linked with green and climate friendly assets or
projects, the security will be upgraded one quintile from the quintile to which it originally was assigned.
The Index Provider obtains ESG
factor valuations for each issuer in the parent index from RepRisk and Sustainalytics, which are investment research providers dedicated to responsible investing and ESG research. These ESG factor valuations are
obtained from each provider and translated by the Index Provider to a range of 0 – 100, with 100 being the best possible score. The Index Provider’s finalized ESG score for each issuer incorporates a
3-month rolling average of the scores from each individual provider. The Index Provider calculates ESG scores daily.
The ESG criteria used to score
each issuer in the parent index reflect their application to sovereign issuers, including environmental (e.g., access to water, energy sources and pollution) governance (e.g., corruption and political liberties), and
social (e.g., education access and life expectancy). Sovereign issuers involved (defined as the government receiving revenue from direct involvement in those activities) in thermal coal, tobacco, weapons or UN Global
Compact principle violations are excluded from the index regardless of their ESG score.
The Underlying Index consists of
fixed and floating rate securities and capitalizing/amortizing bonds, excluding convertible and inflation-linked instruments, issued by emerging markets sovereign entities that (i) are denominated in US dollars, (ii)
have more than thirteen months to maturity if already part of the Underlying Index and two and half years to maturity upon entering the Underlying Index, and (iii) have a minimum issue size of at least $500 million.
The eligible countries are Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cote D'Ivoire, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El
Salvador, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay,
Peru, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates,
Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam and Zambia; however, this universe of countries may change in accordance with the index provider’s determination of eligible emerging market countries as follows: countries whose
gross national income (“GNI”) per capita is below the J.P. Morgan Index Income Ceiling (“IIC”) for three consecutive years or if the country’s purchasing power parity (“PPP”)
is below the Index Provider’s Index PPP Ratio (“IPR”) threshold for three consecutive years, and there is no assurance that a particular country will be represented in the Underlying Index at any
given time. The instruments included in the Underlying Index may be rated investment grade or below investment grade (commonly referred to as “junk bonds”). The ratings assigned in the
Underlying Index use the middle of three ratings
from Moody’s Investors Services, Inc., Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch, Inc.; the lower of two ratings; or the single rating available. Under normal circumstances, the Underlying Index is
rebalanced on a monthly basis. The fund rebalances its portfolio in accordance with the Underlying Index, and, therefore, any changes to the Underlying Index’s rebalance schedule will result in corresponding
changes to the fund’s rebalance schedule.
As of March 31, 2020, the
Underlying Index was comprised of 463 bonds issued by 64 different countries.
The fund uses a representative
sampling indexing strategy in seeking to track the Underlying Index, meaning it generally will invest in a sample of securities in the index whose risk, return and other characteristics resemble the risk, return and
other characteristics of the Underlying Index as a whole.
The fund will normally invest at
least 80% of its net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes, in emerging markets sovereign bonds. In addition, the fund will invest at least 80% of its total assets, but typically far more,
in instruments that comprise the Underlying Index.
The fund will concentrate its
investments (i.e., hold 25% or more of its total assets) in a particular industry or group of industries to the extent that its Underlying Index is concentrated. To the extent that the fund tracks the Underlying
Index, the fund’s investment in certain sectors or countries may change over time.
The fund is not sponsored,
endorsed, or promoted by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. bears no liability with respect to any index on which the fund is based.
Securities lending. The fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers and other financial institutions desiring to borrow securities to complete transactions and for other purposes. In connection
with such loans, the fund receives liquid collateral equal to at least 102% of the value of the portfolio securities being lent. This collateral is marked to market on a daily basis. The fund may lend its portfolio
securities in an amount up to 33 1/3% of its total assets.
Main Risks
As with any investment, you could
lose all or part of your investment in the fund, and the fund’s performance could trail that of other investments. The fund is subject to the main risks noted below, any of which may adversely affect the
fund’s net asset value (“NAV”), trading price, yield, total return and ability to meet its investment objective, as well as numerous other risks that are described in greater detail in the section of
this Prospectus entitled “Additional Information About Fund Strategies, Underlying Index Information and Risks” and in the Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).