance (including in relation to board structure) and why this approach is in the best interest of shareholders. We will seek to engage with the appropriate directors where we have concerns about the performance of the board or the company, the broad strategy of the company, or the performance of individual board members. We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable.

BlackRock believes that directors should stand for re-election on a regular basis. We assess directors nominated for election or re-election in the context of the composition of the board as a whole. There should be detailed disclosure of the relevant credentials of the individual directors in order for shareholders to assess the caliber of an individual nominee. We expect there to be a sufficient number of independent directors on the board to ensure the protection of the interests of all shareholders. Common impediments to independence may include but are not limited to:

• current or former employment at the company or a subsidiary within the past several years

• being, or representing, a shareholder with a substantial shareholding in the company

• interlocking directorships

• having any other interest, business or other relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

BlackRock believes that the operation of the board is enhanced when there is a clearly independent, senior non-executive director to chair it or, where the chairman is also the CEO (or is otherwise not independent), an independent lead director. The role of this director is to enhance the effectiveness of the independent members of the board through shaping the agenda, ensuring adequate information is provided to the board and encouraging independent participation in board deliberations. The lead independent board director should be available to shareholders in those situations where a director is best placed to explain and justify a company's approach.

To ensure that the board remains effective, regular reviews of board performance should be carried out and assessments made of gaps in skills or experience amongst the members. BlackRock believes it is beneficial for new directors to be brought onto the board periodically to refresh the group's thinking and to ensure both continuity and adequate succession planning. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the multiple dimensions of diversity, including personal factors such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. The board should review these dimensions of the current directors and how they might be augmented by incoming directors. We believe that directors are in the best position to assess the optimal size for the board, but we would be concerned if a board seemed too small to have an appropriate balance of directors or too large to be effective.

There are matters for which the board has responsibility that may involve a conflict of interest for executives or for affiliated directors. BlackRock believes that shareholders' interests are best served when the board forms committees of fully independent directors to deal with such matters. In many markets, these committees of the board specialize in audit, director nominations and compensation matters. An ad hoc committee might also be formed to decide on a special transaction, particularly one with a related party or to investigate a significant adverse event.

#### Auditors and audit-related issues
Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements, which should provide a true and fair picture of a company's financial condition. We will hold the members of the audit committee or equivalent responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or ad hoc notifications of material financial weakness.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor being free of any impediments to being an effective check on management. To that end, we believe it is important that auditors are, and are seen to be, independent. Where the audit firm provides services to the company in addition to the audit, the fees earned should be disclosed and explained. Audit committees should have in place a procedure for assessing annually the independence of the auditor.

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#### Capital structure, mergers, asset sales and other special transactions
The capital structure of a company is critical to its owners, the shareholders, as it impacts the value of their investment and the priority of their interest in the company relative to that of other equity or debt investors. Pre-emptive rights are a key protection for shareholders against the dilution of their interests.

Effective voting rights are central to the rights of ownership and we believe strongly in one vote for one share as a guiding principle that supports good corporate governance. Shareholders, as the residual claimants, have the strongest interest in protecting company value, and voting power should match economic exposure.

We are concerned that the creation of a dual share class may result in an over-concentration of power in the hands of a few shareholders, thus disenfranchising other shareholders and amplifying the potential conflict of interest, which the one share, one vote principle is designed to mitigate. However, we recognize that in certain circumstances, companies may have a valid argument for dual-class listings, at least for a limited period of time. We believe that such companies should review these dual-class structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Additionally, they should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal in the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

In assessing mergers, asset sales or other special transactions, BlackRock's primary consideration is the long-term economic interests of shareholders. Boards proposing a transaction need to clearly explain the economic and strategic rationale behind it. We will review a proposed transaction to determine the degree to which it enhances long-term shareholder value. We would prefer that proposed transactions have the unanimous support of the board and have been negotiated at arm's length. We may seek reassurance from the board that executives' and/or board members' financial interests in a given transaction have not adversely affected their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own. Where the transaction involves related parties, we would expect the recommendation to support it to come from the independent directors and it is good practice to be approved by a separate vote of the non-conflicted shareholders.

BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to dispose of company shares in the open market without unnecessary restriction. In our view, corporate mechanisms designed to limit shareholders' ability to sell their shares are contrary to basic property rights. Such mechanisms can serve to protect and entrench interests other than those of the shareholders. We believe that shareholders are broadly capable of making decisions in their own best interests. We expect any so-called 'shareholder rights plans' proposed by a board to be subject to shareholder approval upon introduction and periodically thereafter for continuation.

#### Compensation and benefits
BlackRock expects a company's board of directors to put in place a compensation structure that incentivizes and rewards executives appropriately and is aligned with shareholder interests, particularly generating sustainable long-term shareholder returns. We would expect the compensation committee to take into account the specific circumstances of the company and the key individuals the board is trying to incentivize. We encourage companies to ensure that their compensation plans incorporate appropriate and challenging performance conditions consistent with corporate strategy and market practice. We use third party research, in addition to our own analysis, to evaluate existing and proposed compensation structures. We hold members of the compensation committee or equivalent board members accountable for poor compensation practices or structures.

BlackRock believes that there should be a clear link between variable pay and company performance that drives shareholder returns. We are not supportive of one-off or special bonuses unrelated to company or individual performance. We acknowledge that the use of peer group evaluation by compensation committees can help ensure competitive pay; however, we are concerned when increases in total compensation at a company are justified solely on peer benchmarking rather than outperformance. We support incentive plans that foster the sustainable achievement of results relative to competitors. The vesting timeframes associated with incentive plans should facilitate a focus on long -term value creation. We believe consideration should be given to building claw back provisions into incentive plans such that executives would be required to forgo rewards when they are not justified by actual performance. Compensation committees should guard against contractual arrangements that would entitle executives to material compensation for early termination of their contract. Finally, pension contributions and other deferred compensation arrangements should be reasonable in light of market practice.

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Non-executive directors should be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the time and effort expended in fulfilling their professional responsibilities. Additionally, these compensation arrangements should not risk compromising their independence or aligning their interests too closely with those of the management, whom they are charged with overseeing.

#### Environmental and social issues
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well -managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses.

Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate -related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry -specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification processes in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

1) publish a disclosure in line with industry-specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

2) disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors.

In deciding our course of action, we will assess the company's disclosures and the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social or political judgments on behalf of clients. Our consideration of these E&S factors is consistent with protecting the long-term economic interest of our clients' assets. We expect investee companies to comply,

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at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where local laws or regulations that significantly impact the company's operations are contradictory or ambiguous to global norms.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long - term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate -related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### General corporate governance matters and shareholder protections
BlackRock believes that shareholders have a right to timely and detailed information on the financial performance and viability of the companies in which they invest. In addition, companies should also publish information on the governance structures in place and the rights of shareholders to influence these. The reporting and disclosure provided by companies help shareholders assess whether their economic interests have been protected and the quality of the board's oversight of management. We believe shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including changes to governance mechanisms, to submit proposals to the shareholders' meeting and to call special meetings of shareholders.

#### BLACKROCK'S OVERSIGHT OF ITS INVESTMENT STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES

#### Oversight
We hold ourselves to a very high standard in our investment stewardship activities, including proxy voting. This function is executed by a team called BlackRock Investment Stewardship ("BIS") which is comprised of BlackRock employees who do not have other responsibilities other than their roles in BIS. BIS is considered an investment function. The team does not have sales responsibilities.

BlackRock maintains three regional advisory committees ("Stewardship Advisory Committees") for (a) the Americas; (b) Europe, the Middle East and Africa ("EMEA"); and (c) Asia-Pacific, generally consisting of senior BlackRock investment professionals and/or senior employees with practical boardroom experience. The regional Stewardship Advisory Committees review and advise on amendments to the proxy voting guidelines covering markets within each respective region ("Guidelines").

In addition to the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees, the Investment Stewardship Global Oversight Committee ("Global Committee") is a risk-focused committee, comprised of senior representatives from various BlackRock investment teams, BlackRock's Deputy General Counsel, the Global Head of Investment Stewardship ("Global Head"), and other senior executives with relevant experience and team oversight.

The Global Head has primary oversight of the activities of BIS, including voting in accordance with the Guidelines, which require the application of professional judgment and consideration of each company's unique circumstances. The Global Committee reviews and approves amendments to these Global Corporate Governance & Engagement Principles. The Global

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Committee also reviews and approves amendments to the regional Guidelines, as proposed by the regional Stewardship Advisory Committees.

In addition, the Global Committee receives and reviews periodic reports regarding the votes cast by BIS, as well as regular updates on material process issues, procedural changes and other risk oversight considerations. The Global Committee reviews these reports in an oversight capacity as informed by the BIS corporate governance engagement program and Guidelines.

BIS carries out engagement with companies, monitors and executes proxy votes, and conducts vote operations (including maintaining records of votes cast) in a manner consistent with the relevant Guidelines. BIS also conducts research on corporate governance issues and participates in industry discussions to keep abreast of important developments in the corporate governance field. BIS may utilize third parties for certain of the foregoing activities and performs oversight of those third parties. BIS may raise complicated or particularly controversial matters for internal discussion with the relevant investment teams and/or refer such matters to the appropriate regional Stewardship Advisory Committees for review, discussion and guidance prior to making a voting decision.

#### Vote execution
We carefully consider proxies submitted to funds and other fiduciary account(s) ("Fund" or "Funds") for which we have voting authority. BlackRock votes (or refrains from voting) proxies for each Fund for which we have voting authority based on our evaluation of the best long-term economic interests of shareholders, in the exercise of our independent business judgment, and without regard to the relationship of the issuer of the proxy (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) to the Fund, the Fund's affiliates (if any), BlackRock or BlackRock's affiliates, or BlackRock employees (see "Conflicts management policies and procedures", below).

When exercising voting rights, BlackRock will normally vote on specific proxy issues in accordance with the Guidelines for the relevant market. The Guidelines are reviewed regularly and are amended consistent with changes in the local market practice, as developments in corporate governance occur, or as otherwise deemed advisable by BlackRock's Stewardship Advisory Committees. BIS may, in the exercise of their professional judgment, conclude that the Guidelines do not cover the specific matter upon which a proxy vote is required or that an exception to the Guidelines would be in the best long - term economic interests of BlackRock's clients.

In the uncommon circumstance of there being a vote with respect to fixed income securities or the securities of privately held issuers, the decision generally will be made by a Fund's portfolio managers and/or BIS based on their assessment of the particular transactions or other matters at issue.

In certain markets, proxy voting involves logistical issues which can affect BlackRock's ability to vote such proxies, as well as the desirability of voting such proxies. These issues include but are not limited to: (i) untimely notice of shareholder meetings; (ii) restrictions on a foreigner's ability to exercise votes; (iii) requirements to vote proxies in person; (iv) "share- blocking" (requirements that investors who exercise their voting rights surrender the right to dispose of their holdings for some specified period in proximity to the shareholder meeting); (v) potential difficulties in translating the proxy; (vi) regulatory constraints; and (vii) requirements to provide local agents with unrestricted powers of attorney to facilitate voting instructions. We are not supportive of impediments to the exercise of voting rights such as share-blocking or overly burdensome administrative requirements.

As a consequence, BlackRock votes proxies on a "best-efforts" basis. In addition, BIS may determine that it is generally in the best interests of BlackRock's clients not to vote proxies if the costs (including but not limited to opportunity costs associated with share-blocking constraints) associated with exercising a vote are expected to outweigh the benefit the client would derive by voting on the proposal.

Portfolio managers have full discretion to vote the shares in the Funds they manage based on their analysis of the economic impact of a particular ballot item. Portfolio managers may from time to time reach differing views on how best to maximize economic value with respect to a particular investment. Therefore, portfolio managers may, and sometimes do, vote shares in the Funds under their management differently from one another. However, because BlackRock's clients are mostly long-term investors with long-term economic goals, ballots are frequently cast in a uniform manner.

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#### Conflicts management policies and procedures
BIS maintains the following policies and procedures that seek to prevent undue influence on BlackRock's proxy voting activity. Such influence might stem from any relationship between the investee company (or any shareholder proponent or dissident shareholder) and BlackRock, BlackRock's affiliates, a Fund or a Fund's affiliates, or BlackRock employees. The following are examples of sources of perceived or potential conflicts of interest:

• BlackRock clients who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock business partners or third parties who may be issuers of securities or proponents of shareholder resolutions

• BlackRock employees who may sit on the boards of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Significant BlackRock, Inc. investors who may be issuers of securities held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• Securities of BlackRock, Inc. or BlackRock investment funds held in Funds managed by BlackRock

• BlackRock, Inc. board members who serve as senior executives of public companies held in Funds managed by BlackRock

BlackRock has taken certain steps to mitigate perceived or potential conflicts including, but not limited to, the following:

• Adopted the Guidelines which are designed to protect and enhance the economic value of the companies in which BlackRock invests on behalf of clients.

• Established a reporting structure that separates BIS from employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles. In addition, BlackRock seeks to ensure that all engagements with corporate issuers, dissident shareholders or shareholder proponents are managed consistently and without regard to BlackRock's relationship with such parties. Clients or business partners are not given special treatment or differentiated access to BIS. BIS prioritizes engagements based on factors including but not limited to our need for additional information to make a voting decision or our view on the likelihood that an engagement could lead to positive outcome(s) over time for the economic value of the company. Within the normal course of business, BIS may engage directly with BlackRock clients, business partners and/or third parties, and/or with employees with sales, vendor management or business partnership roles, in discussions regarding our approach to stewardship, general corporate governance matters, client reporting needs, and/or to otherwise ensure that proxy-related client service levels are met.

• Determined to engage, in certain instances, an independent fiduciary to vote proxies as a further safeguard to avoid potential conflicts of interest, to satisfy regulatory compliance requirements, or as may be otherwise required by applicable law. In such circumstances, the independent fiduciary provides BlackRock's proxy voting agent with instructions, in accordance with the Guidelines, as to how to vote such proxies, and BlackRock's proxy voting agent votes the proxy in accordance with the independent fiduciary's determination. BlackRock uses an independent fiduciary to vote proxies of (i) any company that is affiliated with BlackRock, Inc., (ii) any public company that includes BlackRock employees on its board of directors, (iii) The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc., (iv) any public company of which a BlackRock, Inc. board member serves as a senior executive, and (v) companies when legal or regulatory requirements compel BlackRock to use an independent fiduciary. In selecting an independent fiduciary, we assess several characteristics, including but not limited to: independence, an ability to analyze proxy issues and vote in the best economic interest of our clients, reputation for reliability and integrity, and operational capacity to accurately deliver the assigned votes in a timely manner. We may engage more than one independent fiduciary, in part in order to mitigate potential or perceived conflicts of interest at an independent fiduciary. The Global Committee appoints and reviews the performance of the independent fiduciar(ies), generally on an annual basis.

When so authorized, BlackRock acts as a securities lending agent on behalf of Funds. With regard to the relationship between securities lending and proxy voting, BlackRock's approach is driven by our clients' economic interests. The decision whether to recall securities on loan to vote is based on a formal analysis of the revenue producing value to clients of loans, against the assessed economic value of casting votes. Generally, we expect that the likely economic value to clients of casting votes would be less than the securities lending income, either because, in our assessment, the resolutions being voted on will not have significant economic consequences or because the outcome would not be affected by BlackRock recalling loaned securities in order to vote. BlackRock also may, in our discretion, determine that the value of voting outweighs the cost of recalling shares, and thus recall shares to vote in that instance.

Periodically, BlackRock reviews our process for determining whether to recall securities on loan in order to vote and may modify it as necessary.

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#### Voting guidelines
The issue-specific Guidelines published for each region/country in which we vote are intended to summarize BlackRock's general philosophy and approach to issues that may commonly arise in the proxy voting context in each market where we invest. These Guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. BIS applies the Guidelines on a case-by-case basis, in the context of the individual circumstances of each company and the specific issue under review. As such, these Guidelines do not indicate how BIS will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots.

#### Reporting and vote transparency
We inform clients about our engagement and voting policies and activities through direct communication and through disclosure on our website. Each year we publish an annual report, an annual engagement and voting statistics report, and our full voting record to our website. On a quarterly basis, we publish regional reports which provide an overview of our investment stewardship engagement and voting activities during the quarter, including market developments, speaking engagements, and engagement and voting statistics. Additionally, we make public our market-specific voting guidelines for the benefit of clients and companies with whom we engage.

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## Appendix A3 – BlackRock U.S. Proxy Voting Policies

#### BlackRock Investment Stewardship

#### Corporate Governance and Proxy Voting Guidelines for U.S. Securities

#### January 2020

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Introduction | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Voting guidelines | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| Boards and directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Independence | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-16 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Responsiveness to shareholders | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Shareholder rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-17 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board composition and effectiveness | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-18 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Board size | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Classified board of directors / staggered terms | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Contested director elections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Cumulative voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Director compensation and equity programs | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Majority vote requirements | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-19 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Risk oversight | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Separation of chairman and CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Auditors and audit-related issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-20 |
| Capital structure proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equal voting rights | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Blank check preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase in authorized common shares | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Increase or issuance of preferred stock | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-21 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Stock splits | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Poison pill plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| Executive Compensation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-22 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay") | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Claw back proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Employee stock purchase plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Equity compensation plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Golden parachutes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-23 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Option exchanges | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Pay-for-Performance plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Supplemental executive retirement plans | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| Environmental and social issues | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-24 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Climate risk | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-25 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Corporate political activities | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| General corporate governance matters | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Bundled proposals | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Exclusive forum provisions | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Multi-jurisdictional companies | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-26 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Other business | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Reincorporation | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- IPO governance | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| **Contents** |  |
| Shareholder Protections | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-27 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Proxy access | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to act by written consent | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Right to call a special meeting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Simple majority voting | &nbsp;&nbsp;A-28 |

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These guidelines should be read in conjunction with the BlackRock Investment Stewardship Global Corporate Governance Guidelines & Engagement Principles (See Appendix A2 of this SAI).

#### INTRODUCTION
BlackRock, Inc. and its subsidiaries (collectively, "BlackRock") seek to make proxy voting decisions in the manner most likely to protect and enhance the economic value of the securities held in client accounts. The following issue-specific proxy voting guidelines (the "Guidelines") are intended to summarize BlackRock Investment Stewardship's general philosophy and approach to corporate governance issues that most commonly arise in proxy voting for U.S. securities. These Guidelines are not intended to limit the analysis of individual issues at specific companies and are not intended to provide a guide to how BlackRock will vote in every instance. Rather, they share our view about corporate governance issues generally, and provide insight into how we typically approach issues that commonly arise on corporate ballots, as well as our expectations of boards of directors. They are applied with discretion, taking into consideration the range of issues and facts specific to the company and the individual ballot item.

#### VOTING GUIDELINES
These guidelines are divided into eight key themes which group together the issues that frequently appear on the agenda of annual and extraordinary meetings of shareholders:

• Boards and directors

• Auditors and audit-related issues

• Capital structure

• Mergers, asset sales, and other special transactions

• Executive compensation

• Environmental and social issues

• General corporate governance matters

• Shareholder protections

#### BOARDS AND DIRECTORS

#### Director elections
In general, BlackRock supports the election of directors as recommended by the board in uncontested elections. However, we believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held account able. We may withhold votes from directors or members of particular board committees in certain situations, as indicated below.

#### Independence
We expect a majority of the directors on the board to be independent. In addition, all members of key committees, including audit, compensation, and nominating / governance committees, should be independent. Our view of independence may vary slightly from listing standards.

In particular, common impediments to independence in the U.S. may include:

• Employment as a senior executive by the company or a subsidiary within the past five years

• An equity ownership in the company in excess of 20%

• Having any other interest, business, or relationship which could, or could reasonably be perceived to, materially interfere with the director's ability to act in the best interests of the company

We may vote against directors serving on key committees that we do not consider to be independent.

When evaluating controlled companies, as defined by the U.S. stock exchanges, we will only vote against insiders or affiliates who sit on the audit committee, but not other key committees.

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#### Oversight
We expect the board to exercise appropriate oversight over management and business activities of the company. We will consider voting against committee members and / or individual directors in the following circumstances:

• Where the board has failed to exercise oversight with regard to accounting practices or audit oversight, we will consider voting against the current audit committee, and any other members of the board who may be responsible. For example, this may apply to members of the audit committee during a period when the board failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing if substantial accounting irregularities suggest insufficient oversight by that committee

• Members of the compensation committee during a period in which executive compensation appears excessive relative to performance and peers, and where we believe the compensation committee has not already substantially addressed this issue

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where the board is not comprised of a majority of independent directors. However, this would not apply in the case of a controlled company

• Where it appears the director has acted (at the company or at other companies) in a manner that compromises his / her reliability to represent the best long-term economic interests of shareholders

• Where a director has a pattern of poor attendance at combined board and applicable key committee meetings. Excluding exigent circumstances, BlackRock generally considers attendance at less than 75% of the combined board and applicable key committee meetings by a board member to be poor attendance

• Where a director serves on an excess number of boards, which may limit his / her capacity to focus on each board's requirements. The following illustrates the maximum number of boards on which a director may serve, before he / she is considered to be over-committed:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Public<br> Company CEO** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**# Outside<br> Public Boards\*** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Total # of<br> Public Boards** |
| Director A | &nbsp;&nbsp;x | &nbsp;&nbsp;1 | &nbsp;&nbsp;2 |
| Director B |  | &nbsp;&nbsp;3 | &nbsp;&nbsp;4 |

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\* In addition to the company under review

#### Responsiveness to shareholders
We expect a board to be engaged and responsive to its shareholders. Where we believe a board has not substantially addressed shareholder concerns, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

• The independent chair or lead independent director, members of the nominating / governance committee, and / or the longest tenured director(s), where we observe a lack of board responsiveness to shareholders, evidence of board entrenchment, and / or failure to promote adequate board succession planning

• The chair of the nominating / governance committee, or where no chair exists, the nominating / governance committee member with the longest tenure, where board member(s) at the most recent election of directors have received withhold votes from more than 30% of shares voted and the board has not taken appropriate action to respond to shareholder concerns. This may not apply in cases where BlackRock did not support the initial withhold vote

• The independent chair or lead independent director and / or members of the nominating / governance committee, where a board fails to implement shareholder proposals that receive a majority of votes cast at a prior shareholder meeting, and the proposals, in our view, have a direct and substantial impact on shareholders' fundamental rights or long-term economic interests

#### Shareholder rights
We expect a board to act with integrity and to uphold governance best practices. Where we believe a board has not acted in the best interests of its shareholders, we may vote against the appropriate committees and / or individual directors. The following illustrates common circumstances:

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• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board implements or renews a poison pill without shareholder approval

• The independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee, where a board amends the charter / articles / bylaws such that the effect may be to entrench directors or to significantly reduce shareholder rights

• Members of the compensation committee where the company has repriced options without shareholder approval

• If a board maintains a classified structure, it is possible that the director(s) with whom we have a particular concern may not be subject to election in the year that the concern arises. In such situations, if we have a concern regarding a committee or committee chair that is not up for re-election, we will generally register our concern by withholding votes from all available members of the relevant committee

#### Board composition and effectiveness
We encourage boards to periodically renew their membership to ensure relevant skills and experience within the boardroom. To this end, regular performance reviews and skills assessments should be conducted by the nominating / governance committee.

Furthermore, we expect boards to be comprised of a diverse selection of individuals who bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in order to create a constructive debate of competing views and opinions in the boardroom. We recognize that diversity has multiple dimensions. In identifying potential candidates, boards should take into consideration the full breadth of diversity including personal factors, such as gender, ethnicity, and age; as well as professional characteristics, such as a director's industry, area of expertise, and geographic location. In addition to other elements of diversity, we encourage companies to have at least two women directors on their board. Our publicly available <u>commentary</u> explains our approach to engaging on board diversity.

We encourage boards to disclose their views on:

• The mix of competencies, experience, and other qualities required to effectively oversee and guide management in light of the stated long-term strategy of the company

• The process by which candidates are identified and selected, including whether professional firms or other sources outside of incumbent directors' networks have been engaged to identify and / or assess candidates

• The process by which boards evaluate themselves and any significant outcomes of the evaluation process, without divulging inappropriate and / or sensitive details

• The consideration given to board diversity, including, but not limited to, gender, ethnicity, race, age, experience, geographic location, skills, and perspective in the nomination process

While we support regular board refreshment, we are not opposed in principle to long-tenured directors, nor do we believe that long board tenure is necessarily an impediment to director independence. A variety of director tenures within the boardroom can be beneficial to ensure board quality and continuity of experience.

Our primary concern is that board members are able to contribute effectively as corporate strategy evolves and business conditions change, and that all directors, regardless of tenure, demonstrate appropriate responsiveness to shareholders. We acknowledge that no single person can be expected to bring all relevant skill sets to a board; at the same time, we generally do not believe it is necessary or appropriate to have any particular director on the board solely by virtue of a singular background or specific area of expertise.

Where boards find that age limits or term limits are the most efficient and objective mechanism for ensuring periodic board refreshment, we generally defer to the board's determination in setting such limits.

To the extent that we believe that a company has not adequately accounted for diversity in its board composition within a reasonable timeframe, we may vote against the nominating / governance committee for an apparent lack of commitment to board effectiveness.

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#### Board size
We typically defer to the board in setting the appropriate size and believe directors are generally in the best position to assess the optimal board size to ensure effectiveness. However, we may oppose boards that appear too small to allow for effective shareholder representation or too large to function efficiently.

#### CEO and management succession planning
There should be a robust CEO and senior management succession plan in place at the board level that is reviewed and updated on a regular basis. We expect succession planning to cover both long-term planning consistent with the strategic direction of the company and identified leadership needs over time, as well as short-term planning in the event of an unanticipated executive departure. We encourage the company to explain its executive succession planning process, including where accountability lies within the boardroom for this task, without prematurely divulging sensitive information commonly associated with this exercise.

#### Classified board of directors / staggered terms
We believe that directors should be re-elected annually and that classification of the board generally limits shareholders' rights to regularly evaluate a board's performance and select directors. While we will typically support proposals requesting board de-classification, we may make exceptions, should the board articulate an appropriate strategic rationale for a classified board structure, such as when a company needs consistency and stability during a time of transition, e.g. newly public companies or companies undergoing a strategic restructuring. A classified board structure may also be justified at non-operating companies in certain circumstances. We would, however, expect boards with a classified structure to periodically review the rationale for such structure and consider when annual elections might be appropriate.

Without a voting mechanism to immediately address concerns of a specific director, we may choose to vote against or withhold votes from the available slate of directors by default (see "Shareholder rights" for additional detail).

#### Contested director elections
The details of contested elections, or proxy contests, are assessed on a case-by-case basis. We evaluate a number of factors, which may include: the qualifications of the dissident and management candidates; the validity of the concerns identified by the dissident; the viability of both the dissident's and management's plans; the likelihood that the dissident's solutions will produce the desired change; and whether the dissident represents the best option for enhancing long-term shareholder value.

#### Cumulative voting
We believe that a majority vote standard is in the best long-term interest of shareholders. It ensures director accountability via the requirement to be elected by more than half of the votes cast. As such, we will generally oppose proposals requesting the adoption of cumulative voting, which may disproportionately aggregate votes on certain issues or director candidates.

#### Director compensation and equity programs
We believe that compensation for directors should be structured to attract and retain the best possible directors, while also aligning their interests with those of shareholders. We believe director compensation packages that are based on the company's long-term value creation and include some form of long-term equity compensation are more likely to meet this goal. In addition, we expect directors to build meaningful share ownership over time.

#### Majority vote requirements
BlackRock believes that directors should generally be elected by a majority of the shares voted and will normally support proposals seeking to introduce bylaws requiring a majority vote standard for director elections. Majority voting standards assist in ensuring that directors who are not broadly supported by shareholders are not elected to serve as their representatives. Some companies with a plurality voting standard have adopted a resignation policy for directors who do not receive support from at least a majority of votes cast. Where we believe that the company already has a sufficiently robust majority voting process in place, we may not support a shareholder proposal seeking an alternative mechanism.

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#### Risk oversight
Companies should have an established process for identifying, monitoring, and managing key risks. Independent directors should have ready access to relevant management information and outside advice, as appropriate, to ensure they can properly oversee risk management. We encourage companies to provide transparency around risk measurement, mitigation, and reporting to the board. We are particularly interested in understanding how risk oversight processes evolve in response to changes in corporate strategy and / or shifts in the business and related risk environment. Comprehensive disclosure provides investors with a sense of the company's long-term operational risk management practices and, more broadly, the quality of the board's oversight. In the absence of robust disclosures, we may reasonably conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

#### Separation of chairman and CEO
We believe that independent leadership is important in the boardroom. In the U.S. there are two commonly accepted structures for independent board leadership: 1) an independent chairman; or 2) a lead independent director when the roles of chairman and CEO are combined.

In the absence of a significant governance concern, we defer to boards to designate the most appropriate leadership structure to ensure adequate balance and independence.

In the event that the board chooses a combined chair / CEO model, we generally support the designation of a lead independent director if they have the power to: 1) provide formal input into board meeting agendas; 2) call meetings of the independent directors; and 3) preside at meetings of independent directors. Furthermore, while we anticipate that most directors will be elected annually, we believe an element of continuity is important for this role for an extended period of time to provide appropriate leadership balance to the chair / CEO.

The following table illustrates examples of responsibilities under each board leadership model:

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| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Combined<br> Chair / CEO Model** | &nbsp;&nbsp;**Separate<br> Chair Model** |
|  | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair / CEO | &nbsp;&nbsp;Lead Director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Chair |
| Board Meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors | &nbsp;&nbsp;Attends full meetings of the board of directors<br> Authority to call meetings of independent directors<br> Briefs CEO on issues arising from executive sessions | &nbsp;&nbsp;Authority to call full meetings of the board of directors |
| Agenda | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, consulting with the lead director | &nbsp;&nbsp;Collaborates with chair / CEO to set board agenda and board information | &nbsp;&nbsp;Primary responsibility for shaping board agendas, in conjunction with CEO |
| Board Communications | &nbsp;&nbsp;Communicates with all directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning | &nbsp;&nbsp;Facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning |

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#### AUDITORS AND AUDIT-RELATED ISSUES
BlackRock recognizes the critical importance of financial statements to provide a complete and accurate portrayal of a company's financial condition. Consistent with our approach to voting on boards of directors, we seek to hold the audit committee of the board responsible for overseeing the management of the audit function at a company, and may withhold votes from the audit committee members where the board has failed to facilitate quality, independent auditing. We look to

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the audit committee report for insight into the scope of the audit committee responsibilities, including an overview of audit committee processes, issues on the audit committee agenda, and key decisions taken by the audit committee. We take particular note of cases involving significant financial restatements or material weakness disclosures, and we expect timely disclosure and remediation of accounting irregularities.

The integrity of financial statements depends on the auditor effectively fulfilling its role. To that end, we favor an independent auditor. In addition, to the extent that an auditor fails to reasonably identify and address issues that eventually lead to a significant financial restatement, or the audit firm has violated standards of practice that protect the interests of shareholders, we may also vote against ratification.

From time to time, shareholder proposals may be presented to promote auditor independence or the rotation of audit firms. We may support these proposals when they are consistent with our views as described above.

#### CAPITAL STRUCTURE PROPOSALS

#### Equal voting rights
BlackRock believes that shareholders should be entitled to voting rights in proportion to their economic interests. We believe that companies that look to add or already have dual or multiple class share structures should review these structures on a regular basis or as company circumstances change. Companies should receive shareholder approval of their capital structure on a periodic basis via a management proposal on the company's proxy. The proposal should give unaffiliated shareholders the opportunity to affirm the current structure or establish mechanisms to end or phase out controlling structures at the appropriate time, while minimizing costs to shareholders.

#### Blank check preferred stock
We frequently oppose proposals requesting authorization of a class of preferred stock with unspecified voting, conversion, dividend distribution, and other rights ("blank check" preferred stock) because they may serve as a transfer of authority from shareholders to the board and as a possible entrenchment device. We generally view the board's discretion to establish voting rights on a when-issued basis as a potential anti-takeover device, as it affords the board the ability to place a block of stock with an investor sympathetic to management, thereby foiling a takeover bid without a shareholder vote.

Nonetheless, we may support the proposal where the company:

• Appears to have a legitimate financing motive for requesting blank check authority

• Has committed publicly that blank check preferred shares will not be used for anti-takeover purposes

• Has a history of using blank check preferred stock for financings

• Has blank check preferred stock previously outstanding such that an increase would not necessarily provide further anti-takeover protection but may provide greater financing flexibility

#### Increase in authorized common shares
BlackRock considers industry-specific norms in our analysis of these proposals, as well as a company's history with respect to the use of its common shares. Generally, we are predisposed to support a company if the board believes additional common shares are necessary to carry out the firm's business. The most substantial concern we might have with an increase is the possibility of use of common shares to fund a poison pill plan that is not in the economic interests of shareholders.

#### Increase or issuance of preferred stock
We generally support proposals to increase or issue preferred stock in cases where the company specifies the voting, dividend, conversion, and other rights of such stock where the terms of the preferred stock appear reasonable.

#### Stock splits
We generally support stock splits that are not likely to negatively affect the ability to trade shares or the economic value of a share. We generally support reverse stock splits that are designed to avoid delisting or to facilitate trading in the stock, where the reverse split will not have a negative impact on share value (e.g*.* one class is reduced while others remain at pre- split

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levels). In the event of a proposal for a reverse split that would not also proportionately reduce the company's authorized stock, we apply the same analysis we would use for a proposal to increase authorized stock.

#### MERGERS, ASSET SALES, AND OTHER SPECIAL TRANSACTIONS
BlackRock's primary concern is the best long-term economic interests of shareholders. While merger, asset sales, and other special transaction proposals vary widely in scope and substance, we closely examine certain salient features in our analyses, such as:

• The degree to which the proposed transaction represents a premium to the company's trading price. We consider the share price over multiple time periods prior to the date of the merger announcement. In most cases, business combinations should provide a premium. We may consider comparable transaction analyses provided by the parties' financial advisors and our own valuation assessments. For companies facing insolvency or bankruptcy, a premium may not apply

• There should be clear strategic, operational, and / or financial rationale for the combination

• Unanimous board approval and arm's-length negotiations are preferred. We will consider whether the transaction involves a dissenting board or does not appear to be the result of an arm's-length bidding process. We may also consider whether executive and / or board members' financial interests in a given transaction appear likely to affect their ability to place shareholders' interests before their own

• We prefer transaction proposals that include the fairness opinion of a reputable financial advisor assessing the value of the transaction to shareholders in comparison to recent similar transactions

#### Poison pill plans
Where a poison pill is put to a shareholder vote by management, our policy is to examine these plans individually. Although we oppose most plans, we may support plans that include a reasonable "qualifying offer clause." Such clauses typically require shareholder ratification of the pill and stipulate a sunset provision whereby the pill expires unless it is renewed.

These clauses also tend to specify that an all cash bid for all shares that includes a fairness opinion and evidence of financing does not trigger the pill, but forces either a special meeting at which the offer is put to a shareholder vote, or the board to seek the written consent of shareholders where shareholders could rescind the pill at their discretion. We may also support a pill where it is the only effective method for protecting tax or other economic benefits that may be associated with limiting the ownership changes of individual shareholders.

We generally vote in favor of shareholder proposals to rescind poison pills.

#### Reimbursement of expenses for successful shareholder campaigns
We generally do not support shareholder proposals seeking the reimbursement of proxy contest expenses, even in situations where we support the shareholder campaign. We believe that introducing the possibility of such reimbursement may incentivize disruptive and unnecessary shareholder campaigns.

#### EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
We note that there are both management and shareholder proposals related to executive compensation. We generally vote on these proposals as described below, except that we typically oppose shareholder proposals on issues where the company already has a reasonable policy in place that we believe is sufficient to address the issue. We may also oppose a shareholder proposal regarding executive compensation if the company's history suggests that the issue raised is not likely to present a problem for that company.

#### Advisory resolutions on executive compensation ("Say on Pay")
In cases where there is a Say on Pay vote, BlackRock will respond to the proposal as informed by our evaluation of compensation practices at that particular company and in a manner that appropriately addresses the specific question posed to shareholders. In a commentary on our website, entitled "<u>BlackRock Investment Stewardship's approach to executive compensation</u>," we explain our beliefs and expectations related to executive compensation practices, our Say on Pay analysis framework, and our typical approach to engagement and voting on Say on Pay.

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#### Advisory votes on the frequency of Say on Pay resolutions
BlackRock will generally support triennial pay frequency votes, but we defer to the board to determine the appropriate timeframe upon which pay should be reviewed. In evaluating pay, we believe that the compensation committee is responsible for constructing a plan that appropriately incentivizes executives for long-term value creation, utilizing relevant metrics and structure to ensure overall pay and performance alignment. In a similar vein, we defer to the board to establish the most appropriate timeframe for review of pay structure, absent a change in strategy that would suggest otherwise.

However, we may support an annual pay frequency vote in some situations, for example, where we conclude that a company has failed to align pay with performance. In these circumstances, we will also consider voting against the compensation committee members.

#### Claw back proposals
We generally favor recoupment from any senior executive whose compensation was based on faulty financial reporting or deceptive business practices. In addition to fraudulent acts, we also favor recoupment from any senior executive whose behavior caused direct financial harm to shareholders, reputational risk to the company, or resulted in a criminal investigation, even if such actions did not ultimately result in a material restatement of past results. This includes, but is not limited to, settlement agreements arising from such behavior and paid for directly by the company. We typically support shareholder proposals on these matters unless the company already has a robust claw back policy that sufficiently addresses our concerns.

#### Employee stock purchase plans
We believe these plans can provide performance incentives and help align employees' interests with those of shareholders. The most common form of employee stock purchase plan ("ESPP") qualifies for favorable tax treatment under Section 423 of the Internal Revenue Code. We will typically support qualified ESPP proposals.

#### Equity compensation plans
BlackRock supports equity plans that align the economic interests of directors, managers, and other employees with those of shareholders. We believe that boards should establish policies prohibiting the use of equity awards in a manner that could disrupt the intended alignment with shareholder interests (e.g. the use of stock as collateral for a loan; the use of stock in a margin account; the use of stock or an unvested award in hedging or derivative transactions). We may support shareholder proposals requesting the establishment of such policies.

Our evaluation of equity compensation plans is based on a company's executive pay and performance relative to peers and whether the plan plays a significant role in a pay-for-performance disconnect. We generally oppose plans that contain "evergreen" provisions, which allow for the unlimited increase of shares reserved without requiring further shareholder approval after a reasonable time period. We also generally oppose plans that allow for repricing without shareholder approval. We may also oppose plans that provide for the acceleration of vesting of equity awards even in situations where an actual change of control may not occur. We encourage companies to structure their change of control provisions to require the termination of the covered employee before acceleration or special payments are triggered.

#### Golden parachutes
We generally view golden parachutes as encouragement to management to consider transactions that might be beneficial to shareholders. However, a large potential pay-out under a golden parachute arrangement also presents the risk of motivating a management team to support a sub-optimal sale price for a company. When determining whether to support or oppose an advisory vote on a golden parachute plan, we normally support the plan unless it appears to result in payments that are excessive or detrimental to shareholders. In evaluating golden parachute plans, BlackRock may consider several factors, including:

• Whether we believe that the triggering event is in the best interest of shareholders

• Whether management attempted to maximize shareholder value in the triggering event

• The percentage of total premium or transaction value that will be transferred to the management team, rather than shareholders, as a result of the golden parachute payment

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• Whether excessively large excise tax gross-up payments are part of the pay-out

• Whether the pay package that serves as the basis for calculating the golden parachute payment was reasonable in light of performance and peers

• Whether the golden parachute payment will have the effect of rewarding a management team that has failed to effectively manage the company

It may be difficult to anticipate the results of a plan until after it has been triggered; as a result, BlackRock may vote against a golden parachute proposal even if the golden parachute plan under review was approved by shareholders when it was implemented.

We may support shareholder proposals requesting that implementation of such arrangements require shareholder approval. We generally support proposals requiring shareholder approval of plans that exceed 2.99 times an executive's current salary and bonus, including equity compensation.

#### Option exchanges
We believe that there may be legitimate instances where underwater options create an overhang on a company's capital structure and a repricing or option exchange may be warranted. We will evaluate these instances on a case-by-case basis. BlackRock may support a request to reprice or exchange underwater options under the following circumstances:

• The company has experienced significant stock price decline as a result of macroeconomic trends, not individual company performance

• Directors and executive officers are excluded; the exchange is value neutral or value creative to shareholders; tax, accounting, and other technical considerations have been fully contemplated

• There is clear evidence that absent repricing, the company will suffer serious employee incentive or retention and recruiting problems

BlackRock may also support a request to exchange underwater options in other circumstances, if we determine that the exchange is in the best interest of shareholders.

#### Pay-for-Performance plans
In order for executive compensation exceeding $1 million USD to qualify for federal tax deductions, related to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act ("OBRA") requires companies to link compensation for the company's top five executives to disclosed performance goals and submit the plans for shareholder approval. The law further requires that a compensation committee comprised solely of outside directors administer these plans. Because the primary objective of these proposals is to preserve the deductibility of such compensation, we generally favor approval in order to preserve net income.

#### Supplemental executive retirement plans
BlackRock may support shareholder proposals requesting to put extraordinary benefits contained in Supplemental Executive Retirement Plans ("SERP") agreements to a shareholder vote unless the company's executive pension plans do not contain excessive benefits beyond what is offered under employee-wide plans.

#### ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES
Our fiduciary duty to clients is to protect and enhance their economic interest in the companies in which we invest on their behalf. It is within this context that we undertake our corporate governance activities. We believe that well-managed companies will deal effectively with the material environmental and social ("E&S") factors relevant to their businesses. Robust disclosure is essential for investors to effectively gauge companies' business practices and planning related to E&S risks and opportunities.

BlackRock expects companies to issue reports aligned with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the standards put forward by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). We view the SASB and TCFD frameworks as complementary in achieving the goal of disclosing more financially material information, particularly as it relates to industry-specific metrics and target setting. TCFD's recommendations provide an

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overarching framework for disclosure on the business implications of climate change, and potentially other E&S factors. We find SASB's industry-specific guidance (as identified in its materiality map) beneficial in helping companies identify and discuss their governance, risk assessments, and performance against these key performance indicators (KPIs). Any global standards adopted, peer group benchmarking undertaken, and verification process in place should also be disclosed and discussed in this context.

BlackRock has been engaging with companies for several years on disclosure of material E&S factors. Given the increased understanding of sustainability risks and opportunities, and the need for better information to assess them, we specifically ask companies to:

• Publish disclosures in line with industry specific SASB guidelines by year-end, if they have not already done so, or disclose a similar set of data in a way that is relevant to their particular business; and

• Disclose climate-related risks in line with the TCFD's recommendations, if they have not already done so. This should include the company's plan for operating under a scenario where the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global warming to less than two degrees is fully realized, as expressed by the TCFD guidelines.

See our <u>commentary</u> on our approach to engagement on TCFD and SASB aligned reporting for greater detail of our expectations.

We will use these disclosures and our engagements to ascertain whether companies are properly managing and overseeing these risks within their business and adequately planning for the future. In the absence of robust disclosures, investors, including BlackRock, will increasingly conclude that companies are not adequately managing risk.

We believe that when a company is not effectively addressing a material issue, its directors should be held accountable. We will generally engage directly with the board or management of a company when we identify issues. We may vote against the election of directors where we have concerns that a company might not be dealing with E&S factors appropriately.

Sometimes we may reflect such concerns by supporting a shareholder proposal on the issue, where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or realized harm to shareholders' interests caused by poor management of material E&S factors. In deciding our course of action, we will assess the nature of our engagement with the company on the issue over time, including whether:

• The company has already taken sufficient steps to address the concern

• The company is in the process of actively implementing a response

• There is a clear and material economic disadvantage to the company in the near-term if the issue is not addressed in the manner requested by the shareholder proposal

We do not see it as our role to make social, ethical, or political judgments on behalf of clients, but rather, to protect the ir long-term economic interests as shareholders. We expect investee companies to comply, at a minimum, with the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions in which they operate. They should explain how they manage situations where such laws or regulations are contradictory or ambiguous.

#### Climate risk
Within the framework laid out above, as well as our guidance on "<u>How BlackRock Investment Stewardship engages on climate risk</u>," we believe that climate presents significant investment risks and opportunities that may impact the long- term financial sustainability of companies. We believe that the reporting frameworks developed by TCFD and SASB provide useful guidance to companies on identifying, managing, and reporting on climate-related risks and opportunities.

We expect companies to help their investors understand how the company may be impacted by climate risk, in the context of its ability to realize a long-term strategy and generate value over time. We expect companies to convey their governance around this issue through their corporate disclosures aligned with TCFD and SASB. For companies in sectors that are significantly exposed to climate-related risk, we expect the whole board to have demonstrable fluency in how climate risk affects the business and how management approaches assessing, adapting to, and mitigating that risk.

Where a company receives a shareholder proposal related to climate risk, in addition to the factors laid out above, our assessment will take into account the robustness of the company's existing disclosures as well as our understanding of its management of the issues as revealed through our engagements with the company and board members over time. In certain

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instances, we may disagree with the details of a climate-related shareholder proposal but agree that the company in question has not made sufficient progress on climate-related disclosures. In these instances, we may not support the proposal, but may vote against the election of relevant directors.

#### Corporate political activities
Companies may engage in certain political activities, within legal and regulatory limits, in order to influence public policy consistent with the companies' values and strategies, and thus serve shareholders' best long-term economic interests. These activities can create risks, including: the potential for allegations of corruption; the potential for reputational issues associated with a candidate, party, or issue; and risks that arise from the complex legal, regulatory, and compliance considerations associated with corporate political activity. We believe that companies which choose to engage in political activities should develop and maintain robust processes to guide these activities and to mitigate risks, including a level of board oversight.

When presented with shareholder proposals requesting increased disclosure on corporate political activities, we may consider the political activities of that company and its peers, the existing level of disclosure, and our view regarding the associated risks. We generally believe that it is the duty of boards and management to determine the appropriate level of disclosure of all types of corporate activity, and we are generally not supportive of proposals that are overly prescriptive in nature. We may decide to support a shareholder proposal requesting additional reporting of corporate political activities where there seems to be either a significant potential threat or actual harm to shareholders' interests, and where we believe the company has not already provided shareholders with sufficient information to assess the company's management of the risk.

Finally, we believe that it is not the role of shareholders to suggest or approve corporate political activities; therefore we generally do not support proposals requesting a shareholder vote on political activities or expenditures.

#### GENERAL CORPORATE GOVERNANCE MATTERS

#### Adjourn meeting to solicit additional votes
We generally support such proposals unless the agenda contains items that we judge to be detrimental to shareholders' best long-term economic interests.

#### Bundled proposals
We believe that shareholders should have the opportunity to review substantial governance changes individually without having to accept bundled proposals. Where several measures are grouped into one proposal, BlackRock may reject certain positive changes when linked with proposals that generally contradict or impede the rights and economic interests of shareholders.

#### Exclusive forum provisions
BlackRock generally supports proposals to seek exclusive forum for certain shareholder litigation. In cases where a board unilaterally adopts exclusive forum provisions that we consider unfavorable to the interests of shareholders, we will vote against the independent chair or lead independent director and members of the governance committee.

#### Multi-jurisdictional companies
Where a company is listed on multiple exchanges or incorporated in a country different from its primary listing, we will seek to apply the most relevant market guideline(s) to our analysis of the company's governance structure and specific proposals on the shareholder meeting agenda. In doing so, we typically consider the governance standards of the company's primary listing, the market standards by which the company governs itself, and the market context of each specific proposal on the agenda. If the relevant standards are silent on the issue under consideration, we will use our professional judgment as to what voting outcome would best protect the long-term economic interests of investors. We expect that companies will disclose the rationale for their selection of primary listing, country of incorporation, and choice of governance structures, in particular where there is conflict between relevant market governance practices.

#### Other business

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We oppose giving companies our proxy to vote on matters where we are not given the opportunity to review and understand those measures and carry out an appropriate level of shareholder oversight.

#### Reincorporation
Proposals to reincorporate from one state or country to another are most frequently motivated by considerations of anti- takeover protections, legal advantages, and / or cost savings. We will evaluate, on a case-by-case basis, the economic and strategic rationale behind the company's proposal to reincorporate. In all instances, we will evaluate the changes to shareholder protection under the new charter / articles / bylaws to assess whether the move increases or decreases shareholder protections. Where we find that shareholder protections are diminished, we may support reincorporation if we determine that the overall benefits outweigh the diminished rights.

#### IPO governance
We expect boards to consider and disclose how the corporate governance structures adopted upon initial public offering ("IPO") are in shareholders' best long-term interests. We also expect boards to conduct a regular review of corporate governance and control structures, such that boards might evolve foundational corporate governance structures as company circumstances change, without undue costs and disruption to shareholders. In our <u>letter on unequal voting structures</u>, we articulate our view that "one vote for one share" is the preferred structure for publicly-traded companies. We also recognize the potential benefits of dual class shares to newly public companies as they establish themselves; however, we believe that these structures should have a specific and limited duration. We will generally engage new companies on topics such as classified boards and supermajority vote provisions to amend bylaws, as we believe that such arrangements may not be in the best interest of shareholders in the long-term.

We will typically apply a one-year grace period for the application of certain director-related guidelines (including, but not limited to, director independence and over-boarding considerations), during which we expect boards to take steps to bring corporate governance standards in line with our expectations.

Further, if a company qualifies as an emerging growth company (an "EGC") under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act"), we will give consideration to the NYSE and NASDAQ governance exemptions granted under the JOBS Act for the duration such a company is categorized as an EGC. We expect an EGC to have a totally independent audit committee by the first anniversary of its IPO, with our standard approach to voting on auditors and audit-related issues applicable in full for an EGC on the first anniversary of its IPO.

#### SHAREHOLDER PROTECTIONS

#### Amendment to charter / articles / bylaws
We believe that shareholders should have the right to vote on key corporate governance matters, including on changes to governance mechanisms and amendments to the charter / articles / bylaws. We may vote against certain directors where changes to governing documents are not put to a shareholder vote within a reasonable period of time, in particular if those changes have the potential to impact shareholder rights (see "Director elections" herein). In cases where a board's unilateral adoption of changes to the charter / articles / bylaws promotes cost and operational efficiency benefits for the company and its shareholders, we may support such action if it does not have a negative effect on shareholder rights or the company's corporate governance structure.

When voting on a management or shareholder proposal to make changes to the charter / articles / bylaws, we will consider in part the company's and / or proponent's publicly stated rationale for the changes, the company's governance profile and history, relevant jurisdictional laws, and situational or contextual circumstances which may have motivated the proposed changes, among other factors. We will typically support changes to the charter / articles / bylaws where the benefits to shareholders, including the costs of failing to make those changes, demonstrably outweigh the costs or risks of making such changes.

#### Proxy access
We believe that long-term shareholders should have the opportunity, when necessary and under reasonable conditions, to nominate directors on the company's proxy card.

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In our view, securing the right of shareholders to nominate directors without engaging in a control contest can enhance shareholders' ability to meaningfully participate in the director election process, stimulate board attention to shareholder interests, and provide shareholders an effective means of directing that attention where it is lacking. Proxy access mechanisms should provide shareholders with a reasonable opportunity to use this right without stipulating overly restrictive or onerous parameters for use, and also provide assurances that the mechanism will not be subject to abuse by short-term investors, investors without a substantial investment in the company, or investors seeking to take control of the board.

In general, we support market-standardized proxy access proposals, which allow a shareholder (or group of up to 20 shareholders) holding three percent of a company's outstanding shares for at least three years the right to nominate the greater of up to two directors or 20% of the board. Where a standardized proxy access provision exists, we will generally oppose shareholder proposals requesting outlier thresholds.

#### Right to act by written consent
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to solicit votes by written consent provided that: 1) there are reasonable requirements to initiate the consent solicitation process (in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests); and 2) shareholders receive a minimum of 50% of outstanding shares to effectuate the action by written consent. We may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others, or if the proposal is written to discourage the board from incorporating appropriate mechanisms to avoid the waste of corporate resources when establishing a right to act by written consent. Additionally, we may oppose shareholder proposals requesting the right to act by written consent if the company already provides a shareholder right to call a special meeting that we believe offers shareholders a reasonable opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting.

#### Right to call a special meeting
In exceptional circumstances and with sufficiently broad support, shareholders should have the opportunity to raise issues of substantial importance without having to wait for management to schedule a meeting. We therefore believe that shareholders should have the right to call a special meeting in cases where a reasonably high proportion of shareholders (typically a minimum of 15% but no higher than 25%) are required to agree to such a meeting before it is called, in order to avoid the waste of corporate resources in addressing narrowly supported interests. However, we may oppose this right in cases where the proposal is structured for the benefit of a dominant shareholder to the exclusion of others. We generally believe that a right to act via written consent is not a sufficient alternative to the right to call a special meeting.

#### Simple majority voting
We generally favor a simple majority voting requirement to pass proposals. Therefore, we will support the reduction or the elimination of supermajority voting requirements to the extent that we determine shareholders' ability to protect their economic interests is improved. Nonetheless, in situations where there is a substantial or dominant shareholder, supermajority voting may be protective of public shareholder interests and we may support supermajority requirements in those situations.

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## Appendix B – Description of Fixed-Income Ratings
A rating is generally assigned to a fixed-income security at the time of issuance by a credit rating agency designated as a NRSRO by the SEC. While NRSROs may from time to time revise such ratings, they undertake no obligation to do so, and the ratings given to securities at issuance do not necessarily represent ratings which would be given to these securities on a particular subsequent date.

NRSROs may rate specific investments (*e.g.*, bonds), issuers (*e.g.*, corporations, governments and financial institutions) and/or programs (*e.g.*, commercial paper programs). However, certain types of investments may not be rated by NRSROs, such as certain government/sovereign obligations, US agency securities, commercial paper, time deposits at financial institutions, and derivative instruments such as credit default swaps. For these types of investments, as well as US Treasury securities (some of which are not rated), where a NRSRO has not rated the specific investment but has rated the investment's issuer, program, financial institution or underlying reference asset, BFA may consider the investment to have the same NRSRO rating as its issuer, program, financial institution or underlying reference asset, as applicable. In the case of municipal securities, where one NRSRO provides multiple ratings for the same security (*e.g.*, "underlying," "insured" and/or "enhanced" ratings), BFA may consider the security to have the highest of the multiple ratings.

New issue securities (regardless of type) may not be rated by a NRSRO at the time of their initial offering. Preliminary prospectuses or term sheets for new issue securities may include an expected rating for the security (as determined by the underwriter and/or issuer) or a NRSRO rating for the issuer of the security. If applicable, when deciding whether to purchase a new issue security that has not yet been rated by a NRSRO, BFA may attribute an expected rating to the security based on: (i) the expected rating of the security set forth in the preliminary prospectus or term sheet for the security; (ii) the NRSRO's rating for the issuer of the security set forth in the preliminary prospectus or term sheet for the security; or (iii) with respect to asset-backed securities, the rating of a prior issuance having a similar structure or the same sponsor.

Where the investment objective of a Fund is to track the performance of an index that includes credit ratings eligibility criteria as part of its index methodology, a Fund may purchase any security within the index, such security having been determined by the index provider as meeting its credit ratings eligibility criteria. The credit ratings practices of an index provider may differ from BlackRock's practices, as described above. Further, a Fund may invest, directly or indirectly, in securities that are not rated by a rating agency or securities with a credit rating that differs from the credit rating specified in its index methodology in various circumstances, including where a security is downgraded but not yet removed from an index, following the removal of a security from an index prior to its sale by the Fund or as a result of a corporate action or restructuring affecting an issuer of a security held by a Fund.

Fixed-income securities which are unrated may expose the investor to risks with respect to capacity to pay interest or repay principal which are similar to the risks of lower-rated speculative bonds. Evaluation of these securities is dependent on the investment adviser's judgment, analysis and experience in the evaluation of such securities.

Investors should note that the assignment of a rating to a security by an NRSRO may not reflect the effect of recent developments on the issuer's ability to make interest and principal payments or on the likelihood of default.

Securities deemed to be high yield are rated below Baa3 by Moody's and below BBB- by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch.

The descriptions below relate to general long-term and short-term obligations of an issuer.

#### Moody's Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations

#### Aaa: Obligations rated Aaa are judged to be of the highest quality, subject to the lowest level of credit risk.

#### Aa: Obligations rated Aa are judged to be of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk.

#### A: Obligations rated A are judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk.

#### Baa: Obligations rated Baa are judged to be medium-grade and subject to moderate credit risk and as such may possess certain speculative characteristics.

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#### Ba: Obligations rated Ba are judged to be speculative and are subject to substantial credit risk.

#### B: Obligations rated B are considered speculative and are subject to high credit risk.

#### Caa: Obligations rated Caa are judged to be speculative, of poor standing and are subject to very high credit risk.

#### Ca: Obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest.

#### C: Obligations rated C are the lowest rated and are typically in default, with little prospect for recovery of principal or interest.
**Note: Moody's appends numerical modifiers 1, 2 and 3 in each generic rating classification from Aa through Caa. The modifier 1 indicates that the obligation ranks in the higher end of its generic rating category; the modifier 2 indicates a mid-range ranking; and the modifier 3 indicates a ranking in the lower end of that generic rating category.**

**Absence of Rating: Where no rating has been assigned or where a rating has been withdrawn, it may be for reasons unrelated to the creditworthiness of the issue.**

Should no rating be assigned, the reason may be one of the following:

1. An application was not received or accepted.

2. The issue or issuer belongs to a group of securities or entities that are not rated as a matter of policy.

3. There is a lack of essential data pertaining to the issue or issuer.

4. The issue was privately placed, in which case the rating is not published in Moody's publications.

Withdrawal may occur if new and material circumstances arise, the effects of which preclude satisfactory analysis; if there is no longer available reasonable up-to-date data to permit a judgment to be formed; if a bond is called for redemption; or for other reasons.

#### Short-Term Obligations
Moody's short-term debt ratings are opinions of the ability of issuers to honor short-term financial obligations, generally with an original maturity not exceeding thirteen months.

Moody's employs the following designations to indicate the relative repayment ability of rated issuers:

#### P-1: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-1 have a superior ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

#### P-2: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-2 have a strong ability to repay short-term debt obligations.

#### P-3: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Prime-3 have an acceptable ability to repay short-term obligations.

#### NP: Issuers (or supporting institutions) rated Not Prime do not fall within any of the Prime rating categories.

#### US Municipal Short-Term Debt Obligations
There are three rating categories for short-term municipal obligations that are considered investment-grade and are designated as Municipal Investment Grade (MIG). In addition, those short-term obligations that are of speculative quality are designated SG, or speculative grade. MIG ratings expire at the maturity of the obligation.

**MIG 1: This designation denotes superior credit quality. Excellent protection is afforded by established cash flows, highly reliable liquidity support, or demonstrated broad-based access to the market for refinancing.**

#### MIG 2: This designation denotes strong credit quality. Margins of protection are ample, although not as large as in the preceding group.
**MIG 3: This designation denotes acceptable credit quality. Liquidity and cash-flow protection may be narrow, and market access for refinancing is likely to be less well-established.**

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#### SG: This designation denotes speculative-grade credit quality. Debt instruments in this category may lack sufficient margins of protection.

#### S&P Global Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations
**AAA: An obligation rated AAA has the highest rating assigned by S&P Global Ratings. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is extremely strong.**

**AA: An obligation rated AA differs from the highest-rated obligations only to a small degree. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment is very strong.**

**A: An obligation rated A is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher-rated categories. However, the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is still strong.**

**BBB: An obligation rated BBB exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**BB; B; CCC; CC; and C: Obligations rated BB, B, CCC, CC, and C are regarded as having significant speculative characteristics. BB indicates the least degree of speculation and C the highest. While such obligations will likely have some quality and protective characteristics, these may be outweighed by large uncertainties or major exposures to adverse conditions.**

**BB: An obligation rated BB is less vulnerable to nonpayment than other speculative issues. However, it faces major ongoing uncertainties or exposure to adverse business, financial, or economic conditions which could lead to the obligor's inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**B: An obligation rated B is more vulnerable to nonpayment than obligations rated BB, but the obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. Adverse business, financial, or economic conditions will likely impair the obligor's capacity or willingness to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**CCC: An obligation rated CCC is currently vulnerable to nonpayment, and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation. In the event of adverse business, financial, or economic conditions, the obligor is not likely to have the capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**CC: An obligation rated CC is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment. The CC rating is used when a default has not yet occurred, but S&P Global Ratings expects default to be a virtual certainty, regardless of the anticipated time to default.**

**C: An obligation rated C is currently highly vulnerable to nonpayment, and the obligation is expected to have lower relative seniority or lower ultimate recovery compared to obligations that are rated higher.**

**D: An obligation rated D is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the D rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P Global Ratings believes that such payments will be made within five business days in the absence of a stated grace period or within the earlier of the stated grace period or 30 calendar days. The D rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation's rating is lowered to D if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.**

**NR: NR indicates no rating has been requested, or that there is insufficient information on which to base a rating, or that S&P Global Ratings does not rate a particular obligation as a matter of policy.**

**Note: The ratings from AA to CCC may be modified by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (-) sign to show relative standing within the major rating categories.**

#### Short-Term Obligations

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**A-1: A short-term obligation rated A-1 is rated in the highest category by S&P Global Ratings. The obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is strong. Within this category, certain obligations are designated with a plus sign (+). This indicates that the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on these obligations is extremely strong.**

**A-2: A short-term obligation rated A-2 is somewhat more susceptible to the adverse effects of changes in circumstances and economic conditions than obligations in higher rating categories. However, the obligor's capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is satisfactory.**

**A-3: A short-term obligation rated A-3 exhibits adequate protection parameters. However, adverse economic conditions or changing circumstances are more likely to lead to a weakened capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**B: A short-term obligation rated B is regarded as vulnerable and has significant speculative characteristics. The obligor currently has the capacity to meet its financial commitments; however, it faces major ongoing uncertainties which could lead to the obligor's inadequate capacity to meet its financial commitments.**

**C: A short-term obligation rated C is currently vulnerable to nonpayment and is dependent upon favorable business, financial, and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation.**

**D: A short-term obligation rated D is in default or in breach of an imputed promise. For non-hybrid capital instruments, the D rating category is used when payments on an obligation are not made on the date due, unless S&P Global Ratings believes that such payments will be made within any stated grace period. However, any stated grace period longer than five business days will be treated as five business days. The D rating also will be used upon the filing of a bankruptcy petition or the taking of a similar action and where default on an obligation is a virtual certainty, for example due to automatic stay provisions. An obligation's rating is lowered to D if it is subject to a distressed exchange offer.**

#### Municipal Short-Term Obligations
An S&P U.S. municipal note rating reflects S&P Global Ratings opinion about the liquidity factors and market access risks unique to the notes. Notes due in three years or less will likely receive a note rating. Notes with an original maturity of more than three years will most likely receive a long-term debt rating.

**SP-1: Strong capacity to pay principal and interest. An issue determined to possess a very strong capacity to pay debt service is given a plus (+) designation.**

#### SP-2: Satisfactory capacity to pay principal and interest, with some vulnerability to adverse financial and economic changes over the term of the notes.

#### SP-3: Speculative capacity to pay principal and interest.

#### Fitch Ratings

#### Long-Term Obligations
**AAA: Highest credit quality. AAA ratings denote the lowest expectation of credit risk. They are assigned only in cases of exceptionally strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is highly unlikely to be adversely affected by foreseeable events.**

**AA: Very high credit quality. AA ratings denote expectations of very low credit risk. They indicate very strong capacity for payment of financial commitments. This capacity is not significantly vulnerable to foreseeable events.**

**A: High credit quality. A ratings denote expectations of low credit risk. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered strong. This capacity may, nevertheless, be more vulnerable to adverse business or economic conditions than is the case for higher ratings.**

**BBB: Good credit quality. BBB ratings indicate that expectations of credit risk are currently low. The capacity for payment of financial commitments is considered adequate but adverse business or economic conditions are more likely to impair this capacity.**

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**BB: Speculative. BB ratings indicate an elevated vulnerability to credit risk, particularly in the event of adverse changes in business or economic conditions over time; however, business or financial alternatives may be available to allow financial commitments to be met.**

#### B: Highly speculative. B ratings indicate that material credit risk is present.

#### CCC: Substantial credit risk. CCC ratings indicate that substantial credit risk is present.

#### CC: Very high levels of credit risk. CC ratings indicate very high levels of credit risk.

#### C: Exceptionally high levels of credit risk. C indicates exceptionally high levels of credit risk.
Defaulted obligations typically are not assigned RD or D ratings, but are instead rated in the B to C rating categories, depending upon their recovery prospects and other relevant characteristics. This approach better aligns obligations that have comparable overall expected loss but varying vulnerability to default and loss.

*Note: The modifiers "+" or "-" may be appended to a rating to denote relative status within major rating categories. Such suffixes are not added to the AAA obligation rating category, or to corporate finance obligation ratings in the categories below CCC.*

*The subscript 'emr' is appended to a rating to denote embedded market risk which is beyond the scope of the rating. The designation is intended to make clear that the rating solely addresses the counterparty risk of the issuing bank. It is not meant to indicate any limitation in the analysis of the counterparty risk, which in all other respects follows published Fitch criteria for analyzing the issuing financial institution. Fitch does not rate these instruments where the principal is to any degree subject to market risk.*

#### Short-Term Obligations (Corporate and Public Finance)
A short-term issuer or obligation rating is based in all cases on the short-term vulnerability to default of the rated entity or security stream and relates to the capacity to meet financial obligations in accordance with the documentation governing the relevant obligation. Short-Term Ratings are assigned to obligations whose initial maturity is viewed as "short-term" based on market convention. Typically, this means up to 13 months for corporate, sovereign, and structured obligations, and up to 36 months for obligations in U.S. public finance markets.

**F1: Highest short-term credit quality. Indicates the strongest intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments; may have an added "+" to denote any exceptionally strong credit feature.**

#### F2: Good short-term credit quality. Good intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments.

#### F3: Fair short-term credit quality. The intrinsic capacity for timely payment of financial commitments is adequate.
**B: Speculative short-term credit quality. Minimal capacity for timely payment of financial commitments, plus heightened vulnerability to near term adverse changes in financial and economic conditions.**

#### C: High short-term default risk. Default is a real possibility.
**RD: Restricted default. Indicates an entity that has defaulted on one or more of its financial commitments, although it continues to meet other financial obligations. Typically applicable to entity ratings only.**

#### D: Default. Indicates a broad-based default event for an entity, or the default of a short-term obligation.
IS-SAI-10B-0323

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iShares U.S. ETF Trust

File Nos. 333-179904 and 811-22649

Part C

Other Information

#### Item 28. Exhibits:
PEA # 647

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| Exhibit<br>Number | Description |
| (a.1) | [Agreement and Declaration of Trust, dated June 21, 2011, is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 8, filed April 15, 2013 ("PEA No. 8").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312513155206/d520280dex99a.htm) |
| (a.2) | [Certificate of Trust, dated June 21, 2011, is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 8](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312513155206/d520280dex99a1.htm). |
| (b) | [By-Laws, dated June 21, 2011, are incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 8.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312513155206/d520280dex99b.htm) |
| (c) | [Article II of the Agreement and Declaration of Trust is incorporated herein by reference to Exhibit (a) to PEA No. 8.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312513155206/d520280dex99a.htm) |
| (d.1) | [Investment Advisory Agreement, dated December 6, 2011, between the Trust and BlackRock Fund Advisors ("BFA") is incorporated herein by reference to Pre-Effective Amendment No. 1, filed September 5, 2012 ("PEA No. 1").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312512379529/d406589dex99d.htm) |
| (d.2) | [Schedule A to the Investment Advisory Agreement dated December 6, 2011 is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 645, filed November 23, 2022 ("PEA No. 645").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522291356/d386331dex99d2.htm) |
| (d.3) | [Investment Advisory Agreement, dated June 13, 2014, between the Trust and BFA is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 115, filed October 9, 2014 ("PEA No. 115").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312514367931/d800884dex99d3.htm) |
| (d.4) | [Schedule A to the Investment Advisory Agreement dated June 13, 2014 is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 615, filed November 19, 2021 ("PEA No. 615").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312521335261/d212267dex99d4.htm) |
| (d.5) | [Master Advisory Fee Waiver Agreement, dated December 5, 2013, between the Trust and BFA is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 53, filed February 5, 2014.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312514035575/d668889dex99d3.htm) |
| (d.6) | [Schedule A to the Master Advisory Fee Waiver Agreement is filed herein.](d371946dex99d6.htm) |
| (d.7) | [Form of Participation Agreement is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 3, filed February 4, 2013.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312513036372/d476755dex99d2.htm) |
| (d.8) | [Sub-Advisory Agreement, dated September 29, 2014, between BFA and BlackRock International Limited ("BIL") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 115.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312514367931/d800884dex99d13.htm) |
| (d.9) | [Appendix A to the Sub-Advisory Agreement between BFA and BIL is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 115.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312514367931/d800884dex99d11.htm) |
| (d.10) | [Advisory Agreement, dated June 13, 2014, between BFA and iShares Commodities Strategy Cayman Ltd is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 115.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312514367931/d800884dex99d12.htm) |
| (d.11) | [Advisory Agreement, dated December 6, 2017, between BFA and iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Cayman Ltd is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 351, filed February 21, 2018.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312518052184/d537461dex99d11.htm) |
| (d.12) | [Advisory Agreement, dated December 6, 2017, between BFA and iShares Gold Exposure Cayman Ltd is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 411, filed April 18, 2018.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312518119983/d549496dex99d12.htm) |
| (d.13) | [Advisory Agreement, dated March 12, 2019, between BFA and iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy Cayman Ltd is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 583, filed August 24, 2020.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312520228558/d72842dex99d13.htm) |
| (d.14) | [Sub-Advisory Agreement, dated September 29, 2014, between BFA and BIL, with respect to the iShares Commodities Strategy Cayman Ltd, is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 115.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312514367931/d800884dex99d13.htm) |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| (d.15) | [Sub-Advisory Agreement, dated December 1, 2010, between BFA and BIL is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 615.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312521335261/d212267dex99d15.htm) |
| (d.16) | [Exhibit A to the Sub-Advisory Agreement between BFA and BIL is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 628, filed April 1, 2022 ("PEA No. 628").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522093850/d297453dex99d16.htm) |
| (e.1) | [Distribution Agreement, dated February 3, 2012, between the Trust and BlackRock Investments, LLC ("BRIL") is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 17, filed August 22, 2013.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312513343955/d586205dex99e.htm) |
| (e.2) | [Exhibit A to the Distribution Agreement is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 645.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522291356/d386331dex99e2.htm) |
| (f) | Not applicable. |
| (g.1) | [Service Module for Custodial Services, dated April 13, 2018, is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 446, filed November 20, 2018 ("PEA No. 446").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312518331463/d617570dex99g.htm) |
| (g.2) | [Custody Services Agreement, dated November 18, 2021, among JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., the Trust, iShares, Inc., iShares U.S. ETF Trust and BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 623, filed February 28, 2022 ("PEA No. 623").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522055019/d268144dex99g2.htm) |
| (g.3) | [Exhibit A to the Custody Services Agreement is filed herein.](d371946dex99g3.htm) |
| (h.1) | [Master Services Agreement, dated April 13, 2018, between the Trust and State Street Bank and Trust Company ("State Street") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 446.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312518331463/d617570dex99h1.htm) |
| (h.2) | [Exhibit A to the Master Services Agreement is filed herein.](d371946dex99h2.htm) |
| (h.3) | [Service Module for Fund Administration and Accounting Services, dated April 13, 2018, is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 446.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312518331463/d617570dex99h3.htm) |
| (h.4) | [Service Module for Transfer Agency Services, dated April 13, 2018, is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 446.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312518331463/d617570dex99h4.htm) |
| (h.5) | [Fifth Amended and Restated Securities Lending Agency Agreement, dated January 1, 2022, among the Trust, iShares Trust, iShares, Inc., iShares U.S. ETF Company, Inc. and BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. ("BTC") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 623.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522055019/d268144dex99h5.htm) |
| (h.6) | [Schedule A to the Fifth Amended and Restated Securities Lending Agency Agreement is filed herein.](d371946dex99h6.htm) |
| (h.7) | [Form of BlackRock Rule 12d1-4 Fund of Funds Investment Agreement is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 619, filed January 19, 2022.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522011680/d231737dex99h7.htm) |
| (h.8) | [Sublicense Agreement, dated June 10, 2021, between iShares U.S. ETF Trust and BFA for the BlackRock Index Services LLC Indexes, as that term is defined in the Agreement ("BlackRock Index Services LLC Sublicense Agreement") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 623.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522055019/d268144dex99h8.htm) |
| (h.9) | [Sublicense Agreement, dated October 19, 2022, among BFA, iShares U.S. ETF Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. for the JPMorgan Indexes, as that term is defined in the Agreement ("JPMorgan Index Sublicense Agreement") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 645.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522291356/d386331dex99h9.htm) |
| (h.10) | [Sublicense Agreement, dated October 19, 2022, among BFA, iShares U.S. ETF Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. for the STOXX Indexes, as that term is defined in the Agreement ("STOXX Index Sublicense Agreement") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 645.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522291356/d386331dex99h10.htm) |
| (h.11) | [Sublicense Agreement, dated October 19, 2022, among BFA, iShares U.S. ETF Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. for the Cboe Indexes, as that term is defined in the Agreement ("Cboe Index Sublicense Agreement") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 645.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522291356/d386331dex99h11.htm) |
| (h.12) | [Sublicense Agreement, dated October 19, 2022, among BFA, iShares U.S. ETF Trust, iShares Trust and iShares, Inc. for the FTSE Indexes, as that term is defined in the Agreement ("FTSE Index Sublicense Agreement") is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 645](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522291356/d386331dex99h12.htm). |
| (h.13) | [Sublicense Agreement, dated November 7, 2022, among BFA, the Trust, iShares U.S. ETF Trust and iShares, Inc. for the MSCI Indexes, as that term is defined in the Agreement ("MSCI Index Sublicense Agreement") is filed herein.](d371946dex99h13.htm) |

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|:---|:---|
| (h.14) | [Sublicense Agreement, dated November 7, 2022, among BFA, the Trust, iShares U.S. ETF Trust and iShares, Inc. for the Russell Indexes, as that term is defined in the Agreement ("Russell Index Sublicense Agreement") is filed herein.](d371946dex99h14.htm) |
| (h.15) | [12d1-4 Fund of Funds Investment Agreements between iShares U.S. ETF Trust and the following registrants dated as of January 19, 2022, is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 2,524, filed February 28, 2022 for iShares Trust:](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1100663/000119312522057039/d301609dex99h30.htm) |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| AllianceBernstein Global High Income Fund, Inc. | Franklin Fund Allocator Series |
| AllianceBernstein National Municipal Income Fund, Inc. | Franklin Templeton ETF Trust |
| AB Multi-Manager Alternative Fund | Franklin Templeton Variable Insurance Products Trust |
| AB Bond Fund, Inc. | Legg Mason Partners Variable Equity Trust |
| AB Cap Fund, Inc. | FundX Investment Trust |
| AB Core Opportunities Fund, Inc. | The Glenmede Fund, Inc. |
| AB Corporate Shares | GMO Trust |
| AB Discovery Growth Fund, Inc. | GMO Benchmark-Free Fund |
| AB Equity Income Fund, Inc. | GMO Emerging Domestic Opportunities Fund |
| AB Fixed-Income Shares, Inc. | GMO Climate Change Fund |
| AB Global Bond Fund, Inc. | GMO Tax-Managed International Equities Fund |
| AB Global Real Estate Investment Fund, Inc. | GMO Strategic Opportunities Allocation Fund |
| AB Global Risk Allocation Fund, Inc. | GPS Funds I |
| AB High Income Fund, Inc. | GPS Funds II |
| AB Institutional Funds, Inc. | Savos Investments Trust |
| AB Large Cap Growth Fund, Inc. | Goldman Sachs Trust |
| AB Municipal Income Fund, Inc. | Goldman Sachs Variable Insurance Trust |
| AB Municipal Income Fund II | Goldman Sachs Trust II |
| AB Relative Value Fund, Inc. | Goldman Sachs ETF Trust |
| AB Sustainable Global Thematic Fund, Inc. | Goldman Sachs ETF Trust II |
| AB Sustainable International Thematic Fund, Inc. | Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund |
| AB Trust | Rydex Dynamic Funds |
| AB Variable Products Series Fund, Inc. | Rydex Series Funds |
| Sanford C. Bernstein Fund, Inc. | Rydex Variable Trust |
| Sanford C. Bernstein Fund II, Inc. | Guggenheim Funds Trust |
| Bernstein Fund, Inc. | Guggenheim Variable Funds Trust |
| The AB Portfolios | Guggenheim Strategy Funds Trust |
| Allspring Funds Trust | Transparent Value Trust |
| Alpha Architect ETF Trust | Guggenheim Active Allocation Fund |
| American Century Strategic Asset Allocations, Inc. | Guggenheim Energy & Income Fund |
| AMG Funds | Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Fund |
| AMG Funds I <br>AMG Funds II | Guggenheim Taxable Municipal Bond & Investment Grade Debt Trust  |
| AMG Funds I <br>AMG Funds II | Guggenheim Taxable Municipal Bond & Investment Grade Debt Trust  |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |
| AMG Funds III <br>AMG Funds IV Series<br>ETF Series Solutions <br>Aspiriant Trust<br>Old Westbury Funds, Inc. <br>BlackRock Allocation Target Shares<br>BlackRock Balanced Capital Fund, Inc. <br>BlackRock Funds II<br>BlackRock Funds III<br>BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc.<br>BNY Mellon Absolute Insight Funds, Inc.<br>Brighthouse Funds Trust I<br>Calamos Investment Trust<br>Calamos Long/Short Equity & Dynamic Income Trust<br>Calvert Variable Products, Inc.<br>Calvert Social Investment Fund<br>Cambria ETF Trust<br>AdvisorOne Funds<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust I<br>Columbia Funds Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Series Trust II<br>Columbia Funds Variable Insurance Trust<br>Direxion Shares ETF Trus<br>Direxion Funds<br>Eaton Vance Growth Trust<br>Eaton Vance Mutual Funds Trust<br>EQ ADVISORS TRUST<br>1290 FUNDS<br>Exchange Listed Funds Trust<br>ETF Series Solutions<br>E-Valuator Funds Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VI<br>Fidelity Advisor Series VII<br>Fidelity Beacon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Capital Trust<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios LLC<br>Fidelity Concord Street Trust<br>Fidelity Congress Street Fund<br>Fidelity Contrafund | Guggenheim Unit Investment Trusts (Guggenheim Defined Portfolios)<br>Horizon Funds<br>INDEXIQ ETF TRUST<br>Innealta Capital, LLC on behalf of Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>Invesco Growth Series<br>Invesco Investment Funds<br>Invesco Unit Trusts<br>JNL Series Trust<br>James Advantage Funds<br>Janus Henderson Clayton Street Trust<br>Janus Investment Fund<br>John Hancock Variable Insurance Trust<br>John Hancock Funds II<br>JPMorgan Trust I<br>JPMorgan Trust II<br>J.P. Morgan Fleming Mutual Fund Group, Inc.<br>JPMorgan Institutional Trust<br>JPMorgan Insurance Trust<br>J.P. Morgan Mutual Fund Investment Trust<br>Undiscovered Managers Funds<br>J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust<br>JPMorgan Trust IV<br>The Lazard Funds, Inc.<br>Lincoln Variable Insurance Products Trust<br>Litman Gregory Funds Trust<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds IV<br>Delaware Group Equity Funds V<br>Delaware Group Foundation Funds<br>Delaware Pooled Trust<br>Delaware VIP Trust<br>Ivy Variable Insurance Portfolio<br>InvestEd Portfolios<br>Ivy Funds<br>Madison Funds<br>Ultra Series Fund<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust II<br>MML Series Investment Fund II<br>Morningstar Funds Trust<br>Milliman Variable Insurance Trust<br>Nationwide Mutual Funds |

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| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |
| Fidelity Commonwealth Trust<br>Fidelity Commonwealth Trust I<br>Fidelity Covington Trust<br>Fidelity Destiny Portfolios<br>Fidelity Devonshire Trust<br>Fidelity Exchange Fund<br>Fidelity Financial Trust<br>Fidelity Hanover Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hastings Street Trust<br>Fidelity Investment Trust<br>Fidelity Magellan Fund<br>Fidelity Mt. Vernon Street Trust<br>Fidelity Puritan Trust<br>Fidelity Securities Fund<br>Fidelity Select Portfolios<br>Fidelity Summer Street Trust<br>Fidelity Trend Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund III<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund IV<br>Fidelity Aberdeen Street Trust<br>Fidelity Advisor Series II<br>Fidelity Advisor Series IV<br>Fidelity Boylston Street Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity California Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Central Investment Portfolios II LLC<br>Fidelity Charles Street Trust<br>Fidelity Colchester Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust<br>Fidelity Court Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Garrison Street Trust<br>Fidelity Hereford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Income Fund<br>Fidelity Massachusetts Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Merrimack Street Trust<br>Fidelity Money Market Trust | Nationwide Variable Insurance Trust<br>Natixis Funds Trust IV<br>Natixis Funds Trust II<br>Neuberger Berman Alternative Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Equity Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Income Funds<br>Neuberger Berman Advisers Management Trust<br>Neuberger Berman ETF Trust<br>North Square Funds<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust III<br>Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, Inc.<br>FlexShares Trust<br>Northern Funds<br>MainStay Funds Trust<br>MainStay VP Funds Trust<br>Ohio National Fund, Inc.<br>Pax World Funds Series Trust I and Pax World Funds Series Trust III<br>PFM Multi-Manager Series Trust<br>PIMCO Equity Series<br>PIMCO Funds<br>PIMCO Variable Insurance Trust<br>Principal Variable Contracts Funds, Inc.<br>Principal Funds, Inc.<br>ProFunds<br>ProShares Trust<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 3<br>Prudential Investment Portfolios 16<br>Advanced Series Trust<br>Salient MF Trust<br>Forward Funds<br>Salient Midstream & MLP Fund<br>Schwab Capital Trust<br>Schwab Annuity Portfolios<br>Securian Funds Trust<br>SEI Institutional Managed Trust<br>SEI Institutional Investments Trust<br>SEI Institutional International Trust |

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|:---|:---|
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |
| Fidelity Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Newbury Street Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust<br>Fidelity New York Municipal Trust II<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust<br>Fidelity Oxford Street Trust II<br>Fidelity Phillips Street Trust<br>Fidelity Revere Street Trust<br>Fidelity Salem Street Trust<br>Fidelity School Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust<br>Fidelity Union Street Trust II<br>Variable Insurance Products Fund V<br>Federated Hermes Fixed Income Securities, Inc.<br>Federated Hermes MDT Series<br>Federated Hermes Global Allocation Fund<br>Federated Hermes Insurance Series<br>Fidelity Rutland Square Trust II<br>FT Series<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund II<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund III<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund IV<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund V<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VI<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VII<br>First Trust Exchange-Traded Fund VIII<br>First Trust Series Fund<br>First Trust Variable Insurance Trust | Adviser Managed Trust<br>SSGA Active Trust<br>Sterling Capital Funds<br>SunAmerica Series Trust<br>Symmetry Panoramic Trust<br>Thrivent Mutual Funds<br>Thrivent Series Fund, Inc.<br>Thrivent Core Funds<br>Transamerica Funds<br>Transamerica Series Trust<br>Transamerica ETF Trust<br>Northern Lights Fund Trust<br>Northern Lights Variable Trust<br>VanEck ETF Trust<br>Victory Portfolios<br>Victory Portfolios II<br>Victory Variable Insurance Funds<br>USAA Mutual Funds Trust<br>Virtus Strategy Trust<br>Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc.<br>Voya Equity Trust<br>Voya Investors Trust<br>Voya Mutual Funds<br>Voya Partners, Inc.<br>Voya Separate Portfolios Trust<br>Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc.<br>The Arbitrage Funds<br>AltShares Trust<br>Absolute Shares Trust<br>WesMark Funds<br>William Blair Funds<br>Wilmington Funds |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| (h.15.1) | [Schedule A to the 12d1-4 Fund of Funds Investment Agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust and the Morningstar Funds Trust, amended April 6, 2022, is incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 636, filed June 17, 2022 ("PEA No. 636").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522175708/d295311dex99h91.htm) |
| (h.16) | [12d1-4 Fund of Funds Investment Agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust and Voya Balanced Portfolio, Inc., Voya Equity Trust, Voya Investors Trust, Voya Mutual Funds, Voya Partners, Inc., Voya Separate Portfolios Trust, and Voya Strategic Allocation Portfolios, Inc., dated as of January 19, 2022, is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 628.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522093850/d297453dex99h10.htm) |
| (h.17) | [12d1-4 Fund of Funds Investment Agreement between iShares U.S. ETF Trust and Carillon Family of Funds, dated as of February 17, 2022, is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 628.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522093850/d297453dex99h11.htm) |

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| | |
|:---|:---|
| (h.18) | [ETF Services Agreement, dated February 16, 2022, by and among BFA, iShares, Inc., the Trust, iShares U.S. ETF Trust, and BRIL is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 636.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522175708/d295311dex99h12.htm) |
| (h.19) | [Exhibit A to the ETF Services Agreement is filed herein.](d371946dex99h19.htm) |
| (h.20) | [Form of Master Services Agreement, dated December 7, 2021 related to iShares U.S. ETF Trust for Citibank, N.A., The Bank of New York Mellon, and for JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., respectively is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 645.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522291356/d386331dex99h18.htm) |
| (i) | [Legal Opinion and Consent of Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A. is filed herein.](d371946dex99i.htm) |
| (j) | [Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is filed herein.](d371946dex99j.htm) |
| (k) | Not applicable. |
| (l) | [Initial Capital Agreement is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 1](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312512379529/d406589dex99l.htm). |
| (m) | Not applicable. |
| (n) | Not applicable. |
| (o) | Not applicable. |
| (p.1) | [Code of Ethics for Fund Access Persons and Code of Ethics for BRIL is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 636.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522175708/d295311dex99p1.htm) |
| (q.1) | [Powers of Attorney, each dated June 15, 2022, for Armando Senra, Salim Ramji, Jane D. Carlin, Cecilia H. Herbert, John E. Kerrigan, John E. Martinez, Madhav V. Rajan, Robert S. Kapito, Drew E. Lawton, Richard L. Fagnani and Trent W. Walker are incorporated herein by reference to Post-Effective Amendment No. 641, filed September 22, 2022 ("PEA No. 641").](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522249327/d389078dex99q1.htm) |
| (q.2) | [Officer's Certificate is incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 641.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522249327/d389078dex99q2.htm) |

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#### Item 29. Persons Controlled By or Under Common Control with Registrant:
None.

#### Item 30. Indemnification:
The Trust (also referred to in this section as the "Fund") is organized as a Delaware statutory trust and is operated pursuant to an Agreement and Declaration of Trust (the "Declaration of Trust") that permits the Trust to indemnify its trustees and officers under certain circumstances. Such indemnification, however, is subject to the limitations imposed by the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), and the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act").

#### Section 10.2 of the Declaration of Trust:
The Declaration of Trust provides that every person who is, or has been, a trustee or officer of the Trust (a "Covered Person") shall be indemnified by the Trust or the applicable Fund to the fullest extent permitted by law against liability and against all expenses reasonably incurred or paid in connection with any claim, action, suit, proceeding in which he or she becomes involved as a party or otherwise by virtue of being or having been a trustee or officer and against amounts paid as incurred in the settlement thereof. However, no indemnification shall be provided to a Covered Person:

(i) who shall have been adjudicated by a court or body before which the proceeding was brought (aA) to be liable to the Trust or its shareholders by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his office or (bB) not to have acted in good faith in the reasonable belief that his action was in the best interest of the Trust; or

(ii) in the event of a settlement, unless there has been a determination that such trustee or officer did not engage in willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his office: (A) by the court or other body approving the settlement; (B) by at least a majority of those trustees who neither are "interested persons" (as defined in the 1940 Act) of the Trust nor are parties to the matter based upon a review of readily-available facts (as opposed to a full trial-type inquiry); or (C) by written opinion of independent legal counsel based upon a review of readily-available facts (as opposed to a full trial-type inquiry).

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#### Article IX of the Registrant's By-Laws:
The By-Laws provides that the Trust may purchase and maintain insurance on behalf of any Covered Person or employee of the Trust, including any Covered Person or employee of the Trust who is or was serving at the request of the Trust as a trustee, officer, or employee of a corporation, partnership, association, joint venture, trust, or other enterprise, against any liability asserted against and incurred by such Covered Person or employee in any such capacity or arising out of his or her status as such, whether or not the trustees would have the power to indemnify him or her against such liability. The Trust may not acquire or obtain a contract for insurance that protects or purports to protect any trustee or officer of the Trust against any liability to the Trust or its Shareholders to which such trustee or officer otherwise would be subject by reason of willful misfeasance, bad faith, gross negligence, or reckless disregard of the duties involved in the conduct of his or her office.

#### 1933 Act:
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the 1933 Act may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Fund pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Fund has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the 1933 Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Fund of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Fund in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Fund will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the 1933 Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

#### For each Fund that has State Street as its administrator, custodian and transfer agent:

#### Section 17 of the Master Services Agreement between Registrant and State Street:
The Master Services Agreement provides that State Street will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the applicable Fund, its Affiliates, and its respective officers, directors, employees, agents and permitted successors and assigns from any and all damages, fines, penalties, deficiencies, losses, liabilities (including judgments and amounts reasonably paid in settlement) and expenses (including interest, court costs, reasonable fees and expenses of attorneys, accountants and other experts or other reasonable fees and expenses of litigation or other proceedings or of any claim, default or assessment) ("Losses") arising from or in connection with any third party claim or threatened third party claim to the extent that such Losses are based on or arising out of any of the following: (a) breach by State Street or any State Street Personnel of any of its data protection, information security or confidentiality obligations hereunder or under a Service Module to which such Fund is a signatory; (b) any claim of infringement or misappropriation of any Intellectual Property Right alleged to have occurred because of systems or other Intellectual Property provided by or on behalf of State Street or based upon the performance of the Services (collectively, the "State Street Infringement Items"), except to the extent that such infringement or misappropriation relates to or results from; (i) changes made by any Fund or by a third party at the direction of a Fund to the State Street Infringement Items; (ii) changes to the State Street Infringement Items recommended by State Street and not made due to a request from any Fund, provided that State Street has notified such Fund that failure to implement such recommendation would result in infringement within a reasonable amount of time for such Fund to so implement following such notification; (iii) any Fund's combination of the State Street Infringement Items with products or services not provided or approved in writing by State Street, except to the extent such combination arises out of any Fund's use of the State Street Infringement Items in a manner consistent with the applicable business requirements documentation; (iv) designs or specifications that in themselves infringe and that are provided by or at the direction of any Fund (except in the event of a knowing infringement by State Street); or (v) use by a Fund of any of the State Street Infringement Items in a manner that is not consistent with the applicable business requirements documentation or otherwise not permitted under the Master Services Agreement or any Service Module; (c) any claim or action by, on behalf of, or related to, any prospective, then-current or former employees of State Street, arising from or in connection with a Service Module to which a Fund is a signatory, including: (i) any claim arising under occupational health and safety, worker's compensation, ERISA or other applicable Law; (ii) any claim arising from the interview or hiring practices, actions or omissions of employees of State Street; (iii) any claim relating to any violation by employees of State Street, or its respective officers, directors, employees, representatives or agents, of any Law or any common law protecting persons or members of protected classes or categories, such laws or regulations prohibiting discrimination or harassment on the basis of a protected characteristic; and (iv) any claim based on a theory that such Fund is an employer or joint employer of any such prospective, then-current or former employees of State Street; (d) the failure by State Street to obtain, maintain, or comply with any governmental approvals as required under the Master Services Agreement and/or a Service Module to which such Fund is a signatory or such other failures as otherwise agreed by the Parties from time to time; (e) claims by third parties arising from claims by governmental authorities against such Customer for fines, penalties, sanctions, late fees or other remedies to the extent arising from or in connection with State Street's failure to perform its responsibilities under the Master Services Agreement or any Service Module (except to the extent a Fund is not permitted as a matter of public policy to have such an indemnity for financial penalties arising from criminal actions); (f) claims by clients of State Street relating to services, products or

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systems provided by State Street or a Subcontractor to such client(s) in a shared or leveraged environment; (g) any claim initiated by an Affiliate or potential or actual Subcontractor of State Street asserting rights in connection with a Service Module to which such Fund is a signatory; or (h) other claims as otherwise agreed by the Parties from time to time.

Each Party will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the other Party and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, successors and assigns from any and all Losses arising from or in connection with any of the following, including Losses arising from or in connection with any third party claim or threatened third party claim: (a) the death or bodily injury of an agent, employee, customer, business invitee or business visitor or other person caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party; or (b) the damage, loss or destruction of real or tangible personal property caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party.

#### For each Fund that has Citibank, N.A. as its administrator, custodian and transfer agent:

#### Section 21 of the Master Services Agreement between Registrant and Citibank, N.A.:

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elsewhere); (j) any third party claim based on or arising out of negligence, fraud or willful acts or omissions of or by Citibank, N.A. or Citibank, N.A. Personnel with respect to the performance of the Services; (k) any claim initiated by an Affiliate or potential or actual Subcontractor of Citibank, N.A. asserting rights in connection herewith; or (l) other claims as otherwise agreed by the Parties from time to time.

Each Party will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the other Party and its respective officers, directors, employees, agents, successors and assigns from any and all Losses arising from or in connection with any of the following, including Losses arising from or in connection with any third party claim or threatened third party claim: (a) the death or bodily injury of an agent, employee, customer, business invitee or business visitor or other person caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party; or (b) the damage, loss or destruction of real or tangible personal property caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party.

#### For each Fund that has JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as its administrator, custodian and transfer agent:

#### Section 21 of the Master Services Agreement between Registrant and JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A:

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Bank, N.A. or a Subcontractor to such client(s) in a shared or leveraged environment; (i) any claim relating to the handling and processing of any and all immigration and employment related issues and requirements arising in connection with the JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Personnel (whether located in the United States or elsewhere); (j) any third party claim based on or arising out of negligence, fraud or willful acts or omissions of or by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. or JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Personnel with respect to the performance of the Services; (k) any claim initiated by an Affiliate or potential or actual Subcontractor of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. asserting rights in connection herewith; or (l) other claims as otherwise agreed by the Parties from time to time.

Each Party will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the other Party and its respective officers, directors, employees, agents, successors and assigns from any and all Losses arising from or in connection with any of the following, including Losses arising from or in connection with any third party claim or threatened third party claim: (a) the death or bodily injury of an agent, employee, customer, business invitee or business visitor or other person caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party; or (b) the damage, loss or destruction of real or tangible personal property caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party.

#### For each Fund that has The Bank of New York Mellon as its administrator, custodian and transfer agent:

#### Section 21 of the Master Services Agreement between Registrant and The Bank of New York Mellon:

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claims by Governmental Authorities (except to the extent a Fund is not permitted as a matter of public policy to have such an indemnity for financial penalties arising from criminal actions); (h) claims by clients of The Bank of New York Mellon, N.A. relating to services, products or systems provided by The Bank of New York Mellon, N.A. or a Subcontractor to such client(s) in a shared or leveraged environment; (i) any claim relating to the handling and processing of any and all immigration and employment related issues and requirements arising in connection with The Bank of New York Mellon, N.A. Personnel (whether located in the United States or elsewhere); (j) any third party claim based on or arising out of negligence, fraud or willful acts or omissions of or by The Bank of New York Mellon, N.A. or The Bank of New York Mellon, N.A. Personnel with respect to the performance of the Services; (k) any claim initiated by an Affiliate or potential or actual Subcontractor of The Bank of New York Mellon, N.A. asserting rights in connection herewith; or (l) other claims as otherwise agreed by the Parties from time to time.

Each Party will indemnify, defend and hold harmless the other Party and its respective officers, directors, employees, agents, successors and assigns from any and all Losses arising from or in connection with any of the following, including Losses arising from or in connection with any third party claim or threatened third party claim: (a) the death or bodily injury of an agent, employee, customer, business invitee or business visitor or other person caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party; or (b) the damage, loss or destruction of real or tangible personal property caused by the tortious or criminal conduct of the other Party.

#### Section 8.02 of the Distribution Agreement between Registrant and BRIL:
The Distribution Agreement provides that the Trust agrees to indemnify, defend and hold harmless, BRIL, each of its directors, officers, principals, representatives, employees and each person, if any, who controls BRIL within the meaning of Section 15 of the 1933 Act (collectively, the "BRIL Indemnified Parties") on an as-incurred basis from and against any and all losses, claims, damages or liabilities whatsoever (including any investigation, legal or other expenses incurred in connection with, and any amount paid in settlement of, any action, suit or proceeding or any claim asserted) (collectively, "Losses") to which the BRIL Indemnified Parties become subject, arising out of or based upon (i) any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in any Prospectus or the omission or alleged omission therefrom of a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading and (ii) any breach of any representation, warranty or covenant made by the Trust in this Agreement; provided, however, that the Trust shall not be liable in any such case to the extent that any Loss arises out of or is based upon (A) an untrue statement or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission made in the Prospectus about BRIL in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Trust by BRIL expressly for use therein; (B) BRIL's own willful misfeasance, willful misconduct or gross negligence or BRIL's reckless disregard of its obligations under this Agreement or arising out of the failure of BRIL to deliver a current Prospectus; or (C) BRIL's material breach of this Agreement.

The Distribution Agreement also provides that BRIL agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Trust, each of its trustees, officers, employees and each person, if any, who controls the Trust within the meaning of Section 15 of the 1933 Act (collectively, the "Trust Indemnified Parties") from and against any and all losses to which the Trust Indemnified Parties become subject, arising out of or based upon (i) any untrue statement or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in the Prospectus or the omission or alleged omission therefrom of a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein not misleading, in reliance upon and in conformity with written information furnished to the Trust by BRIL about BRIL expressly for use therein; (ii) any breach of any representation, warranty or covenant made by BRIL in the Distribution Agreement; and (iii) the actions or omissions of any person acting under the supervision of BRIL in providing services under the Distribution Agreement; provided, however, that BRIL shall not be liable in any such case to the extent that any loss arises out of or is based upon (A) the Trust's own willful misfeasance, willful misconduct or gross negligence or the Trust's reckless disregard of its obligations under the Distribution Agreement or (B) the Trust's material breach of the Distribution Agreement.

#### The Authorized Participant Agreement:
The Authorized Participant Agreement provides that the Authorized Participant (the "Participant") agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Fund and its respective subsidiaries, affiliates, directors, officers, employees and agents, and each person, if any, who controls such persons within the meaning of Section 15 of the 1933 Act (each an "Indemnified Party") from and against any loss, liability, cost and expense (including attorneys' fees) incurred by such Indemnified Party as a result of (i) any breach by the Participant of any provision of the Authorized Participant Agreement that relates to the Participant; (ii) any failure on the part of the Participant to perform any of its obligations set forth in the Authorized Participant Agreement; (iii) any failure by the Participant to comply with applicable laws, including rules and regulations of self-regulatory organizations; or (iv) actions of such Indemnified Party in reliance upon any instructions issued in accordance with Annex II, III or IV (as each may be amended from time to time) of the Authorized Participant Agreement reasonably believed by the distributor and/or the transfer agent to be genuine and to have been given by the Participant.

#### Section 5.1 of the Fifth Amended and Restated Securities Lending Agency Agreement:
The Fifth Amended and Restated Securities Lending Agency Agreement provides that the Trust on behalf of each Fund agrees to indemnify BTC and to hold it harmless from and against any and all costs, expenses, damages, liabilities or claims (including

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reasonable fees and expenses of counsel) which BTC may sustain or incur or which may be asserted against BTC by reason of or as a result of any action taken or omitted by BTC in connection with or arising out of BTC's operating under and in compliance with this Agreement, except those costs, expenses, damages, liabilities or claims arising out of BTC's negligence, bad faith, willful misconduct, or reckless disregard of its obligations and duties hereunder. Actions taken or omitted in reasonable reliance upon Oral Instructions or Written Instructions, any Certificate, or upon any information, order, indenture, stock certificate, power of attorney, assignment, affidavit or other instrument reasonably believed by BTC to be genuine or bearing the signature of a person or persons reasonably believed by BTC to be genuine or bearing the signature of a person or persons reasonably believed to be authorized to sign, countersign or execute the same, shall be presumed to have been taken or omitted in good faith.

The Fifth Amended and Restated Securities Lending Agency Agreement also provides that BTC shall indemnify and hold harmless the Trust and each Fund, its Board of Trustees and its agents and BFA and any investment adviser for the Funds from any and all loss, liability, costs, damages, actions, and claims ("Loss") to the extent that any such Loss arises out of the material breach of this Agreement by or negligent acts or omissions or willful misconduct of BTC, its officers, directors or employees or any of its agents or subcustodians in connection with the securities lending activities undertaken pursuant to this Agreement, provided that BTC's indemnification obligation with respect to the acts or omissions of its subcustodians shall not exceed the indemnification provided by the applicable subcustodian to BTC.

#### Item 31. Business and Other Connections of the Investment Adviser:
The Trust is advised by BFA, an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of BlackRock, Inc., 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. BFA's business is that of a registered investment adviser to certain open-end, management investment companies and various other institutional investors.

The directors and officers of BFA consist primarily of persons who during the past two years have been active in the investment management business. To the knowledge of the Registrant, except as set forth below, none of the directors or executive officers of BFA is or has been at any time during the past two fiscal years engaged in any other business, profession, vocation or employment of a substantial nature. Information as to the executive officers and directors of BFA is included in its Form ADV filed with the SEC (File No. 801-22609) and is incorporated herein by reference.

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| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Director or Officer** | **Capacity with BFA** | **Principal Business(es) During**<br> **Last Two Fiscal Years** |
| FINK, LAURENCE DOUGLAS | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock, Inc. |
| GOLDSTEIN, ROBERT LAWRENCE | CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND DIRECTOR | Senior Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock, Inc. |
| KAPITO, ROBERT STEVEN | PRESIDENT | President and Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
| MEADE, CHRISTOPHER JOSEPH | GENERAL COUNSEL AND CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER | Senior Managing Director and Chief Legal Officer of BlackRock, Inc. |
| PARK, CHARLES CHOON SIK | CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. and Chief Compliance Officer of BlackRock's registered investment companies |
| SHEDLIN, GARY STEPHEN | CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER AND DIRECTOR | Senior Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of BlackRock Inc. |
| WALTCHER, DANIEL RUSSELL | DIRECTOR | Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel of BlackRock, Inc. |

---

------

BIL acts as sub-adviser for a number of affiliated registered investment companies advised by BFA. The address of each of these registered investment companies is 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. The address of BIL is Exchange Place One, 1 Semple Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8BL, United Kingdom. To the knowledge of the Registrant, except as set forth below, none of the directors or executive officers of BIL is or has been at any time during the past two fiscal years engaged in any other business, profession, vocation or employment of a substantial nature. Information as to the executive officers and directors of BIL is included in its Form ADV filed with the SEC (File No. 801-51087) and is incorporated herein by reference.

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Director or Officer** | **Capacity with BIL** | **Principal Business(es) During**<br> **Last Two Fiscal Years** |
| CHARRINGTON, NICHOLAS JAMES | DIRECTOR | Senior Adviser and Non-Executive Chairman of EMEA of BlackRock, Inc., Non-Executive Director of BlackRock Group Limited BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited, BlackRock Advisors (UK) Limited and BIL (collectively, the "Joint Boards") |
| CLAUSEN, CHRISTIAN | DIRECTOR | Senior Advisor of BlackRock, Inc. |
| DE FREITAS, ELEANOR JUDITH | DIRECTOR | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
| FISHWICK, JAMES EDWARD | DIRECTOR | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
| ARCHIBALD, ARTHUR, BENJAMIN | GENERAL COUNSEL | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
| LORD, RACHEL | CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER AND DIRECTOR | Senior Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
| GIBSON, NICHOLAS, JOHN | CHIEF COMPLIANCE OFFICER | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
| MULLIN, STACEY JANE | CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER AND DIRECTOR | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc. |
| MCDONALD, COLIN, ALISTAIR | CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Managing Director of BlackRock, Inc., Director of BlackRock Inc. |
| YOUNG, MARGARET ANNE | DIRECTOR | Non-Executive Director of the Joint Boards |

---

#### Item 32. Principal Underwriters:
(a) Furnish the name of each investment company (other than the Registrant) for which each principal underwriter currently distributing the securities of the Registrant also acts as a principal underwriter, distributor or investment adviser.

BRIL, the distributor of certain funds, acts as the principal underwriter or placement agent, as applicable, for each of the following open-end registered investment companies including certain funds of the Registrant:

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  BlackRock Advantage Global Fund, Inc. | BlackRock Liquidity Funds |
|  BlackRock Advantage SMID Cap Fund, Inc. | BlackRock Mid-Cap Value Series, Inc. |
|  BlackRock Allocation Target Shares | BlackRock Multi-State Municipal Series Trust |
|  BlackRock Bond Fund, Inc. | BlackRock Municipal Bond Fund, Inc. |

---

------

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| BlackRock California Municipal Series Trust | BlackRock Municipal Series Trust |
| BlackRock Capital Appreciation Fund, Inc. | BlackRock Natural Resources Trust |
| BlackRock Emerging Markets Fund, Inc. | BlackRock Series Fund, Inc. |
| BlackRock Equity Dividend Fund | BlackRock Series Fund II, Inc. |
| BlackRock ETF Trust | BlackRock Series, Inc. |
| BlackRock ETF Trust II | BlackRock Strategic Global Bond Fund, Inc. |
| BlackRock EuroFund | BlackRock Sustainable Balanced Fund, Inc. |
| BlackRock Financial Institutions Series Trust | BlackRock Unconstrained Equity Fund |
| BlackRock Funds<sup>SM</sup> | BlackRock Variable Series Funds, Inc. |
| BlackRock Funds II | BlackRock Variable Series Funds II, Inc. |
| BlackRock Funds III | iShares, Inc. |
| BlackRock Funds IV | iShares Trust |
| BlackRock Funds V | Managed Account Series |
| BlackRock Funds VI | Managed Account Series II |
| BlackRock Funds VII, Inc. | Master Bond LLC |
| BlackRock Global Allocation Fund, Inc. | Master Investment Portfolio |
| BlackRock Index Funds, Inc. | Master Investment Portfolio II |
| BlackRock Large Cap Focus Growth Fund, Inc. | Quantitative Master Series LLC |
| BlackRock Large Cap Focus Value Fund, Inc. |  |
| BlackRock Large Cap Series Funds, Inc. |  |
| &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BRIL also acts as the distributor or placement agent for the following closed-end registered investment companies: | &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; BRIL also acts as the distributor or placement agent for the following closed-end registered investment companies: |
| BlackRock Core Bond Trust | BlackRock Core Bond Trust |
| BlackRock Corporate High Yield Fund, Inc. | BlackRock Corporate High Yield Fund, Inc. |
| BlackRock Credit Strategies Fund | BlackRock Credit Strategies Fund |
| BlackRock Debt Strategies Fund, Inc. | BlackRock Debt Strategies Fund, Inc. |
| BlackRock Floating Rate Income Trust |  |
| BlackRock Health Sciences Trust | BlackRock Health Sciences Trust |
| BlackRock Hedge Fund Guided Portfolio Solution | BlackRock Hedge Fund Guided Portfolio Solution |
| BlackRock Income Trust, Inc. |  |
| BlackRock Investment Quality Municipal Trpmust, Inc. |  |
| BlackRock Limited Duration Income Trust |  |
| BlackRock Multi-Sector Income Trust |  |
| BlackRock MuniAssets Fund, Inc. |  |
| BlackRock Municipal Income Trust |  |
| BlackRock Municipal Income Trust II |  |
| BlackRock Private Investments Fund |  |
| BlackRock Science and Technology Trust |  |
| BlackRock Taxable Municipal Bond Trust |  |
| BlackRock Utilities, Infrastructure & Power Opportunities Trust |  |

---

BRIL provides numerous financial services to BlackRock-advised funds and is the distributor of BlackRock's open-end funds. These services include coordinating and executing Authorized Participation Agreements, preparing, reviewing and providing advice with respect to all sales literature and responding to Financial Industry Regulatory Authority comments on marketing materials.

(b) Set forth below is information concerning each director and officer of BRIL. The principal business address for each such person is 55 East 52<sup>nd</sup> Street, New York, NY 10055.

------

---

| | | |
|:---|:---|:---|
| **Name** | **Position(s) and Office(s) <br>with BRIL** | **Position(s) and Office(s)<br>with Registrant** |
| Abigail Reynolds | Chairman and Member, Board of Managers, and Chief Executive Officer | None |
| Christopher Meade | Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Senior Managing Director | None |
| Lauren Bradley | Chief Financial Officer and Vice President | None |
| Gregory Rosta | Chief Compliance Officer and Director | None |
| Jon Maro | Chief Operating Officer and Director | None |
| Andrew Dickson | Secretary and Managing Director | None |
| Terri Slane | Assistant Secretary and Director | None |
| Anne Ackerley | Member, Board of Managers, and Managing Director | None |
| Michael Bishopp | Managing Director | None |
| Samara Cohen | Managing Director | None |
| Jonathan Diorio | Managing Director | None |
| Lisa Hill | Managing Director | None |
| Brendan Kyne | Managing Director | None |
| Martin Small | Member, Board of Managers, and Managing Director | None |
| Jonathan Steel | Managing Director | None |
| Ariana Brown | Director | None |
| Chris Nugent | Director | None |
| Lourdes Sanchez | Vice President | None |
| Lisa Belle | Anti-Money Laundering Officer | Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer |
| Zach Buchwald | Member, Board of Managers | None |
| Gerald Pucci | Member, Board of Managers | None |
| Philip Vasan | Member, Board of Managers | None |

---

(c) Not applicable.

#### Item 33. Location of Accounts and Records:
(a) The Trust maintains accounts, books and other documents required by Section 31(a) of the 1940 Act and the rules thereunder (collectively, the "Records") at the offices of BlackRock, 60 State Street, Boston, MA 02109.

(b) BFA and/or its affiliates maintains all Records relating to its services as investment adviser at 400 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.

(c) BRIL maintains all Records relating to its services as distributor of certain Funds at 1 University Square Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540.

(d) State Street maintains all Records relating to its services as transfer agent at 1 Heritage Drive, North Quincy, MA 02171. State Street maintains all Records relating to its services as fund accountant and custodian at 1 Lincoln Street, Mail Stop SFC0805, Boston, MA 02111.

(e) BlackRock International Limited maintains all Records relating to its functions as current or former sub-adviser at Exchange Place One, 1 Semple Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8BL, United Kingdom.

#### Item 34. Management Services:
Not applicable.

#### Item 35. Undertakings:
Not applicable.

------

#### SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it meets all the requirements for the effectiveness of this Registration Statement pursuant to Rule 485(b) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and has duly caused this Post-Effective Amendment No. 647 to the Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, duly authorized, in the City of San Francisco and the State of California on the 23<sup>rd</sup> day of February, 2023.

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| iSHARES U.S. ETF TRUST | iSHARES U.S. ETF TRUST |
| By: |  |
|  | Armando Senra\* |
|  | President |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |

---

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Post-Effective Amendment No. 647 to the Registration Statement has been signed below by the following persons in the capacities and on the date indicated.

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| By: |  |
|  | Salim Ramji\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | John E. Martinez\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | Cecilia H. Herbert\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | John E. Kerrigan\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | Robert S. Kapito\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | Madhav V. Rajan\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |

---

------

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
|  | Jane D. Carlin\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | Drew E. Lawton\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | Richard L. Fagnani\* |
|  | Trustee |
| Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | /s/ Trent W. Walker |
|  | Trent W. Walker\* |
|  | Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer |
|  Date: | February 23, 2023 |
|  | /s/ Trent W. Walker |
| \* | By: Trent W. Walker |
|  | Attorney-in-fact |
|  Date: | February 23, 2023 |

---

------

\* [Powers of Attorney, each dated June 15, 2022, for Armando Senra, Salim Ramji, Jane D. Carlin, Cecilia H. Herbert, John E. Kerrigan, John E. Martinez, Madhav V. Rajan, Robert S. Kapito, Drew E. Lawton, Richard L. Fagnani and Trent W. Walker are incorporated herein by reference to PEA No. 641.](http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1524513/000119312522249327/d389078dex99q1.htm) 

------

Exhibit Index

(d.6) [Schedule A to the Master Advisory Fee Waiver Agreement.](d371946dex99d6.htm)

(g.3) [Exhibit A to the Custody Services Agreement.](d371946dex99g3.htm)

(h.2) [Exhibit A to the Master Services Agreement.](d371946dex99h2.htm)

(h.6) [Schedule A to the Fifth Amended and Restated Securities Lending Agency Agreement.](d371946dex99h6.htm)

(h.13) [Sublicense Agreement for the MSCI Indexes.](d371946dex99h13.htm)

(h.14) [Sublicense Agreement for the Russell Indexes.](d371946dex99h14.htm)

(h.19) [Exhibit A to the ETF Services Agreement.](d371946dex99h19.htm)

(i) [Legal Opinion and Consent of Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A.](d371946dex99i.htm)

(j) [Consent of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.](d371946dex99j.htm)

## Ex-99.(D6)

Exhibit (d.6)

**SCHEDULE A** 

**Master Advisory Fee Waiver Agreement for iShares U.S. ETF Trust** 

**(Amended as of December 14, 2022)** 

(all percentages are expressed as a percentage of average daily net assets)

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
| **Ticker** | **Fund** | **Advisory Fee Waiver** | **Last Day of Term** |
|  CMDY | iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the aggregate Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 28, 2025 |
|  IAUF | iShares Gold Strategy ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to the Fund's investments in other exchange-traded products sponsored by BFA or its affiliates and other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates through February 29, 2024, provided that the waiver be no greater than the Fund's management fee of 0.25%. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 29, 2024 |
|  LQDI | iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver is equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.05%. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 29, 2028 |
|  LQDH | iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver is equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), after taking into account any fee waivers by LQD, plus 0.10%. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 28, 2027 |
|  HYGH | iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver is equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05%. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 28, 2027 |

---

------

---

| | | | |
|:---|:---|:---|:---|
|  IGBH | iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver is equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (IGLB), after taking into account any fee waivers by IGLB, plus 0.10%. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 28, 2027 |
|  COMT | iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Select ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the aggregate Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other registered investment companies advised by BFA, or its affiliates. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 29, 2024 |
|  CCRV | iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the aggregate Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | March 1, 2024 |
|  NEAR | BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees in an amount equal to the aggregate Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses, if any, attributable to investments by the Fund in other funds advised by BFA or its affiliates. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 28, 2025 |
|  HYGI | iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver is equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), after taking into account any fee waivers by HYG, plus 0.05% through February 29, 2028. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 29, 2028 |
|  AGRH | iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver is equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 29, 2028 |
|  AGIH | iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | With respect to the Fund, BFA has contractually agreed to waive a portion of its management fees so that the Fund's total annual fund operating expenses after fee waiver is equal to the Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses attributable to the Fund's investment in the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), after taking into account any fee waivers by AGG, plus 0.10% through February 29, 2028. Acquired Fund Fees and Expenses reflect the Fund's pro rata share of the fees and expenses incurred indirectly by the Fund as a result of investing in other investment companies. | February 29, 2028 |

---

------

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| ISHARES U.S. ETF TRUST on behalf of each FUND<br>By: <u>/s/ Lezlie Iannone</u> <br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lezlie Iannone<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Assistant Secretary,<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;iShares U.S. ETF Trust | BLACKROCK FUND ADVISORS<br>By: <u>/s/ Rachel Aguirre</u> <br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rachel Aguirre<br> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Managing Director |

---

Dated: December 14, 2022

*[Signature Page to Amended Schedule A of Master Advisory Fee Waiver Agreement]*

## Ex-99.(G3)

Exhibit (g.3)

**<u>EXHIBIT A - LENDING FUNDS</u>**

**<u>iShares Trust</u>**

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF

iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 25+ Year Treasury STRIPS Bond ETF

iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares Aaa - A Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Agency Bond ETF

iShares Asia 50 ETF

iShares BB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares BBB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares California Muni Bond ETF

iShares China Large-Cap ETF

iShares Convertible Bond ETF

iShares Core 10+ Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 5-10 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF

iShares Core Conservative Allocation ETF

iShares Core Dividend ETF

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF

iShares Core Growth Allocation ETF

iShares Core High Dividend ETF

iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core Moderate Allocation ETF

iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF

iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF

iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF

iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF

iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF

------

iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF iShares CMBS ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Canada ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF

iShares Dow Jones U.S. ETF

iShares Emergent Food and AgTech Multisector ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF

iShares Environmental Infrastructure and Industrials ETF

iShares Environmentally Aware Real Estate ETF

iShares ESG Advanced High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EM ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Total USD Bond Market ETF

iShares ESG Aware 1-5 Year USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Growth ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Value ETF

iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P 500 ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Europe ETF

iShares Exponential Technologies ETF

iShares Factors US Growth Style ETF

iShares Factors US Value Style ETF

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF

iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares Focused Value Factor ETF

iShares Future Cloud 5G and Tech ETF

iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF

iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF

iShares Global 100 ETF

iShares Global Clean Energy ETF

iShares Global Comm Services ETF

------

iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF

iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF

iShares Global Energy ETF

iShares Global Financials ETF

iShares Global Healthcare ETF

iShares Global Industrials ETF

iShares Global Infrastructure ETF

iShares Global Materials ETF

iShares Global REIT ETF

iShares Global Tech ETF

iShares Global Timber & Forestry ETF

iShares Global Utilities ETF iShares GNMA Bond ETF

iShares Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF

iShares High Yield Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares iBonds 2023 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2024 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2025 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2026 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2027 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2028 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2029 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ex-Financials ETF

------

iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares India 50 ETF

iShares Intermediate Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares International Developed Property ETF

iShares International Developed Real Estate ETF

iShares International Developed Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares International Equity Factor ETF

iShares International Dividend Growth ETF

iShares International Select Dividend ETF

iShares International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares Investment Grade Bond Factor ETF

iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan Broad USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF

iShares Latin America 40 ETF

iShares MBS ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Morningstar Multi-Asset Income ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar U.S. Equity ETF

iShares Morningstar Value ETF

iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI China ETF

iShares MSCI China A ETF

iShares MSCI China Multisector Tech ETF

iShares MSCI China Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Denmark ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Finland ETF

iShares MSCI Germany Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Global Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Sustainable Development Goals ETF

iShares MSCI India ETF

iShares MSCI India Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Size Factor ETF

------

iShares MSCI Intl Small-Cap Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Ireland ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Value ETF

iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF

iShares MSCI Kokusai ETF

iShares MSCI New Zealand ETF

iShares MSCI Norway ETF

iShares MSCI Philippines ETF

iShares MSCI Poland ETF

iShares MSCI UAE ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF

iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Size Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Water Management Multisector ETF

iShares National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Neuroscience and Healthcare ETF

iShares New York Muni Bond ETF

iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF

iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF

iShares Russell 1000 ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF

iShares Russell 3000 ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Value ETF

iShares S&P 100 ETF

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF

iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF

iShares Select Dividend ETF

iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF

iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF

iShares TIPS Bond ETF

iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF

iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF

iShares U.S. Energy ETF

------

iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF

iShares U.S. Financials ETF

iShares U.S. Fixed Income Balanced Risk Factor ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF

iShares U.S. Industrials ETF

iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF

iShares U.S. Insurance ETF

iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF

iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF

iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF

iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF

iShares U.S. Technology ETF

iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF

iShares U.S. Transportation ETF

iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Utilities ETF

iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares USD Bond Factor ETF

iShares USD Green Bond ETF

iShares Virtual Work and Life Multisector ETF

**<u>iShares U.S. ETF Trust</u>**

BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF

BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF

BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF

iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF

iShares Gold Strategy ETF

iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corp Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

**<u>iShares Inc.</u>**

iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend ETF

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF

iShares International High Yield Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Corporate Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM High Yield Bond ETF

------

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF

iShares MSCI Agriculture Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Australia ETF

iShares MSCI Austria ETF

iShares MSCI Belgium ETF

iShares MSCI BIC ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

iShares MSCI Canada ETF

iShares MSCI Chile ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Asia ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares MSCI France ETF

iShares MSCI Frontier and Select EM ETF

iShares MSCI Germany ETF

iShares MSCI Global Energy Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Silver and Metals Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF

iShares MSCI Israel ETF

iShares MSCI Italy ETF

iShares MSCI Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF

iShares MSCI Mexico ETF

iShares MSCI Netherlands ETF

iShares MSCI Pacific ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Russia ETF

iShares MSCI Singapore ETF

iShares MSCI South Africa ETF

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF

iShares MSCI Spain ETF

iShares MSCI Sweden ETF

iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF

iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF

iShares MSCI Thailand ETF

iShares MSCI Turkey ETF

iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF

iShares MSCI World ETF

iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF

## Ex-99.(H2)

Exhibit (h.2)

**EXHIBIT A** 

**<u>LIST OF BFA RECIPIENTS</u>**

------

**<u>LIST OF BFA RECIPIENTS</u>**

**<u>iShares, Inc.</u>**

iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend ETF

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF

iShares International High Yield Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Corporate Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM High Yield Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF

iShares MSCI Agriculture Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Australia ETF

iShares MSCI Austria ETF

iShares MSCI Belgium ETF

iShares MSCI BIC ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

iShares MSCI Canada ETF

iShares MSCI Chile ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Asia ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares MSCI France ETF

iShares MSCI Frontier and Select EM ETF

iShares MSCI Germany ETF

iShares MSCI Global Energy Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Silver and Metals Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF

iShares MSCI Israel ETF

iShares MSCI Italy ETF

iShares MSCI Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF

iShares MSCI Mexico ETF

iShares MSCI Netherlands ETF

iShares MSCI Pacific ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Russia ETF

iShares MSCI Singapore ETF

iShares MSCI South Africa ETF

------

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF

iShares MSCI Spain ETF

iShares MSCI Sweden ETF

iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF

iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF

iShares MSCI Thailand ETF

iShares MSCI Turkey ETF

iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF

iShares MSCI World ETF

iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF

**<u>iShares Trust</u>**

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 25+ Year Treasury STRIPS Bond ETF

iShares Aaa - A Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Agency Bond ETF

iShares Asia 50 ETF

iShares BBB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares BB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Biotechnology ETF

iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares California Muni Bond ETF

iShares China Large-Cap ETF

iShares CMBS ETF

iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF

iShares Convertible Bond ETF

iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 5-10 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 10+ Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF

iShares Core Conservative Allocation ETF

iShares Core Dividend ETF

------

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF

iShares Core Growth Allocation ETF

iShares Core High Dividend ETF

iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core Moderate Allocation ETF

iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF

iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF

iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF

iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF

iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Canada ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF

iShares Dow Jones U.S. ETF

iShares Emergent Food and AgTech Multisector ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF

iShares Environmental Infrastructure and Industrials ETF

iShares Environmentally Aware Real Estate ETF

iShares ESG Advanced High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EM ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Total USD Bond Market ETF

iShares ESG Aware 1-5 Year USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Conservative Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Growth Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Moderate Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Growth ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF

------

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Value ETF

iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P 500 ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Europe ETF

iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF

iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF

iShares Exponential Technologies ETF

iShares Factors US Growth Style ETF

iShares Factors US Value Style ETF

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF

iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares Focused Value Factor ETF

iShares Future Cloud 5G and Tech ETF

iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF

iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF

iShares Global 100 ETF

iShares Global Clean Energy ETF

iShares Global Comm Services ETF

iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF

iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF

iShares Global Energy ETF

iShares Global Financials ETF

iShares Global Healthcare ETF

iShares Global Industrials ETF

iShares Global Infrastructure ETF

iShares Global Materials ETF

iShares Global REIT ETF

iShares Global Tech ETF

iShares Global Timber & Forestry ETF

iShares Global Utilities ETF

iShares GNMA Bond ETF

iShares Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF

iShares High Yield Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares iBonds 2023 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2024 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2025 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2026 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2027 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2028 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2029 Term High Yield and Income ETF

------

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ex-Financials ETF

iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares India 50 ETF

iShares Intermediate Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares International Developed Property ETF

iShares International Developed Real Estate ETF

iShares International Developed Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares International Dividend Growth ETF

iShares International Select Dividend ETF

iShares International Equity Factor ETF

iShares International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares Investment Grade Bond Factor ETF

iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan Broad USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF

iShares Latin America 40 ETF

iShares MBS ETF

iShares Micro-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Growth ETF

------

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Morningstar Multi-Asset Income ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF

iShares Morningstar U.S. Equity ETF

iShares Morningstar Value ETF

iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI China A ETF

iShares MSCI China ETF

iShares MSCI China Multisector Tech ETF

iShares MSCI China Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Denmark ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Finland ETF

iShares MSCI Germany Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Global Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Sustainable Development Goals ETF

iShares MSCI India ETF

iShares MSCI India Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Size Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Small-Cap Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Ireland ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Value ETF

iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF

iShares MSCI Kokusai ETF

iShares MSCI Kuwait ETF

iShares MSCI New Zealand ETF

iShares MSCI Norway ETF

iShares MSCI Peru ETF

iShares MSCI Philippines ETF

------

iShares MSCI Poland ETF

iShares MSCI Qatar ETF

iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF

iShares MSCI UAE ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF

iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Size Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Small-Cap Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Small-Cap Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Water Management Multisector ETF

iShares National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Neuroscience and Healthcare ETF

iShares New York Muni Bond ETF

iShares North American Natural Resources ETF

iShares North American Tech-Multimedia Networking ETF

iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF

iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF

iShares Russell 1000 ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF

iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF

iShares Russell 2500 ETF

iShares Russell 3000 ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Value ETF

iShares S&P 100 ETF

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF

iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF

iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF

iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF

iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF

iShares Select Dividend ETF

iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF

iShares Semiconductor ETF

------

iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF

iShares TIPS Bond ETF

iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF

iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Discretionary ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF

iShares U.S. Energy ETF

iShares U.S. Equity Factor ETF

iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF

iShares U.S. Financials ETF

iShares U.S. Fixed Income Balanced Risk Factor ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF

iShares U.S. Industrials ETF

iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF

iShares U.S. Insurance ETF

iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF

iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF

iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF

iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF

iShares U.S. Technology ETF

iShares U.S. Tech Breakthrough Multisector ETF

iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF

iShares U.S. Transportation ETF

iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Utilities ETF

iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares USD Bond Factor ETF

iShares USD Green Bond ETF

iShares Virtual Work and Life Multisector ETF

iShares Yield Optimized Bond ETF

**<u>iShares U.S. ETF Trust</u>**

BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF

BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF

BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF

iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF

iShares Gold Strategy ETF

iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

------

iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Focused ETF

iShares U.S. Tech Independence Focused ETF

## Ex-99.(H6)

Exhibit (h.6)

**Schedule A** 

**Funds** 

**<u>iShares, Inc.</u>**

iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend ETF

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF

iShares International High Yield Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Corporate Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM High Yield Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF

iShares MSCI Agriculture Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Australia ETF

iShares MSCI Austria ETF

iShares MSCI Belgium ETF

iShares MSCI BIC ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

iShares MSCI Canada ETF

iShares MSCI Chile ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Asia ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares MSCI France ETF

iShares MSCI Frontier and Select EM ETF

iShares MSCI Germany ETF

iShares MSCI Global Energy Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Silver and Metals Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF

iShares MSCI Israel ETF

iShares MSCI Italy ETF

iShares MSCI Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF

iShares MSCI Mexico ETF

iShares MSCI Netherlands ETF

------

iShares MSCI Pacific ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Russia ETF

iShares MSCI Singapore ETF

iShares MSCI South Africa ETF

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF

iShares MSCI Spain ETF

iShares MSCI Sweden ETF

iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF

iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF

iShares MSCI Thailand ETF

iShares MSCI Turkey ETF

iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF

iShares MSCI World ETF

iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF

**<u>iShares Trust</u>**

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 25+ Year Treasury STRIPS Bond ETF

iShares Aaa - A Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Agency Bond ETF

iShares Asia 50 ETF

iShares BBB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares BB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Biotechnology ETF

iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares California Muni Bond ETF

iShares China Large-Cap ETF

iShares CMBS ETF

iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF

------

iShares Convertible Bond ETF

iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 5-10 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 10+ Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF

iShares Core Conservative Allocation ETF

iShares Core Dividend ETF

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF

iShares Core Growth Allocation ETF

iShares Core High Dividend ETF

iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core Moderate Allocation ETF

iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF

iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF

iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF

iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF

iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Canada ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF

iShares Dow Jones U.S. ETF

iShares Emergent Food and AgTech Multisector ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF

iShares Environmental Infrastructure and Industrials ETF

iShares Environmentally Aware Real Estate ETF

iShares ESG Advanced High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EM ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Total USD Bond Market ETF

------

iShares ESG Aware 1-5 Year USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Conservative Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Growth Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Moderate Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Growth ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Value ETF

iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P 500 ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Europe ETF

iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF

iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF

iShares Exponential Technologies ETF

iShares Factors US Growth Style ETF

iShares Factors US Value Style ETF

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF

iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares Focused Value Factor ETF

iShares Future Cloud 5G and Tech ETF

iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF

iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF

iShares Global 100 ETF

iShares Global Clean Energy ETF

iShares Global Comm Services ETF

iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF

iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF

iShares Global Energy ETF

iShares Global Financials ETF

iShares Global Healthcare ETF

iShares Global Industrials ETF

iShares Global Infrastructure ETF

iShares Global Materials ETF

iShares Global REIT ETF

iShares Global Tech ETF

iShares Global Timber & Forestry ETF

iShares Global Utilities ETF

iShares GNMA Bond ETF

------

iShares Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF

iShares High Yield Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares iBonds 2023 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2024 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2025 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2026 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2027 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2028 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2029 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ex-Financials ETF

iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares India 50 ETF

iShares Intermediate Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares International Developed Property ETF

------

iShares International Developed Real Estate ETF

iShares International Developed Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares International Dividend Growth ETF

iShares International Equity Factor ETF

iShares International Select Dividend ETF

iShares International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares Investment Grade Bond Factor ETF

iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan Broad USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF

iShares Latin America 40 ETF

iShares MBS ETF

iShares Micro-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Growth ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Morningstar Multi-Asset Income ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF

iShares Morningstar U.S. Equity ETF

iShares Morningstar Value ETF

iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI China A ETF

iShares MSCI China ETF

iShares MSCI China Multisector Tech ETF

iShares MSCI China Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Denmark ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Finland ETF

iShares MSCI Germany Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Global Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Sustainable Development Goals ETF

------

iShares MSCI India ETF

iShares MSCI India Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Size Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Small-Cap Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Ireland ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Value ETF

iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF

iShares MSCI Kokusai ETF

iShares MSCI Kuwait ETF

iShares MSCI New Zealand ETF

iShares MSCI Norway ETF

iShares MSCI Peru ETF

iShares MSCI Philippines ETF

iShares MSCI Poland ETF

iShares MSCI Qatar ETF

iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF

iShares MSCI UAE ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF

iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Size Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Small-Cap Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Small-Cap Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Water Management Multisector ETF

iShares National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Neuroscience and Healthcare ETF

iShares New York Muni Bond ETF

iShares North American Natural Resources ETF

iShares North American Tech-Multimedia Networking ETF

iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF

iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF

iShares Russell 1000 ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF

------

iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF

iShares Russell 2500 ETF

iShares Russell 3000 ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Value ETF

iShares S&P 100 ETF

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF

iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF

iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF

iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF

iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF

iShares Select Dividend ETF

iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF

iShares Semiconductor ETF

iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF

iShares TIPS Bond ETF

iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF

iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Discretionary ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF

iShares U.S. Energy ETF

iShares U.S. Equity Factor ETF

iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF

iShares U.S. Financials ETF

iShares U.S. Fixed Income Balanced Risk Factor ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF

iShares U.S. Industrials ETF

iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF

iShares U.S. Insurance ETF

iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF

iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF

iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF

iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF

------

iShares U.S. Technology ETF

iShares U.S. Tech Breakthrough Multisector ETF

iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF

iShares U.S. Transportation ETF

iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Utilities ETF

iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares USD Bond Factor ETF

iShares USD Green Bond ETF

iShares Virtual Work and Life Multisector ETF

iShares Yield Optimized Bond ETF

<u>**iShares U.S. ETF Trust**</u>

BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF

BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF

BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF

iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF

iShares Gold Strategy ETF

iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Focused ETF

iShares U.S. Tech Independence Focused ETF

**Approved by the Board of Trustees of iShares Trust on December 14, 2022 and the Board of Trustees of iShares U.S. ETF Trust and the Board of Directors of iShares, Inc. on September 22, 2022.**

## Ex-99.(H13)

Exhibit (h.13)

**<u>SUBLICENSE AGREEMENT</u>**

This Sublicense Agreement (the "<u>Agreement</u>") is made as of November 7, 2022, by and between BlackRock Fund Advisors ("<u>BFA</u>"), a California corporation, and iShares Trust and iShares U.S. ETF Trust, each a statutory trust established under the laws of the State of Delaware, and iShares, Inc., a Maryland corporation (together with iShares Trust and iShares U.S. ETF Trust, the "<u>Registrants</u>").

**<u>RECITALS</u>**

WHEREAS, pursuant to that certain License Agreement dated October 1, 2022 (as amended from time to time, the "<u>License Agreement</u>") between MSCI Inc. and MSCI Limited (together, "<u>MSCI</u>") and BFA, BFA obtained a license to use, in connection with certain funds advised by BFA (as defined in the License Agreement, "<u>Funds</u>"), certain securities indexes owned and managed by MSCI ("<u>MSCI Indexes</u>") and associated marks ("<u>MSCI Marks</u>"); and

WHEREAS, BFA has the right, pursuant to Section 1(b)-(c) of the License Agreement to grant its rights thereunder to certain affiliated entities and Funds, which include the Registrants; and

WHEREAS, the Registrants may wish to use MSCI Indexes and MSCI Marks in connection with the establishment of a series of exchange-traded funds, each based on a MSCI Index (each, an "<u>Index ETF</u>"), and to use MSCI Marks in connection with the identification and marketing of Index ETFs and disclosures about Index ETFs under applicable laws, rules and regulations; and

WHEREAS, BFA wishes to grant a sublicense to each of the Registrants for the use of MSCI Indexes and MSCI Marks;

NOW THEREFORE, the parties agree as follows:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1. <u>Grant of Sublicense</u>. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, BFA hereby grants to each of
the Registrants a sublicense to use the applicable MSCI Indexes and associated data, information and MSCI Marks in the manner set forth in, and subject to the terms of, the License Agreement. Each Registrant shall have no right to grant a sublicense
to or to share use of MSCI Indexes or MSCI Marks with any other person or entity.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2. <u>Performance of Obligations Under the License</u>. Each Registrant will be responsible for performing all of
BFA's executory obligations under the License Agreement (other than the payment of license fees), as such obligations relate to use of the applicable MSCI Indexes and MSCI Marks in connection with the formation and operation of Index ETFs.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3. <u>Fees</u>. There shall be no fees paid to BFA or MSCI in connection with the sublicenses obtained hereunder.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4. <u>Termination</u>. This Agreement shall terminate if (a) the License Agreement terminates, or
(b) BFA or an affiliate of BFA ceases to exercise investment discretion over the Registrants or any Index ETF in its capacity as manager, investment adviser, trustee, or other comparable capacity. BFA shall notify the Registrants as soon as
reasonably practicable of the occurrence of an event described in (a) above. Upon termination of this Agreement, the Registrants' right to use the applicable MSCI Indexes and the MSCI Marks shall terminate immediately.

------

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5. <u>Indemnification</u>. Each Registrant shall indemnify and hold harmless BFA, its officers, employees, agents,
successors, and assigns against all judgments, damages, costs or losses of any kind (including reasonable attorneys' and experts' fees) resulting from any claim, action or proceeding (collectively "claims") that arises out of or
relates to (a) the creation, marketing, advertising, selling, and operation of the Registrant or interests therein, (b) any breach by BFA of its covenants, representations, and warranties under the License Agreement caused by the actions
or inactions of the Registrant, or (c) any violation of applicable laws (including, but not limited to, banking, commodities, and securities laws) arising out of the offer, sale, operation, or trading of the Registrant or interests therein,
except to the extent such claims result from the negligence, gross negligence or willful misconduct of BFA or an affiliate of BFA. The provisions of this section shall survive termination of this Agreement.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6. <u>Assignment</u>. No Registrant may make, or purport to make, any assignment or other transfer of this
Agreement. BFA may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement effective upon the giving of written notice to each Registrant.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7. <u>Amendment</u>. No provision of this Agreement may be waived, altered, or amended except by written agreement
of the parties.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8. <u>Entire Agreement</u>. This Agreement and the License Agreement constitute the entire agreement between the
parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9. <u>Construction</u>. Headings used in this Agreement are for convenience only and shall not affect the
construction or interpretation of any of its provisions. Each of the provisions of this Agreement is severable, and the invalidity or inapplicability of one or more provisions, in whole or in part, shall not affect any other provision. To the extent
not preempted by federal law, this Agreement shall be construed and interpreted under the laws of the State of California.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10. <u>Counterparts</u>. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which shall be
deemed to be an original, but such counterparts together shall constitute only one instrument.

------

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties have caused this Agreement to be executed as of the date first above written, with intent to be bound hereby.

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **BLACKROCK FUND ADVISORS** | **BLACKROCK FUND ADVISORS** |
| By: | /s/ Shannon Ghia |
|  | Name: Shannon Ghia |
|  | Title: Managing Director |
| **iSHARES TRUST** | **iSHARES TRUST** |
| By: | /s/ Trent Walker |
|  | Name: Trent Walker |
|  | Title: Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer |
| **iSHARES U.S. ETF TRUST** | **iSHARES U.S. ETF TRUST** |
| By: | /s/ Trent Walker |
|  | Name: Trent Walker |
|  | Title: Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer |
| **iSHARES, INC.** | **iSHARES, INC.** |
| By: | /s/ Trent Walker |
|  | Name: Trent Walker |
|  | Title: Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer |

---

## Ex-99.(H14)

Exhibit (h.14)

**<u>SUBLICENSE AGREEMENT</u>**

This Sublicense Agreement (the "<u>Agreement</u>") is made as of November 7, 2022, by and between BlackRock Fund Advisors ("<u>BFA</u>"), a California corporation, and iShares Trust and iShares U.S. ETF Trust, each a statutory trust established under the laws of the State of Delaware, and iShares, Inc., a Maryland corporation (together with iShares Trust and iShares U.S. ETF Trust, the "<u>Registrants</u>").

**<u>RECITALS</u>**

WHEREAS, pursuant to that certain License Agreement dated January 1, 2020 (as amended from time to time, the "<u>License Agreement</u>") between Frank Russell Company, a Washington corporation, and certain of its affiliates (together, "<u>Russell</u>") and BlackRock, Inc., BFA obtained a license to use, in connection with certain funds advised by BFA (as defined in the License Agreement, "<u>Exchange Traded Products</u>"), certain securities indexes owned and managed by Russell ("<u>Russell Indexes</u>") and associated marks ("<u>Russell Marks</u>"); and

WHEREAS, BFA has the right, pursuant to paragraph 3.7 of the License Agreement to grant its rights thereunder to certain affiliated entities and Exchange Traded Products, which include the Registrants; and

WHEREAS, the Registrants may wish to use Russell Indexes and Russell Marks in connection with the establishment of a series of exchange-traded funds, each based on a Russell Index (each, an "<u>Index ETF</u>"), and to use Russell Marks in connection with the identification and marketing of Index ETFs and disclosures about Index ETFs under applicable laws, rules and regulations; and

WHEREAS, BFA wishes to grant a sublicense to each of the Registrants for the use of Russell Indexes and Russell Marks;

NOW THEREFORE, the parties agree as follows:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1. <u>Grant of Sublicense</u>. Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, BFA hereby grants to each of
the Registrants a sublicense to use the applicable Russell Indexes and associated data, information and Russell Marks in the manner set forth in, and subject to the terms of, the License Agreement. Each Registrant shall have no right to grant a
sublicense to or to share use of Russell Indexes or Russell Marks with any other person or entity.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2. <u>Performance of Obligations Under the License</u>. Each Registrant will be responsible for performing all of
BFA's executory obligations under the License Agreement (other than the payment of license fees), as such obligations relate to use of the applicable Russell Indexes and Russell Marks in connection with the formation and operation of Index
ETFs.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;3. <u>Fees</u>. There shall be no fees paid to BFA or Russell in connection with the sublicenses obtained
hereunder.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;4. <u>Termination</u>. This Agreement shall terminate if (a) the License Agreement terminates, or
(b) BFA or an affiliate of BFA ceases to exercise investment discretion over the

------

Registrants or any Index ETF in its capacity as manager, investment adviser, trustee, or other comparable capacity. BFA shall notify the Registrants as soon as reasonably practicable of the occurrence of an event described in (a) above. Upon termination of this Agreement, the Registrants' right to use the applicable Russell Indexes and the Russell Marks shall terminate immediately.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;5. <u>Indemnification</u>. Each Registrant shall indemnify and hold harmless BFA, its officers, employees, agents,
successors, and assigns against all judgments, damages, costs or losses of any kind (including reasonable attorneys' and experts' fees) resulting from any claim, action or proceeding (collectively "claims") that arises out of or
relates to (a) the creation, marketing, advertising, selling, and operation of the Registrant or interests therein, (b) any breach by BFA of its covenants, representations, and warranties under the License Agreement caused by the actions
or inactions of the Registrant, or (c) any violation of applicable laws (including, but not limited to, banking, commodities, and securities laws) arising out of the offer, sale, operation, or trading of the Registrant or interests therein,
except to the extent such claims result from the negligence, gross negligence or willful misconduct of BFA or an affiliate of BFA. The provisions of this section shall survive termination of this Agreement.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;6. <u>Assignment</u>. No Registrant may make, or purport to make, any assignment or other transfer of this
Agreement. BFA may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement effective upon the giving of written notice to each Registrant.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;7. <u>Amendment</u>. No provision of this Agreement may be waived, altered, or amended except by written agreement
of the parties.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;8. <u>Entire Agreement</u>. This Agreement and the License Agreement constitute the entire agreement between the
parties hereto with respect to the subject matter hereof.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9. <u>Construction</u>. Headings used in this Agreement are for convenience only and shall not affect the
construction or interpretation of any of its provisions. Each of the provisions of this Agreement is severable, and the invalidity or inapplicability of one or more provisions, in whole or in part, shall not affect any other provision. To the extent
not preempted by federal law, this Agreement shall be construed and interpreted under the laws of the State of California.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10. <u>Counterparts</u>. This Agreement may be executed in any number of counterparts, each of which shall be
deemed to be an original, but such counterparts together shall constitute only one instrument.

------

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the parties have caused this Agreement to be executed as of the date first above written, with intent to be bound hereby.

---

| | |
|:---|:---|
| **BLACKROCK FUND ADVISORS** | **BLACKROCK FUND ADVISORS** |
| By: | /s/ Shannon Ghia |
|  | Name: Shannon Ghia |
|  | Title: Managing Director |
| **iSHARES TRUST** | **iSHARES TRUST** |
| By: | /s/ Trent Walker |
|  | Name: Trent Walker |
|  | Title: Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer |
| **iSHARES U.S. ETF TRUST** | **iSHARES U.S. ETF TRUST** |
| By: | /s/ Trent Walker |
|  | Name: Trent Walker |
|  | Title: Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer |
| **iSHARES, INC.** | **iSHARES, INC.** |
| By: | /s/ Trent Walker |
|  | Name: Trent Walker |
|  | Title: Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer |

---

## Ex-99.(H19)

Exhibit (h.19)

**EXHIBIT A** 

*List of Funds* 

------

**<u>iShares, Inc.</u>**

iShares Asia/Pacific Dividend ETF

iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Dividend ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EM ETF

iShares International High Yield Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Corporate Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM High Yield Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF

iShares MSCI Agriculture Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Australia ETF

iShares MSCI Austria ETF

iShares MSCI Belgium ETF

iShares MSCI BIC ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil ETF

iShares MSCI Canada ETF

iShares MSCI Chile ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Asia ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ex China ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares MSCI France ETF

iShares MSCI Frontier and Select EM ETF

iShares MSCI Germany ETF

iShares MSCI Global Energy Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers ETF

iShares MSCI Global Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Silver and Metals Miners ETF

iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF

iShares MSCI Israel ETF

iShares MSCI Italy ETF

iShares MSCI Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Malaysia ETF

iShares MSCI Mexico ETF

iShares MSCI Netherlands ETF

iShares MSCI Pacific ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Russia ETF

iShares MSCI Singapore ETF

iShares MSCI South Africa ETF

------

iShares MSCI South Korea ETF

iShares MSCI Spain ETF

iShares MSCI Sweden ETF

iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF

iShares MSCI Taiwan ETF

iShares MSCI Thailand ETF

iShares MSCI Turkey ETF

iShares MSCI USA Equal Weighted ETF

iShares MSCI World ETF

iShares US & Intl High Yield Corp Bond ETF

**<u>iShares Trust</u>**

iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 0-5 Year TIPS Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 10+ Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares 10-20 Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF

iShares 25+ Year Treasury STRIPS Bond ETF

iShares Aaa - A Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Agency Bond ETF

iShares Asia 50 ETF

iShares BBB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares BB Rated Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Biotechnology ETF

iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF

iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Broad USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares California Muni Bond ETF

iShares China Large-Cap ETF

iShares CMBS ETF

iShares Cohen & Steers REIT ETF

iShares Convertible Bond ETF

iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 5-10 Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core 10+ Year USD Bond ETF

iShares Core Aggressive Allocation ETF

iShares Core Conservative Allocation ETF

iShares Core Dividend ETF

------

iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF

iShares Core Growth Allocation ETF

iShares Core High Dividend ETF

iShares Core International Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core Moderate Allocation ETF

iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Core MSCI Europe ETF

iShares Core MSCI International Developed Markets ETF

iShares Core MSCI Pacific ETF

iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF

iShares Core S&P 500 ETF

iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Core S&P Total U.S. Stock Market ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Growth ETF

iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF

iShares Core Total USD Bond Market ETF

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Canada ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Eurozone ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Germany ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Japan ETF

iShares Currency Hedged MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF

iShares Dow Jones U.S. ETF

iShares Emergent Food and AgTech Multisector ETF

iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF

iShares Environmental Infrastructure and Industrials ETF

iShares Environmentally Aware Real Estate ETF

iShares ESG Advanced High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI EM ETF

iShares ESG Advanced MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Advanced Total USD Bond Market ETF

iShares ESG Aware 1-5 Year USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware Aggressive Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Conservative Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Growth Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware Moderate Allocation ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Growth ETF

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Small-Cap ETF

------

iShares ESG Aware MSCI USA Value ETF

iShares ESG Aware U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares ESG Aware USD Corporate Bond ETF

iShares ESG MSCI EM Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF

iShares ESG MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P 500 ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Mid-Cap ETF

iShares ESG Screened S&P Small-Cap ETF

iShares Europe ETF

iShares Expanded Tech Sector ETF

iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF

iShares Exponential Technologies ETF

iShares Factors US Growth Style ETF

iShares Factors US Value Style ETF

iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF

iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares Focused Value Factor ETF

iShares Future Cloud 5G and Tech ETF

iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF

iShares Genomics Immunology and Healthcare ETF

iShares Global 100 ETF

iShares Global Clean Energy ETF

iShares Global Comm Services ETF

iShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF

iShares Global Consumer Staples ETF

iShares Global Energy ETF

iShares Global Financials ETF

iShares Global Healthcare ETF

iShares Global Industrials ETF

iShares Global Infrastructure ETF

iShares Global Materials ETF

iShares Global REIT ETF

iShares Global Tech ETF

iShares Global Timber & Forestry ETF

iShares Global Utilities ETF

iShares GNMA Bond ETF

iShares Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares High Yield Bond Factor ETF

iShares High Yield Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares iBonds 2023 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2024 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2025 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2026 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2027 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2028 Term High Yield and Income ETF

iShares iBonds 2029 Term High Yield and Income ETF

------

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2023 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2024 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2025 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2026 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2027 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Muni Bond ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2028 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2029 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2030 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2031 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Dec 2032 Term Treasury ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ETF

iShares iBonds Mar 2023 Term Corporate ex-Financials ETF

iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

iShares India 50 ETF

iShares Intermediate Government/Credit Bond ETF

iShares International Developed Property ETF

iShares International Developed Real Estate ETF

iShares International Developed Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares International Dividend Growth ETF

iShares International Equity Factor ETF

iShares International Select Dividend ETF

iShares International Treasury Bond ETF

iShares Investment Grade Bond Factor ETF

iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond BuyWrite Strategy ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan Broad USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares J.P. Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF

iShares JPX-Nikkei 400 ETF

iShares Latin America 40 ETF

iShares MBS ETF

iShares Micro-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Growth ETF

------

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Morningstar Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Morningstar Multi-Asset Income ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Morningstar Small-Cap Value ETF

iShares Morningstar U.S. Equity ETF

iShares Morningstar Value ETF

iShares Mortgage Real Estate ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF

iShares MSCI ACWI Low Carbon Target ETF

iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex Japan ETF

iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI China A ETF

iShares MSCI China ETF

iShares MSCI China Multisector Tech ETF

iShares MSCI China Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Denmark ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Growth ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI EAFE Value ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Financials ETF

iShares MSCI Europe Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Finland ETF

iShares MSCI Germany Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Global Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Global Sustainable Development Goals ETF

iShares MSCI India ETF

iShares MSCI India Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Size Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Small-Cap Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Ireland ETF

iShares MSCI Japan Value ETF

iShares MSCI KLD 400 Social ETF

iShares MSCI Kokusai ETF

iShares MSCI Kuwait ETF

iShares MSCI New Zealand ETF

iShares MSCI Norway ETF

iShares MSCI Peru ETF

iShares MSCI Philippines ETF

------

iShares MSCI Poland ETF

iShares MSCI Qatar ETF

iShares MSCI Saudi Arabia ETF

iShares MSCI UAE ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF

iShares MSCI United Kingdom Small-Cap ETF

iShares MSCI USA ESG Select ETF

iShares MSCI USA Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Size Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Small-Cap Min Vol Factor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Small-Cap Multifactor ETF

iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF

iShares MSCI Water Management Multisector ETF

iShares National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Neuroscience and Healthcare ETF

iShares New York Muni Bond ETF

iShares North American Natural Resources ETF

iShares North American Tech-Multimedia Networking ETF

iShares Paris-Aligned Climate MSCI USA ETF

iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF

iShares Residential and Multisector Real Estate ETF

iShares Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Multisector ETF

iShares Russell 1000 ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF

iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF

iShares Russell 2000 ETF

iShares Russell 2000 Growth ETF

iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF

iShares Russell 2500 ETF

iShares Russell 3000 ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF

iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Growth ETF

iShares Russell Top 200 Value ETF

iShares S&P 100 ETF

iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF

iShares S&P 500 Value ETF

iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Growth ETF

iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF

iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Growth ETF

iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF

iShares Select Dividend ETF

iShares Self-Driving EV and Tech ETF

iShares Semiconductor ETF

------

iShares Short-Term National Muni Bond ETF

iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF

iShares TIPS Bond ETF

iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Aerospace & Defense ETF

iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF

iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Discretionary ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF

iShares U.S. Energy ETF

iShares U.S. Equity Factor ETF

iShares U.S. Financial Services ETF

iShares U.S. Financials ETF

iShares U.S. Fixed Income Balanced Risk Factor ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF

iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF

iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF

iShares U.S. Industrials ETF

iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF

iShares U.S. Insurance ETF

iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF

iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF

iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF

iShares U.S. Pharmaceuticals ETF

iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF

iShares U.S. Regional Banks ETF

iShares U.S. Technology ETF

iShares U.S. Tech Breakthrough Multisector ETF

iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF

iShares U.S. Transportation ETF

iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Utilities ETF

iShares US Small Cap Value Factor ETF

iShares USD Bond Factor ETF

iShares USD Green Bond ETF

iShares Virtual Work and Life Multisector ETF

iShares Yield Optimized Bond ETF

**<u>iShares U.S. ETF Trust</u>**

BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF

BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF

BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF

iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF

iShares Gold Strategy ETF

iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

------

iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares U.S. Consumer Focused ETF

iShares U.S. Tech Independence Focused ETF

## Ex-99.(I)

Exhibit (i)

February 23, 2023

iShares U.S. ETF Trust

c/o BlackRock Fund Advisors

400 Howard Street

San Francisco, CA 94105

Re: <u>iShares U.S. ETF Trust Funds Identified on Exhibit A</u>

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We have acted as special Delaware counsel for iShares U.S. ETF Trust, a Delaware statutory trust (the "Trust"), in connection with the matters set forth herein. At your request, this opinion is being furnished to you.

For purposes of giving the opinions hereinafter set forth, our examination of documents has been limited to the examination of originals or copies of the following:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(a) The Certificate of Trust of the Trust, as filed with the office of the Secretary of State of the State of
Delaware (the "Secretary of State") on June 21, 2011 (the "Certificate of Trust");

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(b) The Agreement and Declaration of Trust, dated June 21, 2011 (the "Trust Instrument"), made by
the trustee named therein;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(c) The Post-Effective Amendment No. 647 (the "Amendment"), to be filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on or about the date hereof, to the Trust's Registration Statement on Form N-1A (File Nos. 333-179904 and 811-22649) (as amended by the Amendment, the "Registration Statement");

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(d) The By-Laws of the Trust in effect on the date the Resolutions (as
defined below) were adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Trust (the "Board") and in effect on the date hereof, as approved by the Board on June 21, 2011 (the "By-laws");

------

iShares U.S. ETF Trust

February 23, 2023

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(e) Copies of certain resolutions adopted by the Board with respect to the creation of certain series of the Trust
(each, a "Fund" as identified on <u>Exhibit A</u> attached hereto) and the issuance of certain shares of beneficial interest in such Fund (each, a "Share" and collectively, the "Shares");

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(f) A certificate of an officer of the Trust, dated as of February 25, 2022, relating to the filing of
Post-Effective Amendment No. 623 with the SEC;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(g) A certificate of an officer of the Trust with respect to certain matters, dated on or about the date hereof;
and

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(h) A Certificate of Good Standing for the Trust, dated February 22, 2023, obtained from the Secretary of
State.

Initially capitalized terms used herein and not otherwise defined are used as defined in the Trust Instrument. The resolutions identified in paragraphs (e) and in the officer's certificates described in (f) and (g) above are collectively referred to herein as the "Resolutions."

For purposes of this opinion, we have not reviewed any documents other than the documents listed in paragraphs (a) through (h) above. In particular, we have not reviewed any document (other than the documents listed in paragraphs (a) through (h) above) that is referred to in or incorporated by reference into the documents reviewed by us. We have assumed that there exists no provision in any document that we have not reviewed that is inconsistent with the opinions stated herein. We have conducted no independent factual investigation of our own but rather have relied solely upon the foregoing documents, the statements and information set forth therein and the additional matters recited or assumed herein, all of which we have assumed to be true, complete and accurate in all material respects.

With respect to all documents examined by us, we have assumed (i) the authenticity of all documents submitted to us as authentic originals, (ii) the conformity with the originals of all documents submitted to us as copies or forms, and (iii) the genuineness of all signatures.

For purposes of this opinion, we have assumed (i) that the Trust Instrument constitutes the entire agreement among the parties thereto with respect to the subject matter thereof, including with respect to the creation, operation and termination of the Trust, and that the Trust Instrument, the By-laws and the Certificate of Trust are in full force and effect and will not be amended, (ii) except to the extent provided in paragraph 1 below, the due organization or due formation, as the case may be, and valid existence in good standing of each party to the documents examined by us under the laws of the jurisdiction governing its organization or formation, (iii) the legal capacity of natural persons who are parties to the documents examined by us, (iv) that each of the parties (other than the Trust) to the documents examined by us has the power and authority to execute and deliver, and to perform its obligations under, such documents, (v) the due authorization, execution and delivery by all parties thereto of all documents examined by us, (vi) the payment by each Person to whom a Share has been or is to be issued by the Trust (collectively, the "Shareholders") for such Share, in accordance with the

------

iShares U.S. ETF Trust

February 23, 2023

Trust Instrument and the Resolutions and as contemplated by the Registration Statement, (vii) that the officers of the Trust acted within their authority when registering the names of the Funds as such names appear in the Registration Statement, and (viii) that the Shares have been and are issued and sold to the Shareholders in accordance with the Trust Instrument and the Resolutions and as contemplated by the Registration Statement. We have not participated in the preparation of the Registration Statement and assume no responsibility for its contents.

This opinion is limited to the laws of the State of Delaware (excluding the securities laws of the State of Delaware), and we have not considered and express no opinion on the laws of any other jurisdiction, including federal laws and rules and regulations relating thereto. Our opinions are rendered only with respect to Delaware laws and rules, regulations and orders thereunder which are currently in effect.

Based upon the foregoing, and upon our examination of such questions of law and statutes of the State of Delaware as we have considered necessary or appropriate, and subject to the assumptions, qualifications, limitations and exceptions set forth herein, we are of the opinion that:

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1. The Trust has been duly created and is validly existing in good standing as a statutory trust under the Delaware Statutory Trust Act, 12 Del. C. § 3801, <u>et</u> <u>seq</u>.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;2. The Shares of the Trust have been duly authorized and, when issued, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable beneficial interests in the Trust.

We consent to the filing of this opinion with the Securities and Exchange Commission as an exhibit to the Registration Statement. In giving the foregoing consent, we do not thereby admit that we come within the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission thereunder.

Very truly yours,

<u>/s/ Richards, Layton</u> <u>& Finger, P.A.</u>

RJF/MMK

------

**EXHIBIT A** 

**iShares U.S. ETF Trust** 

**Funds** 

BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF

BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF

BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF

iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF

iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF

iShares Gold Strategy ETF

iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF

iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

## Ex-99.(J)

Exhibit (j)

<u>CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM</u> 

We hereby consent to the incorporation by reference in this Registration Statement on Form N-1A of iShares U.S. ETF Trust of our reports dated December 22, 2022, relating to the financial statements and financial highlights, which appear in BlackRock Short Maturity Bond ETF, BlackRock Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF, BlackRock Ultra Short-Term Bond ETF, iShares Bloomberg Roll Select Commodity Strategy ETF, iShares Commodity Curve Carry Strategy ETF, iShares Gold Strategy ETF, iShares GSCI Commodity Dynamic Roll Strategy ETF, iShares Inflation Hedged Corporate Bond ETF, iShares Inflation Hedged High Yield Bond ETF, iShares Inflation Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF, iShares Interest Rate Hedged Corporate Bond ETF, iShares Interest Rate Hedged High Yield Bond ETF, iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF and iShares Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF's Annual Reports on Form N-CSR for the year ended October 31, 2022. We also consent to the references to us under the headings "Financial Statements", "Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm" and "Financial Highlights" in such Registration Statement.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

February 23, 2023